As the rate of electric vehicle adoption heats up across the country, the federal government wants the construction of new EV charging stations to pick up the pace.

On Sept. 19, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) adopted a Department of Energy Electric Vehicle Charging Station Categorical Exclusion (CE) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The new policy will accelerate the approval of new EV charging stations.

The DOT intends to apply the CE to a broad and inclusive umbrella of projects. It includes any DOT EV charging station project undertaken directly by DOT, any EV charger action requiring an approval by DOT or any project that is financed in whole or in part through federal funds made available by DOT.

Like any other construction project, charging stations face their own share of bureaucratic hurdles. The newly adopted exclusion will remove them by allowing for faster environmental review processes for state and local governments working to build out EV charging networks.

The new exemptions will also have the effect of widening and easing the process of CE guidelines that are already in place. The DOT notes that existing CEs presently cover many EV projects, but they require a greater understanding of NEPA that nontraditional grantees do not have. With that in mind, the new CE rules will help entities that have received federal funding for EV charging development but who are not familiar with the existing CEs.

The DOT reports it has made over $7.5 billion available for investment in the buildout of EV charging networks. The new CEs will apply to most of those funds.

The rule adoption is in line with the Biden administration’s goal for an expanded national EV charging network. Biden has publicly committed to building out a national network of 500,000 EV chargers by 2030.

In support of that goal, the DOT previously announced the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, a $5 billion initiative to create a coast-to-coast network of EV chargers focused on major highways that support the majority of long-distance trips.

According to the National Renewable Energy Lab, the United States will need as many as 28 million EV chargers by 2030 to support the growing adoption of electric vehicles. The country currently only has about 130,000 chargers.