Tesla Semi charging corridor moving ahead despite Biden funding snub

Tesla is pushing forward with a plan to build an electric big rig charging corridor stretching from Texas to California, despite being snubbed by a lucrative federal funding program that's part of President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. But the original scope of the project could still change, TechCrunch has learned.

The company had been seeking nearly $100 million from the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) Discretionary Grant program under the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Combined with around $24 million of its own money, Tesla wanted to build nine electric semi-truck charging stations between Laredo, Texas, and Fremont, California.

The corridor, if built, would be a first-of-its-kind charging network that could enable both long-distance and regional electric trucking and help clean up a big chunk of the otherwise dirty transportation sector. Without it, though, Tesla's promise to electrify heavy-duty trucking could fall even farther behind schedule than it already is.

The project as pitched to the FHWA was called TESSERACT, which stands for «Transport Electrification Supporting Semis Operating in Arizona, California, and Texas,» according to a slide buried in a 964-page filing with the South Coast Air Quality Management District. (Tesla collaborated with SCAQMD on the application.)

But Tesla was not among the 47 recipients that the Biden administration announced in January. Collectively, those winners received $623 million to build electric vehicle charging and refueling stations across the country. This is despite Tesla winning around 13% of all other charging awards so far from the Infrastructure Act, though that has only netted the company around $17 million.

Rohan Patel, who left his VP position at Tesla last week as the company laid off 10% of its workforce, said in a message to TechCrunch that Tesla may turn to state funding opportunities, or future rounds of the CFI program. Some of the sites along the route «are no-brainers even without funding,» he said.

Image Credits: TechCrunch

The 1,800-mile route would theoretically connect Tesla's two North American vehicle factories, as well as one that is planned — but delayed — in Mexico.