TechCrunch has learned that Tesla and three other industry partners quietly backed an application from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to win $100 million in funding to build electric truck charging stations across the state.

The award is the largest awarded by the Biden administration’s Federal Highway Administration last week in the second round of its charging and refueling infrastructure program. The CFI program distributed more than $1 billion to about 100 applicants in the first round in 2024, and has since awarded a total of $636 million to 49 applicants in this round.

TechCrunch reported earlier this week that another $97 million project backed by Tesla is focused on building an electric truck corridor between northern California and southern Texas, but in both rounds of funding None were selected. The company has been developing its own large electric truck, the Tesla Semi, for years but has yet to put the truck into commercial production.

Illinois electric vehicle official Megha Lakchaura told TechCrunch that she decided to seek CFI funding after seeing infrastructure startup TeraWatt and the New Mexico Department of Transportation win $63 million last year to build heavy-duty charging stations along the I-10 corridor.

The Illinois EPA selected Tesla, logistics real estate company Prologis, fleet electrification company Gage Zero and truck stop giant Pilot from those applicants in 2024 and consolidated their requests into a single application for the CFI program.

Rakchara said Illinois is already building passenger vehicle fast-charging stations using a mix of state and federal funds, but "there's not enough money for heavy-duty or medium-duty" electrification. The agency put out a call for partners in June 2024 to help make the app, a move that Lakchaura said resulted in "a very good response from the market."

Lakchaura said the agency requested about $126 million in CFI funding on behalf of the partners. Prologis is asking for $60 million, Tesla is asking for $40 million, Gage Zero is asking for $16 million, and Pilot is asking for $10 million. Each partner also offered to contribute some of its own capital to fund the construction of the charging stations. Prologis offered to pay $18 million, Tesla offered to pay $19 million, Gage Zero offered to pay $4 million, and Pilot offered to pay $2.5 million.

Since FHWA's allocation is slightly lower than the requested amount, Lakchaura said there is still some work to be done to determine the amount that will be allocated to each partner. The funding will help the state add 345 charging ports and vehicle stalls at 14 sites, with chargers ranging from as low as 150kW to as high as 1MW.

“Most of the development is happening along the coast and nothing is really happening in the Midwest, which is not good for long-haul trucking,” Lakchaura said. "We believe this center may be of national importance."