Tesla may wish to kill EV incentives within the US due to Elon Musk’s politics, however the automaker remains to be lobbying for them in different markets.
It’s highlighting Tesla’s clear downside of placing its CEO’s politics above its personal mission.
Tesla is caught in a bizarre state of affairs within the US.
A number of years in the past, the automaker was lobbying the Biden administration for a reform of federal EV incentives, which the federal government applied.
On the time, its CEO Elon Musk, who has been on a “mission to kill the woke thoughts virus” since his daughter Vivian got here out as trans, stated that he was towards extending the tax credit score as he was already cozying as much as right-wing politicians.
However his firm was nonetheless lobbying for it on the time.
Now, issues are altering. Musk has turn into one among Donald Trump’s largest supporters, and he has introduced Tesla nearer to his politics.
Trump has made it clear that he needs to remove all EV incentives within the US, and this time, Musk will not be the one one backing him.
A current report acknowledged that Tesla communicated to the Trump transition staff that the automaker is on board with killing EV incentives.
That is Tesla, which is 15% owned by Musk, however the board is firmly in his management, as evidenced by findings in his CEO compensation court docket case, aligning with its CEO’s politics within the US.
In different markets, issues are totally different.
A recently uncovered letter confirmed that Tesla approached the Labor Occasion following their current win within the UK to foyer for extra EV incentives and better taxes on petrol automobiles, the precise reverse of what Tesla and Musk now stand for within the US.
Within the letter addressed to the brand new minister of transportation, Tesla’s head of Europe, Joe Ward, acknowledges the UK’s want to cut back its emissions and the way essential electrical automobiles are to realize this purpose.
He means that the federal government brings again stronger EV incentives by rising taxes on fossil fuel-powered automobiles:
Buy incentives have been mentioned at nice size publicly, if Treasury have been to contemplate any schemes, these must be income impartial. Given new fossil-fueled automobiles lock in excessive emissions and a worth must be positioned on this. The Authorities ought to ask if these nonetheless selecting to buy a brand new polluting automobile, to pay extra. This might create a income impartial mannequin to help ZEV uptake.
The Tesla government can also be lobbying for brand spanking new autonomous automobile laws and has provided a check drive to the minister.
Right here’s the letter in full:
Electrek’s Take
Within the US, Tesla is arguing to take away EV incentives and within the UK, it’s arguing to extend them.
To me, it appears to be like like Tesla is caught between a rock and a tough place – the rock being doing the proper factor and the laborious place being Elon Musk’s politics.
If Tesla have been actually taking care of its mission to speed up the arrival of sustainable transport and vitality, it will be advocating for a good market the place the exterior prices of fossil fuel-powered automobiles are accounted for and/or the advantages of electrical automobiles are pretty compensated.
That’s exactly what it’s doing within the UK, due to Joe Ward, however not within the US? Why?
The one reply to that query is Elon Musk.
Tesla is now placing its CEO’s politics above its personal mission. Musk can’t come out for extra taxes on fossil fuel-powered automobiles or extra incentives for EVs as a result of that goes towards Trump’s politics, who he spent greater than $250 million to place again in energy.
He shouldn’t be accountable for Tesla anymore, and it will possibly’t be clearer than with this example.
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