Tesla’s Musk meets prime Biden officers on EVs in Washington

By Nandita Bose, David Shepardson and Raphael Satter

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Tesla Chief Govt Elon Musk met two prime White Home officers on Friday in Washington to debate how the automobile maker and Democratic President Joe Biden may work collectively to advance electrical automobile manufacturing and velocity electrification of U.S. automobile networks.

Musk met John Podesta, a Democratic stalwart who serves as Biden’s senior adviser for clear vitality innovation, and Mitch Landrieu, who oversees infrastructure spending, the White Home stated. The billionaire and Biden have usually been at odds over political and labor points.

“John Podesta and Mitch Landrieu met with Elon Musk to debate shared objectives round electrification and the way the Bipartisan Infrastructure Regulation and Inflation Discount Act can advance electrical automobile manufacturing and charging in addition to the broader reason behind electrification,” a White Home spokesperson informed Reuters.

Musk responded on Twitter to the preliminary unique Reuters report that he met with the officers, saying it was “True.”

Later, White Home press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed the assembly came about and added that Musk didn’t meet with Biden personally. The assembly demonstrates Biden’s dedication to electrical automobiles and the significance he attaches to the infrastructure and inflation discount legal guidelines handed final 12 months, she stated.

“I believe it is essential that his (Biden’s) staff and senior members of his staff had a gathering with Elon Musk in the present day to just do that.”

A Reuters witness on Friday noticed Podesta, Landrieu and Musk getting into a downtown constructing that homes each Tesla’s Washington lobbying operation and the Middle for American Progress, a suppose tank Podesta based. Landrieu and Podesta left about half an hour later and didn’t reply questions.

Musk left about 45 minutes after Podesta and Landrieu. He too ignored questions from a Reuters reporter.

Musk additionally met on Friday with Republican Representatives James Comer and Jim Jordan, the chairs of the Home Judiciary and Oversight Committees. On Thursday, he met with Home Speaker Kevin McCarthy and briefly greeted Home Democratic Chief Hakeem Jeffries.

BIDEN, MUSK TENSIONS

Relations have usually appeared antagonistic between Biden, who has pushed for corporations to make use of union labor, and Musk, who has pushed to maintain unions out of his factories.

Musk referred to as Biden “a moist sock puppet in human kind” final 12 months after Biden highlighted EV manufacturing by GM and Ford in a tweet however ignored Tesla.

Biden solely publicly acknowledged the position of Tesla in U.S. electrical automobile manufacturing over a 12 months after taking workplace, after Musk repeatedly complained about being ignored.

In June, Biden in contrast Tesla unfavorably to Ford and sarcastically wished Musk “a number of luck” on his “journey to the moon” after the billionaire expressed reservations in regards to the economic system.

Nonetheless, Musk has long-standing essential relationships with the U.S. authorities, and people have continued beneath the Biden administration.

Tesla has benefited from tax subsidies given to consumers of its electrical automobiles whereas SpaceX, Musk’s rocket firm, has contracts price billions of {dollars} to ship astronauts and cargo to and from the Worldwide House Station, and to construct a moon lander.

U.S. customers who purchased Teslas turned eligible once more this month for as much as $7,500 in client tax credit, beneath the $430 billion U.S. Inflation Discount Act (IRA) handed final August. An earlier tax credit score for Tesla consumers expired after the automaker offered its first 200,000 automobiles in the USA.

The legislation imposes necessities that EVs receiving the tax credit should be North American-made. There are additionally caps on automobile costs and revenue for consumers who’re eligible for the credit.

The legislation additionally units new battery sourcing restrictions anticipated to take impact in March. It additionally consists of new U.S. battery manufacturing credit that Musk stated earlier this week may have important advantages to the corporate.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose, David Shepardson and Raphael Satter; Modifying by Heather Timmons, David Gregorio and Rosalba O’Brien)