TLDR
Michigan's third NEVI funding round closed August 7 with $51 million available under new flexibility rules earned by hitting 'fully built out' status, while New York opened a separate $35 million Charge Ready NY program on August 14 for public sector entities to install Level 2 chargers, with proposals due October 20. General Motors said on August 13 that every 2027 Chevrolet, Cadillac, and GMC EV will ship with a native NACS charging port instead of CCS1, ending the need for an adapter at Tesla Superchargers. EVgo and GM opened a 12-stall, 350 kW flagship fast-charging hub at a Meijer store in Warren, Michigan on August 11, part of a nationwide flagship program that already has more than 40 stalls open. Separately, Pilot, GM, and EVgo announced their travel-center charging network has passed 300 locations and 1,300 stalls across 40 states. And Tesla switched on vehicle-to-load for all Model Y Premium trims on August 15, letting owners power outlets from the car's battery with an $80 adapter.
Michigan Closes a Flexible NEVI Round as New York Opens $35 Million for Public Chargers
Michigan's Department of Transportation closed applications on August 7 for the third round of its National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure funding, offering $51 million with rules that look different from the first two rounds. Michigan hit the Federal Highway Administration's "fully built out" certification after rounds one and two, which frees the remaining money from the program's original 50-mile corridor spacing requirement. Round three can fund medium-duty and fleet charging, close geographic gaps, and reward proposals that include at least one 200 kW-plus port sized for vehicles over 40 feet. MDOT is reviewing applications now and expects to notify awardees this fall.
New York opened a separate pot of money the following week. On August 14, Governor Hochul announced $35 million for the new Charge Ready NY, Large Public Sector Project program, run by NYSERDA. It funds New York state agencies, local governments, and public university systems to install Level 2 chargers on publicly owned land for general public use, with individual awards running from $1 million to $15 million. NYSERDA will hold an informational webinar on September 15, and proposals are due October 20 at 3 p.m.
What this means for property owners. Neither program funds private commercial or residential projects directly, but both are useful signals. Michigan's "fully built out" flexibility shows how NEVI money is shifting from highway corridor coverage toward fleet and gap-filling projects, a pattern other fully built out states are likely to follow. And if you're a New York municipality, state agency, or public university weighing a charging project on land you control, the October 20 deadline is real money with a six-week runway to prepare a proposal.
GM Puts a Native NACS Port on Every 2027 EV
General Motors announced on August 13 that its entire 2027 model-year EV lineup, spanning Chevrolet, Cadillac, and GMC, will come with a native North American Charging Standard (NACS, also called SAE J3400) port instead of CCS1. That covers the Cadillac Escalade IQ, Escalade IQL, Lyriq, Optiq, and Vistiq; the Chevrolet Bolt EV, Blazer EV, Equinox EV, and Silverado EV; and the GMC Hummer EV Pickup, Hummer EV SUV, and Sierra EV.
Most current GM EVs still need an adapter. Apart from the 2026 Cadillac Optiq and the reborn Chevrolet Bolt, which already ship with native NACS, GM's 2026 lineup still uses CCS1 and requires a $275 NACS adapter to reach a Tesla Supercharger. Owners of 2027 NACS-equipped GM EVs get the reverse tradeoff: no adapter needed at NACS chargers, but a NACS-to-CCS adapter to use a CCS-only fast charger.
What this means for property owners. If you're installing commercial charging hardware today, this is one more data point that NACS is becoming the default connector on new vehicles, not just a Tesla-only standard. Sites built with dual CCS1 and NACS connectors, which several networks have already standardized on, are the safer bet for staying compatible with whatever GM, Ford, Hyundai, and other automakers ship over the next two model years.
EVgo and GM Open a Flagship Charging Hub Outside Detroit
EVgo opened a new flagship fast-charging station on August 11 at a Meijer store in Warren, Michigan, directly across from GM's Global Technical Center. The site has 12 stalls with both CCS and NACS connectors, charges at up to 350 kW, and includes an overhead canopy with pull-through stalls sized for vehicles towing trailers. It was developed by EVgo in partnership with Meijer and with support from GM.
It's part of a broader retail buildout. EVgo's flagship format, defined by high power, larger stall counts, and siting next to shopping and dining, now has more than 40 stalls open nationwide, with more than 100 expected online by the end of 2026 across additional sites in California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, and Texas.
What this means for commercial property owners. A retailer anchor, an automaker relationship, and a charging network combining on one site is becoming a repeatable formula rather than a one-off. If you're a grocery or big-box retail landlord evaluating whether charging pencils out, the pull-through design for trailers and the grouping near GM's own campus point to a specific answer: site charging where dwell time and destination traffic already overlap, not just wherever land is available.
Pilot's Travel-Center Charging Network Passes 300 Locations
Pilot Company, GM, and EVgo announced their joint fast-charging network has surpassed 300 travel-center locations and 1,300 stalls across 40 states, reaching roughly 75% of the contiguous United States. The companies added 50 sites across 25 states in the first half of 2026 alone and are now more than halfway to a stated goal of 2,000 stalls at up to 500 locations.
What this means for property owners. Travel-center charging is built for a different trip pattern than retail or workplace charging: drivers stopping for a break on a longer route rather than parking for an hour of shopping. If you're weighing a highway-adjacent commercial site, the pace of this buildout, 50 new sites in six months, is a reasonable planning benchmark for how fast a well-capitalized network can move once it has a site under contract.
Tesla Adds Vehicle-to-Load to the Model Y Premium
Tesla enabled vehicle-to-load, or V2L, for all Model Y Premium trims in the US on August 15. Owners can now buy an $80 outlet adapter that plugs into Tesla's Gen 3 Mobile Connector and draws up to 2.4 kW (120 volts, 20 amps) from the car's battery to power outlets, letting the vehicle run tools, small appliances, or camping gear. The feature does not work on earlier Model Y units built before Tesla added the needed internal hardware.
V2L is not the same as V2G. Vehicle-to-load powers external devices directly from the car; it does not sell power back to the grid or interact with a utility program the way the vehicle-to-grid pilots covered in past issues do. It is a simpler, lower-power capability that most bidirectional-capable EVs already support in some form.
What this means for homeowners. An $80 adapter is a low-cost way to get portable backup power for small loads, not a whole-house backup solution. If you were already considering a Model Y Premium and have wondered whether it can double as backup power for a sump pump or a few essentials during an outage, this closes that gap without requiring a home charger upgrade or a utility program enrollment.
By the Numbers
$51 million: Michigan's third NEVI funding round, closed to applications August 7, 2026, with awards expected this fall.
$35 million: New York's new Charge Ready NY, Large Public Sector Project program, opened August 14, 2026, with proposals due October 20.
12: Charging stalls at EVgo and GM's new 350 kW flagship station in Warren, Michigan, opened August 11, 2026, part of a network with more than 40 flagship stalls live nationwide.
300+: Travel-center locations in Pilot, GM, and EVgo's joint charging network, spanning 1,300 stalls across 40 states.
2.4 kW: Peak output of Tesla's new $80 vehicle-to-load adapter for Model Y Premium, enabled August 15, 2026.
253,319: Public EV charging ports across 82,309 locations in the US as of June 2026, per the Department of Energy's Alternative Fuels Data Center.
Sources: Michigan Department of Transportation (NEVI Round 3 press release, April 6, 2026, and RFP documents), Clean Fuels Michigan and electrive.com (Round 3 coverage), Charged EVs, Governor Kathy Hochul's office (Charge Ready NY, Large Public Sector Project announcement, August 14, 2026), LongIsland.com, North Country Now, and Green Energy Times (New York coverage), General Motors (news.gm.com, NACS charging announcement, August 13, 2026), GM Authority, Digital Trends, Electrek, and The Electric Viking (GM NACS coverage), EVgo and Meijer (joint press release via GlobeNewswire and newsroom.meijer.com, August 11-12, 2026), GM Authority, Automotive News, Forbes, and The Shelby Report (EVgo/GM Meijer coverage), Pilot Company (newsroom.pilotcompany.com, August 4, 2026), NACS/Convenience.org, GM Authority, Chain Store Age, and InsideEVs (Pilot network coverage), Teslarati, Electrek, The Driven, and Not a Tesla App (Tesla V2L coverage, August 15, 2026), U.S. Department of Energy Alternative Fuels Data Center (public charging infrastructure data, June 2026). evcharginghelp.com is editorially independent and receives no compensation from any company mentioned.
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