The U.S. state of Illinois has been granted almost $20 million to help several areas transition to electric school buses, as part of a program within President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) announced on Friday that it has been awarded $19.9 million to purchase and deploy 70 electric school buses and to construct additional electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, as detailed in a press release. The funding comes from the IRA’s Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicles Grant Program, allowing the state to deploy replace retired internal combustion engine (ICE) buses with electric versions across nine Illinois school districts.
In addition to deploying the electric buses under the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant, the state plans to use the funding to help build charging stations for the electric vehicles (EVs), along with providing workforce training to help service and support the tech as it rolls out. Additionally, the ISBE will be able to hire two full-time staff members to help support the implementation of the grant and to work with school districts on additional clean energy programming.
RELATED: Michigan gets funding for electric school buses in eight districts
“With this funding, we’re building on our progress toward a more sustainable future by providing nine school districts with the resources to advance our clean energy goals,” says Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. “Through the Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicles Duty Grant program, these districts will receive electric school buses, charging infrastructure, and workforce training — reducing harmful emissions and improving air quality. Thanks to our federal and local partners, we’re creating healthier and cleaner environments for students and communities across the state.”
The release also details that the EPA reports as many as 3 million Class 6 and Class 7 vehicles are currently being used in the U.S., many of which emit high levels of a combination of greenhouse gases, fine particulates, nitrogen oxides, and other harmful gases.
“Clean transportation solutions not only create healthier living and learning environments for our students but also save money for our school districts and taxpayers,” writes Dr. Tony Sanders, State Superintendent of Education. “I am proud of our staff here at the Illinois State Board of Education for winning this competitive grant and securing this valuable investment in Illinois’ clean energy future.”
The first Illinois school districts to get electric buses
- Forest Park School District 91: 5 school buses
- Franklin Park School District 84: 3 school buses
- Hazel Crest School District 152.5: 1 school bus
- Joliet Township High School District 204: 10 school buses
- Lincolnshire-Prairie View District 103: 4 school buses
- Marengo Union Elementary CSD 165: 2 school buses
- Township High School District 113 (Highland Park): 3 school buses
- Troy Community Consolidated School District 30-C: 32 school buses
- Zion-Benton Township High School District 126: 10 school buses
Along with the nine districts getting funding through the ISBE grant, three other Illinois school districts were awarded direct funding through the EPA’s Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicles Grant Program, according to the release. These include Grayslake Community Consolidated School District 46, North Chicago CUSD 187, and Zion Elementary School District 6.
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California EV adoption driving steady decline in emissions: study
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New York City Comptroller Brad Lander is urging the NYC Law Department to sue Tesla for securities violations related to CEO Elon Musk’s involvement in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Lander said the basis for the potential litigation lies on “material misstatements from Tesla claiming that CEO Elon Musk spends significant time on the company and is highly active in its management, despite his helming the Trump Administration’s DOGE initiative.”
🚨 NEWS: New York City Comptroller Brad Lander wants to sue Tesla by claiming CEO Elon Musk’s role as the head of DOGE is hurting the stock.
Lander said that Musk was “effectively quitting his job at Tesla” by assuming the role with DOGE. pic.twitter.com/p9eMq9mMbr
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) April 1, 2025
It is a common complaint amongst some Tesla shareholders who are less than enthusiastic about Musk’s involvement in DOGE. Some feel as if Musk is not concerned about Tesla, especially as the stock has dropped over 28 percent this year. However, Musk has continued to double down on his position within the U.S. government.
Nevertheless, Musk’s position in Tesla is still very apparent. He headed an All-Hands meeting just two weeks ago that showed his commitment to the company as he outlined future plans and even joked to employees that they should hold onto their stock.
However, Lander believes Musk’s involvement has hurt New York City pension systems, which have lost over $300 million so far this year. He said:
“In less than three months, Tesla stock has lost nearly 40% of its value, with losses over $300 million for the New York City pension systems. We have long expressed concerns that the Tesla board has failed to provide independent oversight, or to require that Musk – or someone else – serve as a full-time CEO.”
Lander went on to say that “material misstatements from Tesla misled investors about his role at the company,” stating this was his reasoning for calling on the Law Department to file securities litigation against the company.
He believes taking it to court will force changes and will return Tesla shares back to a level that will benefit pension systems in New York City:
“Shareholder litigation could force the changes in governance and leadership that Tesla needs, and help recover some of our pension systems’ losses. Otherwise, we may need to consider divestment.”
The pension systems would be able to pursue financial damages to cover losses and seek governance changes, it says.
Tesla is testing a Model 3 with some mysterious cameras, potentially hinting toward the imminent release of the Cybercab and robotaxi platform in the United States.
After Tesla unveiled the Cybercab in Los Angeles in early October, the company suggested that it would be on its way to launching driverless rides in the U.S. in the near future.
Now, Tesla is inching toward a driverless ride-hailing service in Austin, Texas, among some other potential locations, but it is still working toward a platform that is robust enough to handle it.
Although the company’s Full Self-Driving suite is one of the more advanced on the market, Tesla is still working to accomplish what it feels is a mode of transportation that is safer than a human driver. The robotaxi and Cybercab rollouts will likely accomplish that, but there is still work to be done beforehand.
Now, Tesla is testing a Model 3 in the U.S. that was spotted in several different locations in the Northeastern part of the country, as cameras are seen on this vehicle in locations that are not necessarily typical for what it offers currently:
🚨 A user on r/TeslaMotors spotted this Model 3 with some interesting and never-before-seen camera locations.
Possible Cybercab or Next-Gen testing? pic.twitter.com/J6W6cKCiL9
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) March 31, 2025
Another one is seen here:
@teslascope Tesla spotted collecting Cybercab data WITH front bumper cam in Boston, MA. (Potentially different front cameras too.) Is Tesla currently including bumper cam video in training data? Will this be required for Unsupervised? pic.twitter.com/5rHPOp2tBe
— Dylan (@Dylan02939106) March 31, 2025
Interestingly, we saw similar camera locations on the Cybercab at the event in October. Tesla is not testing the Cybercab but instead implementing these cameras on a comparable position on its other vehicles.
These are the cameras we spotted on the Cybercab at the event in October:
In the past, Tesla has used a variety of strategies to measure self-driving accuracy, including LiDAR, which has been seen on some testing mules that we have spotted out in public.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that the company does not need LiDAR on testing mules for ground truth, but we still spot them from time to time on public roads.
It’s an appropriate way just to cross Ts and dot Is:
Tesla Model X testing mule spotted with LiDAR rig ahead of Robotaxi event
The company is still moving toward that initial rollout of driverless ride-hailing in Austin in June, and some company executives have stated that the Cybercab will be the vehicle it uses for these initial rides.
Tesla is bolstering its release of features to Android users as it is rolling out some new things with its latest software update.
Update v4.43.5 will see Tesla add a Dashcam Viewer for Android phones, a new feature that will make it simpler to access and manage both Dashcam and Sentry Mode videos. This has been available to iPhone users for some time, but Android owners have not had access to this quite yet.
Tesla describes the release of the feature in release notes (via Not a Tesla App):
“The Dashcam Viewer is now available in the Tesla app for Android users.
The Dashcam Viewer makes it easy to access and manage your car’s Dashcam and Sentry Mode videos. Accessing videos on your phone is faster and more convenient, but it does come with a few requirements.
The Dashcam Viewer in the Tesla app allows you to view, delete, or save video clips right from your device. This should result in higher quality content being shared online and fewer videos of owners recording their Tesla’s screens with their phones.”
The feature creates a more convenient option to view things that your Tesla has captured on its dashcam or on its external cameras through Sentry Mode, its security camera system that records things that happen around the vehicle.
Sentry Mode has been a great addition for Tesla owners lately, as more and more instances of vandalism have been occurring in the past few months.
It seems Tesla might have made it a point to roll this feature out, especially as it would allow those who are getting Sentry Mode alerts to capture footage of keying or tire slashing, two common techniques used by those who dislike Tesla and/or Elon Musk.
Tesla quietly added this extra Sentry Mode feature to deter vandals
The last time Tesla rolled out some features to Android owners was in January when it beefed up offerings for those who do not use iOS. The January update saw Phone Key Improvements and Hands-Free Trunk Opening make their way to Android users.
NYC Comptroller moves to sue Tesla for securities violations
Tesla is testing a Model 3 with some mysterious cameras in the U.S.
Tesla adds security feature to Android with latest software update
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