Stocks of electric vehicle charging companies have plummeted, as President Donald Trump savages the electric vehicle industry and paused an important programme for building out US charging infrastructure.

The publicly traded companies, and their privately held competitors, are suffering from slower than expected adoption of EVs, coupled with an administration that has championed little about the industry outside of Tesla, the electric-car maker helmed by Trump’s political ally Elon Musk.

The Trump administration is threatening to roll back consumer tax credits for EVs, while also potentially levying tariffs against carmakers with foreign manufacturing operations, a blow to the charging companies downstream. Last month the Federal Highway Administration said it would pause the $5bn National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) programme, which began awarding grants last year to fund a network of EV chargers. Tesla has received $31mn, making it one of the programme’s five largest recipients.