After several months, US President Biden finally uttered the magical word: "Tesla" and the Secretary of Transportation suddenly praised Tesla and Musk's excellent performance. The reason behind this is probably inseparable from the supply chain.
When US President Joe Biden gave a speech on the 9th, he publicly mentioned Tesla for the first time as the largest electric car manufacturer in the United States, which finally made Tesla and Elon Musk fans feel more comfortable.
This sounds unbelievable, but American netizens even initiated a petition to ask President Biden to agree that Tesla is the leader in the electric vehicle market and it won the support of more than 50,000 people. This event also saw fans spending money to advertise in Times Square in New York.
The content of the advertisement was Musk's tweet, which read: "Starts with a T, end with an A, ESL in the middle." This was his deliberately taunting of US President Biden with the tone of teaching children to speak yet Biden has never been able to publicly say the word Tesla.
The whole incident started at Biden's visit to GM's new factory where he stated that GM CEO Mary Barra leads the entire U.S. electric vehicle industry and really makes a difference. However, GM's electric vehicle sales are not only dismal, the company even ceased production after December 2021 and only sold 26 electric vehicles in the fourth quarter of last year.
In contrast, Tesla is not only the world's largest electric car factory but also sold a record 300,000 pure electric cars in the same period but it was completely ignored by Biden and the US government, causing dissatisfaction among netizens.
Even if Biden is old, it is obviously unreasonable to ignore such a large company. Speculation suggests that the reason behind this stance is likely to be related to unions because Tesla has always opposed unions such as the UAW and Biden's transportation policy team has close ties to unions, thereby, straining relations. Musk even said that Biden's electric vehicle subsidy policy is meaningless, asking the federal government to cancel subsidies and let the market and technology decide.
Unexpectedly, this drama saw a reversal on the 9th. When Biden delivered a speech at the White House on rebuilding American manufacturing, he said: "The electric vehicles made in the United States have received up to 200 billion US dollars in investment, from iconic companies such as Ford and General Motors building new electric vehicle production lines, to Tesla, the largest electric vehicle manufacturer in our country, and start-up company Rivian.” Biden said that he was impressed by the achievements of these companies.
After President Biden delivered the speech on the 9th, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said in an exclusive interview that Tesla is a pioneer in the electric vehicle industry.
Whoever possesses chips and batteries, possesses the world
Is Musk finally willing to cooperate with the White House and the UAW? Judging from his character and practical interests, it is unlikely. On the contrary, the current situation is more akin to automakers, labor unions and government departments taking the initiative to look friendly, and there is probably only one reason for this pursuit: the supply chain.
As Tesla's production capacity and number of vehicles delivered continue to break records, Ford and GM are both mired in chip supply issues, and GM is also facing battery safety problems. Although the UAW dislikes Tesla, the facts are in front of us. As Tesla distributed large overtime pay and stock dividends without any hesitation, GM and Ford continued to reduce production lines and reduce shifts.
Does the government want Tesla to save these traditional carmakers? This is probably unlikely, especially since Ford and GM are on the same page as Musk, but President Biden's grand "Build Back Better" plan and the Green New Deal cannot have only a bunch of semi-finished products. The fastest way to solve the problem now is to first put aside grudges and count Tesla's achievements into political achievements.
The numbers are brutal. If you ignore Tesla, 70% of U.S. electric car sales disappear in 2021. Tesla produced approximately 330,000 electric vehicles in the U.S. last year, compared to Ford’s 20,000-plus electric Mustangs and GM’s 20,000 Chevy Bolts.
Seeing this huge disparity, it's even more absurd to look back at President Biden uttering the word Tesla for the first time in a year since he took office.
The winds in the White House have changed dramatically and perhaps the war of words between the two camps can come to an end. After all, the whole thing sounds too stupid.
（Image：youtube screen shot）