Elon Musk met with a Senior Advisor to the US President in order to discuss EV adoption
January 31, 2023Auto - Show Biz clinic originally published at Auto - Show Biz clinic
Tesla CEO Elon Tesla met with Senior Advisors of President Joe Biden in order to discuss electric vehicle adoption. John Podesta, the Senior Advisor, and Mitch Landrieu, the Senior Advisor, spoke with Musk in Washington on Friday. According to a spokesperson for the White House, Posedta was speaking with Musk about “shared goals around electricity”.
They also discussed how recent legislations like the Inflation Reduction Act or the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law can help increase electric vehicle adoption in the United States. The spokesperson also told Reuters that topics of discussion included broadening electric vehicle production, charging infrastructure, and “the broader cause of electrification.”
Interestingly, the White House announced last year that Tesla, the company Musk had led to catalyze the EV movement globally, was planning to manufacture new charging equipment that would ” enable non-Tesla EV drivers in North America to use Tesla Superchargers.” Late last week, it was revealed that Tesla was working on a potential design called a “Magic Dock” that would be utilized to enable non-Tesla EVs to charge using Superchargers across the U.S. Tesla has the most expansive EV charging network, with over 40,000 stations globally. However, it is only available to Tesla owners in the United States, and with the company utilizing a Pilot Program in Europe for the last year and a half, the automaker could be ready to open its charging infrastructure to other companies.
EV future
Relations have often seemed antagonistic between Biden, who has pushed for companies to use union labor, and Musk, who has pushed to keep unions out of his factories. After Musk complained of being ignored, Biden only acknowledged Tesla’s role in U.S. electric vehicle production a year ago. Biden compared Tesla to Ford in June and joked that he wished Musk “lots luck” on his “trip up the moon”, after Musk expressed reservations about the economy. Despite this, Musk has had long-standing, important relationships with the U.S. government and these have been maintained under the Biden administration. Tesla has received tax subsidies for buyers of its electric cars, while SpaceX, Musk’s rocket company, has contracts worth billions to transport astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station and to construct a moon lander.
Auto - Show Biz clinic originally published at Auto - Show Biz clinic