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Biden praised Ford and GM for $18B EV investments with no mention of Tesla
interestingengineering.com

Biden praised Ford and GM for $18B EV investments with no mention of Tesla

President Biden didn't mention Tesla in a speech regarding EV investments, and Musk took to Twitter to remind the White House of Tesla's contributions.

Business

In his hour-long State of the Union (SOTU) address, U.S. President Joe Biden lauded the multi-billion dollar investments made by General Motors and Ford and the jobs the companies will create as they focus on making electric vehicles. Missing a mention was EV maker Tesla which has its CEO, Elon Musk, miffed, CNBC reported.

Since the beginning of his term, President Biden has stressed making environment-friendly choices as he aims to Build Back Better. Part of the government-funded push is the adoption of electric vehicles, where Biden is aiming for 50 percent of the cars sold at the end of the decade to be electric. After his SOTU address, Biden's Twitter posted this.

The tale of Tesla's neglect

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Elon Musk clearly wasn't happy that his EV company did not find a mention. In an email to CNBC, Musk said that nobody was watching the Presidential address but later took to Twitter to highlight Tesla's contributions, directly to the President himself.

Musk even went ahead to claim that Tesla's production from its California factory is still the largest in North America and has produced twice the number of cars in the U.S. of all the carmakers combined.

This isn't the first time that President Biden has sidelined Tesla or Elon Musk. CNBC reported that Elon Musk has not been an invitee at any of the White House events that feature leaders from the automotive industry and given his outspoken nature, it is unlikely that he will be invited for any event in the future as well.

Last month, an online petition asking President Biden to acknowledge Tesla's contributions garnered over 58,000 signatures.

Adding salt to the wound

Ford Motors announced recently that it had restructured its business to focus on the new vertical of EVs while it continues to produce combustion vehicles as well. The EV business is being branded Model E, which the company had blocked Tesla from using almost a decade ago, Business Insider reported.

Tesla models include S, X, Y, and the oddly named Model 3. However, in a tweet in 2017, Musk had explained the rationale behind the odd nomenclature.

Not only has Ford taken away Musk's chance to crack jokes around his car models, but they have now also taken away his moment in the spotlight. It remains to be seen if he will respond with more than just tweets.