PennDOT Commits $11M in Federal Funds for Electric Vehicle Charging Stations in Central Pa.

A federally funded program to build out electric vehicle charging infrastructure in the commonwealth will direct $11 million for new community charging stations in a 26-county area of Central Pennsylvania, PennDOT and local officials announced at a press conference on Tuesday morning at the State College Municipal Building.

Local governments, businesses and other publicly-accessible organizations in Centre and other counties in the region can apply for funding through March 12.

The investment is part of the Community Charging phase of Pennsylvania’s $171.5 million allocation from the federal National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program created by the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The commonwealth’s first phase of NEVI funding has focused on building out the network of charging stations on interstates and interstate lookalikes across Pennsylvania.

“It won’t be long before we have over 50 charging stations [through the NEVI program], and we have will have full build-out on the interstate network, meaning gaps no greater than 50 miles on our interstates and on interstate lookalikes across the commonwealth,” PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll said, adding that another 41 are in development and that Pennsylvania leads the nation in deployment of NEVI funds.

Now the $100 million Community Charging phase aims to bring the infrastructure into the places where people live, work and visit. The central region is the third where funding has been made available, with approximately $34 million open to the five-county southeast region and $25 million to the 17-county west region.

PennDOT is working with community planning agencies to determine specific areas within the region to prioritize for investment, but all publicly available locations within the region are eligible to apply.

Locally, Centre County is seventh for electrical vehicle adoption among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, even though it is only 28th for total vehicle registrations, said Pam Adams, Centre Region planning director and secretary of the Centre County Metropolitan Planning Organization.

“What it tells us is EVs are already here, and we need to be thoughtful about where we’re planning them and support them for our community members and visitors,” Adams said.

Over the last two years, the CCMPO has been working to understand where electric vehicle charging would be most useful, Adams said. The organization formed a subcommittee of community members and subject matter experts, surveyed municipalities, interviewed 34 representatives from different organizations, and in the spring of 2025 held three community listening sessions in Pleasant Gap, Philipsburg and State College.

The CCMPO used community input and transportation data to develop priorities submitted to PennDOT. The organization ranked lodging and destination charging as the highest priorities, followed by public parking, shopping centers and multifamily and higher density housing.

“What we heard was that it is more important than just getting people from point A to point B,” Adams said. “It’s really about supporting our local communities and our downtown businesses and community destinations.

“What we heard is communities want to be part of the opportunity that EV infrastructure can bring.”

State College Mayor Ezra Nanes said it was fitting for Tuesday’s announcement to be made in State College, “a regional center for education, for employment, for commerce and tourism” where thousands travel from across the county, commonwealth and country each day.

“Community charging is therefore an economic development opportunity as well as a transportation investment,” Nanes said. “When people know that they can reliably charge here, it makes State College a more accessible destination. It supports our downtown and our local businesses, and it helps ensure that our community is ready for the transportation needs of the future.”

He added that for electric vehicles to be a practical option for more people, charging must be reliable and convenient, and for students, renters and visitors, charging at their place of residence may not be an option.

“Community charging can help close that gap and make electric transportation accessible to a wider range of people,” Nanes said.

State College has implemented electric vehicle charging in the Beaver Avenue Parking Garage, and Borough Manager Tom Fountaine said the new funding may bring new opportunities.

“This is an important aspect of State College for many years,” Fountaine said. “We’ve had EV charging in our public off-street parking system here, and hope to be able to expand that as well going forward. So this is really wonderful news for us.”

PennDOT has released a survey at www.pa.gov/evcommunity for interested organizations to connect with electric vehicle charging station builders and operators to partner with on submissions.

The NEVI program can fund up to 80% of the cost to build a charging station. PennDOT expects to announce funding awards for the central region in May or June of 2027.

Counties in the central region for Community Charging are Bedford, Blair, Bradford, Cambria, Cameron, Centre, Clearfield, Clinton, Columbia, Elk, Fulton, Huntingdon, Jefferson, Juniata, Lycoming, McKean, Mifflin, Montour, Northumberland, Potter, Snyder, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, Union and Wyoming.