MnDOT opens $41.2M NEVI round for fast chargers in Greater Minnesota

The Minnesota Department of Transportation announced on September 1, 2026 that up to $41.2 million in National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) grants is available for fast-charging stations in Greater Minnesota, which MnDOT's release calls its third and largest NEVI round. The money is 80% federal, from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, with a 20% investment by each grantee, and proposals are due November 2, 2026.

MnDOT's NEVI program page labels the round 3a and adds the mechanics: $41.18 million in obligated funds, 74 eligible clusters where a station can be proposed, one site per application and one application per cluster, and an intent to make up to 40 awards with no more than one per cluster. The application window opened August 26, 2026, questions are accepted through October 9, an application-prep webinar is scheduled for September 23, and MnDOT says it intends to announce conditional awards by December 30, 2026, a date it calls tentative depending on application volume.

The first two rounds put more than $16 million toward 24 fast-charging sites along I-94, I-35, and I-90 through a mix of federal, state, and private money, per the release, and eight NEVI-funded stations are open. The program page lists those eight, as of August 6, 2026, as Burnsville, North Branch, Stewartville, Moose Lake, Forest Lake, Lake Elmo, Albert Lea, and Alexandria; the other awarded sites are in pre-construction or construction. MnDOT says EV ownership in Minnesota grew from about 9,000 vehicles to 90,000 since 2018, a tenfold rise the release describes as 1,000 percent. Commissioner Nancy Daubenberger said the round "will go a long way towards reducing range anxiety for long-distance travel needs in our state."

NEVI itself was created by the 2021 infrastructure act with $5 billion over fiscal years 2022 through 2026 at an 80% federal cost share, and funds go first to chargers along designated alternative fuel corridors until a state's corridors are certified as built out, per the Federal Highway Administration's interim final guidance of August 11, 2025, which superseded all previous NEVI guidance documents.