Congressman Keith Self Introduces the CHARGE Act to Shield America’s Electric Grid from Foreign Threats

Congressman Keith Self introduced the Cybersecurity and Hardware Assurance for Resilient Grid Electrification (CHARGE) Act. This bill protects the U.S. electrical grid from dangerous vulnerabilities created by rogue electric vehicle manufacturers and foreign adversaries - particularly China.

The push to turn millions of electric vehicles into a nationwide "distributed power resource" is moving forward rapidly. Under Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technology, EVs plugged into the grid would be called upon to dump power back into the system during peak demand. Tesla Cybertrucks, Ford F-150 Lightnings, and vehicles from eight other manufacturers are already equipped with this bidirectional capability.

While sold as a solution for renewable energy instability, this creates a serious national security risk. Every EV can receive remote over-the-air updates. If hostile actors - whether foreign governments or compromised manufacturers - gain control, a single coordinated signal could instruct thousands of vehicles to charge or discharge simultaneously. The resulting surge or drop in demand could instantly destabilize grid frequency and voltage, triggering blackouts and crippling infrastructure.

The threat grows worse as American companies retreat from the EV market while cheap Chinese electric vehicles threaten to flood the United States. These vehicles would add massive new loads to the grid while creating countless entry points for Chinese Communist Party-linked entities to exert remote influence over America's critical power infrastructure.

"The American electrical grid powers our industries, institutions, hospitals, and homes," said Congressman Self. "We cannot afford to give our adversaries an easy way to weaponize thousands of vehicles at once. The CHARGE Act ensures we secure this critical infrastructure before these vulnerabilities are exploited."

The CHARGE Act establishes strong cybersecurity and hardware standards for any EV connected to the grid and blocks high-risk foreign entities from accessing America's power system through vehicle fleets.

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