CHANGE: US Agency Reportedly Plans to Shut Down 8,000 EV Chargers, Offload EVs.
The General Services Administration (GSA), an agency that manages the federal government’s buildings, is planning to shut down all 8,000 of its electric vehicle chargers, The Verge reports.
The GSA is also expected to offload its current stock of EVs, though it’s unknown if the vehicles will be sold or put into storage. The agency will reportedly begin instructing employees to remove the chargers—which are used for both federally owned EVs and employees’ personal vehicles—as early as next week.
The agency informed employees at one regional office that, in its efforts “to align with the current administration,” it had received direction stating that all GSA-owned charging stations “are not mission-critical,” according to an email first reported by Colorado Public Radio.
“The GSA is working on the timing of canceling current network contracts that keep the EV chargers operational. Once those contracts are canceled, the stations will be taken out of service and ‘turned off at the breaker,’” the email continued. “Other chargers will be turned off starting next week.”
The web page dedicated to the electrification of the GSA’s fleet has also been taken offline, The Verge notes.
Can’t say I have much pity for EV carmakers whose business model depended on government purchases.