Out of 210 winning NEVI applications (the amount for which we have obtained the match percentage amount), 40% of applicants have submitted a bid with the NEVI minimum 20% match. Said another way, 60% of these applications included a match of 21% or higher, with 13 percent being an applicant match of 50% or higher.
One-third (33%) of the 210 winning applications had match percentages of between 30% to 49%. And more than one-fourth (27%) had a match percentage of 40% or more.
While a match percentage of greater than 20% has not been a requirement to win NEVI awards (California being an exception, requiring a 50% match in its round 1, for which awards will soon be announced, and many states offer additional points in their scoring rubrics) — it is becoming clear that many companies see a higher match percentage as a path to increase their RFP scores and chances of winning. For companies like convenience stores and travel center chains that intend to add DC fast chargers to their sites, with or without NEVI funds, opting for a higher match percentage is a logical strategy.
And when the difference between winning and losing a specific NEVI corridor application can be just a couple of points, going with a higher match percentage may provide an applicant with just enough points to outscore other applicants in that corridor area.
This is a fascinating trend that we monitor in our NEVI database and newsletter service, and we expect that the percentage of applications with a 20% match will likely continue to decline. Even Tesla, which initially only used a 20% or 21% match, has started to include a higher match percentage in some states and applications.
