Pennsylvania has picked the winners of the first regional round of its NEVI Community Charging program. On Oct. 28, 2026, PennDOT announced 71 awards worth more than $37 million in federal National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) formula funds. The money covers Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties. PennDOT says the awards will pay for about 515 new public charging ports.

None of these ports exist yet. The awards are funded, not built. Several approval steps still sit between the announcement and a working charger, and PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll told WHYY that construction is expected to start in 2027 or 2028.

The numbers

Here is what the state's announcement and its program page report:

  • Awards: 71, totaling more than $37 million, announced Oct. 28, 2026.
  • Recipients: 71 companies and local governments, according to WHYY.
  • New public ports: about 515.
  • Current regional baseline: close to 1,900 public ports in the five-county region, per PennDOT figures cited by WHYY.
  • Projected increase: PennDOT says the awards raise the region's public charger count by 27% and Philadelphia's by 53%.
  • Funding source: federal NEVI formula funds, under the program's Community Charging phase.

The regional figure checks out. Adding about 515 ports to roughly 1,900 is an increase of about 27%. The sources don't give Philadelphia's current port count, so the 53% figure can't be turned into a number of ports.

Where the chargers are planned

WHYY reports that the planned ports will go at shopping centers, apartment buildings and along streets. Sites it names include:

  • nearly a dozen Philadelphia Parking Authority lots
  • the Penn Museum
  • Benton Court Apartments
  • Grays Ferry Shopping Center
  • a Wawa in far Northeast Philadelphia
  • Webb Plaza

The sources reviewed for this article don't give charger power levels, connector types, operators or pricing for individual sites. ChargerFeed is not reporting those details until project-level information is published.

Advertised at $34 million, awarded at $37 million

When the Southeastern round opened in February 2026, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) said about $34 million was available for the five-county region. DVRPC also said local planning agencies would help prioritize locations and that all publicly available locations were eligible. The October announcement puts the awarded total at more than $37 million.

Neither PennDOT nor DVRPC explains the difference of roughly $3 million in the materials reviewed here. They don't say whether the money came from another round's share, a reallocation or a change in the round's terms. We're noting the gap without guessing at the reason.

How this round fits the larger program

PennDOT describes Community Charging as directing more than $100 million in federal funds in total. The money is split across four regional rounds in 2026: Southeastern, Western, Central and Eastern. That's on top of about $58 million the state had already put into its Alternative Fuel Corridors and Corridor Connections rounds, which focused on highways.

WHYY reports that the earlier corridor rounds distributed $58.4 million for 88 projects, and that 54 of those stations are up and running. PennDOT told WHYY that this is the most NEVI-funded chargers built in any state. That ranking is PennDOT's claim, and the sources here don't independently confirm it.

The Southeastern round was published on Feb. 19, 2026, and closed to proposals on Aug. 25, 2026. Its awards came about two months after it closed.

What happens between now and construction

PennDOT's program page sets out the next steps for Southeastern awardees:

  • November 2026: conditional award notifications
  • November 2026 to January 2027: environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
  • January to February 2027: agreements
  • 2027 or 2028: construction expected to begin, according to Carroll

The word "conditional" in the first step matters. A project counted in the 515 ports still has to get through environmental review and sign an agreement before it is a contracted build. The sources don't say how many of the earlier corridor awards dropped out or changed along the way, so there's no basis here for predicting how many of the 71 awards will be built as announced.

What It Means for Drivers

Nothing changes at the plug yet. As of the Oct. 28, 2026 announcement, these 515 ports are funded, not open. Public charging in the five-county region is still the roughly 1,900 ports PennDOT counts today. Construction isn't expected to start before 2027, and some projects may not start until 2028.

The planned chargers are mostly in neighborhoods, not on highways. The earlier NEVI rounds targeted highway corridors. This round funds places people already go or live: shopping centers, apartment buildings, curbside spots and parking authority lots, according to WHYY. That could help drivers who can't charge at home, such as apartment residents and people who park on the street. That's an inference from the site types named, though. The sources don't make it as a promise.

Philadelphia gets the largest relative increase. PennDOT puts the city's growth at 53%, about twice the regional figure of 27%.

Prices, speeds and operators haven't been announced. The sources include no per-kWh or per-minute rates, power levels or network names for these sites. Drivers should check the operator's own listing once a site actually opens.

Site hosts and installers: the sources describe a public funding program, not installation requirements. Any site work is a job for a licensed electrician following the equipment manufacturer's instructions.

The next rounds

The Western Region round was published on June 12, 2026, and its online proposal platform opened on Sept. 8. Proposals are due Nov. 20, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. EST, and PennDOT expects to announce awards in January or February 2027. Proposals for the Central and Eastern rounds are due March 12, 2027. Once those three rounds are awarded, the full statewide total under Community Charging, and how it compares with the more than $100 million PennDOT describes, will be clear.

Sources