To me it seems like the Democrats have a very weird hierarchy and Musk couldn't do any inroads there, because the incumbents at the top of that hierarchy consider him an outsider. So his options were to either suck it up and accept his status within hierarchy, or champion a Republican candidate which, if elected, would immediately propel him to the very front of the decision making.
Lots of people seem to flip hard right after #metoo calls out their behavior. Musk had the horse for handjob thing and announced he was a Republican something like the day before it published after they had contacted him about it for the story.
Maybe he just got tired of dems doing stuff like saying that GM had been leading the way on EVs, and not mentioning Tesla at all, because it wasn’t politically expedient? Or trying to structure the rebates to benefit the big 3 more than Tesla. Etc etc.
Who said anything about morality? Do you usually favor people who are habitually unfair to you? He has a few companies that he needs to lead, and being cut out of portions of federal rebates because they want to curry favor with unions directly harms his efforts.
That’s probably the main reason, but it’s just got to be especially grating when that decision is couched in patriotic language, and your company is making cars that are much more “Made in America” than any of your competitors.
The credits are structured to bring battery and EV manufacturing on-shore, which is pretty crucial to the US for a bunch of reasons. They require a percentage of the battery materials to come from the US or allied nations, and final manufacturing to be done here. Some Tesla vehicles initially didn’t qualify because they were made in China. As of July of this year I believe all Teslas except for one model are now eligible for the full credit.
ETA: As I recall, Tesla had used up its $7500 credits from previous legislation (prior to the IRA) because they had sold so many cars. The new legislation restored the full $7500 and was basically a gift to Tesla in that sense. Turning this into a victim story for Tesla really does not make sense.
Ah I wasn’t aware that any US Teslas were coming from China, I thought those all went to Europe/Asia, while we mostly got Fremont/Austin.
I was referring to the period when there was a piecemeal credit amount based on a few factors, one of which, iirc, was having final assembly conducted in a unionized factory.
They have of course been massive beneficiaries of federal subsidies, including a massive boost early on from the DOE Loan Programs Office, this isn’t to say they’ve been a victim overall, but it seems there’s been an attitude shift, and the legacy carmakers are getting more love from the current admin despite contributing only token efforts to the transition.
Getting the legacy automakers to transition is an existential priority for the US. They represent hundreds of thousands of jobs throughout the US, and a huge fraction of our industrial capacity (which is our ability to support national defense.) This isn't about doing people a nice favor, it's about saving the US auto industry (which seems determined to self-immolate.) Also, Tesla has already received vast government subsidies in the form of direct tax credits and EV purchase credits from other manufacturers.
