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Department of Transport announced On Friday, another $636 million in funding to 49 applicants for electric vehicle charging infrastructure and Tesla’s request for nearly $100 million to fund a big-rig charging corridor were approved again.
Tesla was not on the announced list of buyers, and its project partner, California’s South Coast Air Quality Management District, confirmed to TechCrunch that the company applied for the round.
It comes at a time when Tesla is struggling to get its big electric vehicle program off the ground. The company delivered some early versions The so-called Tesla Semi to customers like Pepsi and Frito-Lay. But its larger commercial program has yet to materialize. The company is still building a facility in Nevada where it plans to build the electric semi-truck unveiled in 2017.
Tesla first requested funding from a program known as the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) program in 2023, part of President Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure deal. It entered into force in 2021. At the time, the company hoped to use that funding, along with $24 million, to build nine electric semi-auto charging stations between its former headquarters in northern California and the southern border of Texas.
Each of those stations had to be equipped with eight 750-kW chargers for the Tesla Semi and four other chargers open to other electric trucks — a federal funding requirement.
The project, officially called “Intermediaries Supporting the Electrification of Transportation in Arizona, California and Texas,” or TESSERACT Passed in early 2024 When the Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) announced the first round of CFI awards. In that first round, 623 million dollars were allocated to 47 applicants.
FHWA awarded another $521 million to 51 applicants drawn from the same pool In August 2024. The agency also began accepting applications for a new round of funding in mid-2024.
Tesla has continued with the idea of a charging corridor even after being excluded from the first round, TechCrunch informed In April 2024. Former policy vice president Rohan Patel said at the time that some sites along the 1,800-mile route were “no-brainers, even without funding.”
After that, the status of the TESSERACT Project was uncertain, as Tesla laid off more than 10% of its workforce and, notably, destroyed the charging team.
Another round of CFI funds could theoretically be available as the bipartisan infrastructure bill provides $2.5 billion for the program. FHWAs website For the CFI program, it currently says there is a “(n) estimated date” for the next “notice of funding opportunity,” and it is unclear how the incoming Trump administration’s priorities will affect such programs.
