The Joint Office of Energy and Technology, an unusual federal office established by a bipartisan bill in 2021, was severely affected by efforts to shrink the government, and now it seems to be mostly on paper.

As we all know, the Joint Office was established as a bridge between the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Energy. Their overlapping area: electric vehicles. One of the office’s main tasks is to support the launch of federally funded EV chargers. Electric cars are the top priority of the Biden administration and the main goal of the Trump administration's rollback.

But while the Trump administration deliberately revoked or reversed many of Biden’s EV policies, the joint office did not appear to have been demolished for dismantling: no orders were executed, and no signs of office-specific layoffs. Instead, efforts to cut work across governments and freeze work related to climate change seem to have been combined to push employees into the door.

At its peak, the office employs about 50 employees, including federal employees, as well as contractors and researchers. (People numbers vary because some people allocate time between different agencies, or borrowed from other places in the government).

But after the latest round of delayed resignations, no full-time federal employees remained after people were encouraged to resign in exchange for months of salary. According to several people who recently left the office. (They asked NPR not to worry about their severance payments or previous projects that might be retaliated if they speak out publicly.)

“The joint office is not necessarily the target,” said Gabe Klein, founding director of the joint office. “It will be caught in the firefight and will reduce itself.”

Experiment on decomposing silos

Klein called the joint office “a entrepreneurship within the government”, a tribute to its recent invention and its anomalous nature.

The law that established it, known as the Infrastructure Investment and Employment Act, specifies billions of dollars in EV chargers, especially along highways.

Highways are the area of ​​the Ministry of Transport. However, electricity is the Ministry of Energy.

Phil Jones, executive director of the Transportation Electrification Alliance and a long-time EV policy advocate, said the two agencies “never really talked to each other.” “Of course they didn’t plan Together. ”

However, Congress wants to cooperate. Klein said the joint office was the first of its kind at the federal level.

For four years, the team has been engaged in EV charger reliability, research and planning. Then, President Trump was re-elected.

Slowly reduce

It's no secret that Trump is keen on turning Biden's EV policy - although his embrace of EV CEO Elon Musk is a wildcard for people trying to predict how the administration will eventually adopt EVS and charge the infrastructure.

Early on, Trump started a process of rewriting regulations that promote electric vehicles and freezes federal funds for many chargers. But former staff at the joint office said they hope they can at least continue to do some of the work, which touches everything from cybersecurity to technical standards.

"We know they will turn to us for help, but we think our statutory existence will help us," said a former staff member.

But despite no clear campaign against the office, it seems to have died, perhaps by chance.

In February, like other federal employees, everyone in the joint office was invited to resign and keep their salary until September, and some did. The former employee said he also laid off a trial staff, which hit the young team.

Meanwhile, many of the team’s projects (or funds provided to them) are frozen or stuck, especially anything related to climate change. It affects contractors and researchers who must do other jobs as well as employees.

"You're almost staring at the computer and not working," Klein said. "It's very exciting for those who are motivated."

There are also authorizations for return that affect some employees who are employed to work remotely, former employees said. Some are concerned about future layoffs or reorganizations, or fear that they will eventually be fired if they don’t resign. Add everything up, people who previously decided to reconsider when the invitation to resign in April.

Those former staff said by then, there were less than 12 full-time federal staff members remaining. Now everyone seems to have resigned. In most cases, their last day was last Friday.

The Joint Office still has a website, but it no longer lists any leaders or employees.

Frustrated that, like Klein and other members of the office, their work is hindered is a topic.

"I personally want to do something that will have an impact in the next few years," said Steve Lommele, referring to global competitiveness - the innovation of electric vehicles in China has raised concerns about whether American companies can compete - and supports the establishment of a national electric vehicle charging system to make the drive a more viable option.

That's what the joint office has to do. But when he pondered leaving his role, he thought, “I don’t know if I have the ability to do this in the federal government.”

A former joint office staff who spoke with NPR said some researchers and contractors will continue to work on co-working projects, but in one agency or another, rather than in a hybrid space established by Congress.

When asked about the change, the Department of Energy provided a statement, partially reading: “The department is conducting a department-wide review to ensure that all activities comply with the law, comply with applicable court orders, and meet the priorities of the Trump administration.”

The Ministry of Transport did not return a request for comment.

The demolished "bridge"

The task of the joint office is to support the construction of electric vehicle charging systems nationwide. Only a small percentage of the system will receive federal funding, and the office is committed to making the entire network more reliable, with a focus on technical standards and shared protocols that reduce glitches when the car and charger interact. Target? Regardless of the company's technology they use, they have to charge more consistent work and are frustrated with drivers.

Many of this involve getting people together to talk more effectively.

A coalition formed by the joint office will collect auto companies and paid companies, hardware experts and software experts to remove the barriers that make so many EV chargers unreliable. As Jones said, the Joint Office’s Technical Assistance Program brings people in the Transportation Department with the Utilities Commission and the Office of Energy, as Jones said, “dedicated to tough topics and trying to get things done.”

Some of this work has been going on under the Trump administration, while other joint office work has been ruined. Most notably, the Joint Office provides research and support for federally funded charging programs, known as the NEVI program. It's a complex plan that includes federal funding, state plans and implementation, which has been widely criticized for building chargers. At present, the funds have been frozen and their fate is uncertain.

One staff member who left believed that researchers and contractors could still do most of the joint office work within the federal government of the U.S. DOE or DOT.

Another argues that the private sector needs to take the job in: “We have the baton, and now we need to return it.”

Either way, both think Someone Researchers and companies, business competitors and allies, state and federal governments, and engineers with diverse backgrounds need to be brought together to elaborate on the details of building an effective EV charger.

Nick Nigro runs Atlas Public Policy, a policy and data research company. The joint office is a valuable bridge, and if it is indeed the independent office disappearing, it would be a real loss.

But, he said: "We've made progress on issues like this without a joint office. We'll be there. Whether it's there. Just - it can be slower and it can be more cost-effective. Given the current government goals, it's ironic."