Department of Transportation announced. An additional $636 million will be awarded Friday to 49 applicants for an electric vehicle charging system, beating Tesla's application for nearly $100 million in funding for its massive charging corridor.
Tesla's name was not on the released list of recipients, but its partner for the project, California's South Coast Air Quality Management District, confirmed to TechCrunch that the company applied for this round.
The failure comes as Tesla struggles to execute its electric rig program. The company sent some. Earlier versions It's called the Tesla Semi for customers like Pepsi and Frito-Lay. But its big commercial plan has yet to materialize. The company is still building a plant in Nevada where it plans to build its electric semi-truck, which it unveiled in 2017.
Tesla first requested funding in 2023 from the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) program, which is part of President Biden's bipartisan infrastructure deal. Signed into law in 2021.. Meanwhile, the company expects to use that funding, along with $24 million of its own money, to build nine electric truck charging stations from its former headquarters in Northern California to the southern Texas border.
Each of those stations must be equipped with eight 750kW chargers for the Tesla Semi and four other chargers that will be open for other electric trucks, a requirement for federal funding.
“Arizona, The project, officially named “Tesseract,” or “Tesseract,” is a project that electrifies transportation in California and Texas. Passed in early 2024. When the U.S. Department of Transportation (FHWA) announces the first round of CFI awards. The first round raised $623 million in funding for 47 applicants.
FHWA awarded an additional $521 million to 51 applicants drawing from the same pool. August 2024. The agency began accepting applications for new funding in mid-2024.
Even after Tesla left TechCrunch in the first round, it continued to pursue the charging corridor idea. reported. In April 2024, Former policy VP Rohan Patel said some areas along the 1,800-mile route were unfunded but a no-brainer.
Tesla has laid off more than 10% of its workforce, specifically; He broke up his charging team..
The bipartisan infrastructure legislation allocates $2.5 billion to the program, so in theory more CFI funds will be available. FHWA's website It currently says that there is “(n)o estimated date” for the next “Notice of Funding Opportunity” for the CFI program. It's unclear how the incoming Trump administration's priorities will affect such programs.