Minnesota Opens the Door to $41 Million in Charging Cash

Minnesota opens a $41 million NEVI funding round covering up to 74 charging site clusters.

28 Aug 2026

Minnesota has opened its round 3a Request for Proposal for federal NEVI formula funds, making up to $41.18 million available across as many as 74 charging site clusters. The RFP opened August 26th and stays open through November 2nd, giving developers an unusually generous runway to prepare.

The round continues the state's rollout of federal NEVI dollars, which support direct current fast charging along designated corridors and in underserved communities. Applicants must clear a now-familiar bar: OCPP 2.0.1 compliance, NACS support alongside CCS, contactless open-access payment and minimum uptime thresholds. These requirements have become standard across NEVI-funded projects nationally as the programme matures.

Clustering the sites lets Minnesota prioritise the biggest coverage gaps while spreading funding across a wider geographic footprint than a single large award would allow. For urban and near-urban hosts, the extended window buys time to work through interconnection assessments and make-ready estimates, a process that has historically added months once utility coordination enters the picture.

Federal appropriations debates over NEVI's future funding levels continue in Washington. Minnesota's decision to keep executing at the state level, regardless of that uncertainty, says something about how developers are choosing to plan around it.