The General Services Administration (GSA), the agency responsible for managing buildings owned by the federal government, has begun the process of shutting down hundreds of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations across the country. The move, which has been described as "not mission critical", will see the GSA cancel current network contracts that keep the EV chargers operational, and eventually "turn off at the breaker" the stations.

The decision, which is expected to be officially announced internally next week, will affect approximately 8,000 plugs that are currently available for government-owned EVs as well as federal employees' personally owned vehicles. The GSA is also planning to offload newly purchased EVs, although it is unclear whether these vehicles will be sold or simply put away in storage.

The news comes as a surprise, given the Biden administration's efforts to promote the adoption of electric vehicles. Under the administration, the GSA was tasked with implementing the president's plan to phase out the federal government's use of gas-powered vehicles in favor of EVs. The federal government owns approximately 650,000 vehicles, more than half of which were to be replaced with EVs. The GSA had ordered over 58,000 EVs and begun installing more than 25,000 charging ports, adding to the 8,000 already in use across the government.

The decision is seen as a setback for the country's EV adoption efforts, particularly in light of the Trump administration's previous moves to roll back EV policies. President Donald Trump had campaigned on a promise to eliminate the federal EV tax credit and other incentives for consumers, and had halted a $5 billion program to install new public EV chargers across the country.

The environmental implications of the decision are significant, as transportation, including personal vehicle usage, accounts for about 28 percent of all US greenhouse gas emissions. EVs, on the other hand, generate no tailpipe pollution, and are seen as a crucial step in reducing the country's carbon footprint.

The GSA's decision has also raised questions about the future of the federal government's vehicle fleet. It is unclear whether other federal agencies will follow the GSA's lead and shut down their own EV charging stations, although many of these agencies tend to use the GSA's EV chargers for their own plug-in vehicles.

The move is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to reduce the federal government's footprint, with the GSA also planning to sell approximately 500 buildings as part of its efforts to "gut" the federal government.

As the news breaks, many are left wondering about the implications of this decision on the country's efforts to transition to a more sustainable transportation system. With the GSA's EV charging stations set to go dark, it remains to be seen how this will impact the adoption of electric vehicles in the US.