The $500 million that was wasted could have bought the taxpayer 10,000 electric cars. Just ponder on that. Where is the damn money?
You don’t get 1/10 the chargers for 1/10 the money, thats not how projects work. You need to hire people, make a plan, and execute on the plan, and all of that has upfront costs. The same in government as in business — why do you think startups need investors?
That money was wasted when the project was cancelled, not before.