In the latest round of funding allocation, the Biden administration overlooked Tesla’s bid for electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure funding — a consecutive miss for the automaker’s massive commercial EV endeavor.
The Department of Transportation announced on Friday the allocation of $636 million, to be dispersed among 49 applicants who seek to contribute to the electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Tesla’s proposed big-rig charging network, which the company earmarked for nearly $100 million, did not appear among the list of approved projects. Tesla’s business partner, the South Coast Air Quality Management District, corroborated that Tesla’s application was for this funding round.
This setback is particularly impactful for Tesla, as the company’s efforts to establish the heavily-anticipated electric big-rig, known as Tesla Semi, program is already on shaky ground. Since revealing its ambitious plans in 2017, Tesla has been able to roll out a few early models to companies including Pepsi and Frito-Lay, but the large-scale commercial program remains far from completion.
Tesla’s original plea for support from the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) initiative dates back to 2023. The request came in the wake of a bi-partisan infrastructure deal signed by President Biden. The automaker hoped to finance nine big-rig EV charging stops along the North Californian to South-Texas route, with a combination of federal funding and $24 million of Tesla’s own investment.
The project, formally coined as “Transport Electrification Supporting Semis Operating in Arizona, California, and Texas,” or TESSERACT, faced previous rejection in 2024 when the Federal Highway Administration accomplished the first CFI awards.
Looking forward, the backbone of funding from the bipartisan infrastructure law is still intact, boasting a fund of $2.5 billion. However, the next funding opportunity’s timeline remains unconfirmed, let alone the impact the incoming Trump administration might have on initiatives of this nature.
Original source: Read the full article on TechCrunch
