Pennsylvania opens $11M NEVI round for chargers in 26 central counties

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation announced on September 8, 2026 that $11 million in federal National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) funding is available for public EV chargers in a 26-county central region that includes Centre, Blair, Cambria, Lycoming, and Northumberland counties. Applications are accepted until March 12, 2027. It is the third region opened under what PennDOT calls the Community Charging phase of its NEVI program, after the Southeast and West earlier in 2026.

PennDOT's Community Charging page lays out four regional rounds and labels most of the dates estimates: Southeastern, published February 19, 2026, with proposals closed August 25 and awards expected in October or November 2026; Western, published June 12, 2026, with proposals due November 20 and awards in January or February 2027; Central, with awards in May or June 2027; and Eastern, expected to publish in September 2026 with a March 2027 deadline. The February 19 release put approximately $34 million on the five-county Southeast, and the June 12 release put $25 million on 17 western counties. PennDOT says the rounds direct over $100 million in federal funding in total, on top of $58 million already invested in its Alternative Fuel Corridor and Corridor Connections stations; Pennsylvania's five-year NEVI formula apportionment is $171.5 million, per the department's program page.

The release counts nearly 50 stations built with NEVI funds, plus 41 more in planning or construction, and says NEVI-funded stations have supported over 146,000 charging sessions since the first opened in December 2023. Local planning agencies pick the areas to prioritize, but any publicly available location in the region may apply. StateCollege.com reported that the Centre County Metropolitan Planning Organization ranked lodging and destination charging as its highest priorities, followed by public parking, shopping centers, and multifamily and higher-density housing, and that Pam Adams, the Centre Region planning director, said Centre County ranks seventh of Pennsylvania's 67 counties for EV adoption.

The round follows Minnesota's September 1 opening of up to $41.2 million for Greater Minnesota fast charging (MnDOT's third NEVI round) and Wisconsin's September 8 award of $25 million to 42 sites (WEVI Connecting Corridors).