WASHINGTON DC – The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), which manages all federal government buildings and has been nicknamed by some as the largest landlord in the world, is reportedly planning to shut down its EV chargers and offload some or all of its EVs.
The move would take about 8,000 charging connectors and thousands of EVs out of service, according to a report from The Verge, citing a GSA email and a source familiar with the plans.
There’s nothing to directly indicate that the decision to shut down chargers comes from Tesla CEO Elon Musk. But the term “not mission critical” echoes language often used by Musk, who has been arbitrarily cutting federal spending and jobs in his role as an advisor to the Trump Administration. And, if this is overseen by Musk, it directly conflicts with the CEO’s longtime efforts suggesting that Teslas would make good public-service vehicles with lower operating costs.
If so, it might amount to an exceptionally strange juxtaposition for Elon Musk. The Tesla CEO has spent years admirably facing down Tesla short-sellers on the viability of EVs and selling the public on how EVs cost less to own and use over the long run—even claiming, perhaps optimistically, at various points that Tesla’s EVs would be appreciating assets. Musk is now managing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which according to the Trump administration seeks “to modernize federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.”
If running an EV and keeping electricity flowing to its Level 2 charger isn’t the technology that maximizes cost savings for the fleet over the long run, as Musk has argued for years, the Tesla CEO might need to update some of its core selling points for EVs—or have a conversation with shareholders.
The news of the charger shutdown and EV purge was first reported by Colorado Public Radio last week, which reported that chargers at the Denver Federal Center were due to be shut down. The Verge then reported Friday that it had obtained the GSA email telling federal workers to begin the process of shutting down all EV chargers overseen by the agency, which is reportedly due to be formally announced internally next week.
The GSA currently operates or hosts various Level 2 AC chargers across the country, totaling about 8,000 connectors. They’re mostly there to charge government-owned EVs, but they also charge personal vehicles of federal employees, according to The Verge. Examples of charger locations seen by Green Car Reports as under GSA control that might affect public accessibility might include publicly accessible locations at national parks and VA hospitals.
Highway fast-charging infrastructure already frozen
If true, it will be the second significant impact by the Trump administration on EV chargers that were essentially already paid for. It froze EV charger funding earlier this month, pending new rules not yet released, something automakers have already rallied against. California plans to move ahead with its own EV charger buildout despite the funding freeze; it’s also promised to offer purchase incentives for most EVs (likely not including Teslas), equivalent to the current federal tax credit, should the administration eliminate that.
“As GSA has worked to align with the current administration, we have received direction that all GSA owned charging stations are not mission critical,” the email reads.
There’s nothing to directly indicate that the decision to shut down chargers comes from Tesla CEO Elon Musk. But the term “not mission critical” echoes language often used by Musk, who has been arbitrarily cutting federal spending and jobs in his role as an advisor to the Trump Administration. And, if this is overseen by Musk, it directly conflicts with the CEO’s longtime efforts suggesting that Teslas would make good public-service vehicles with lower operating costs.
