Elon Muskʼs support for Trump changed everything in electric car world. Traditional party lines got mixed up - Democrats used to be only EV fans but now its different (a recent poll showed 71% of Republicans dont want EVs while most Democrats do)
Trump changed his mind about electric cars after getting Muskʼs backing: “Iʼm for electric cars. I have to be‚ because Elon endorsed me very strongly“ [[Trump stated]]. This is way different from his old views where he wanted to stop the $7‚500 tax breaks for new EVs
Tesla got lots of help from government - about $2.8-billion in different support since 08ʼ and made nearly $9-billion selling carbon credits to other car-makers. Right now they control half the US market while GM and Ford have less than 10% each; but removing help from government could hurt sales
The effects of stopping help are clear in Germany where they cut support last winter: sales went down big-time this summer
- Detroit car-makers got $100-million for small parts makers
- New $2-billion program helps old car places switch to EVs
- Support will last till 31ʼ
Government rules about clean cars might change too - this could slow down EV growth. Musk might get a big role in Trumps team which is weird since his companies are being looked at by many government departments
Chinese company BYD is selling more cars than Tesla now; theres a 100% tax on Chinese EVs coming to US. Trade problems could get bigger - EU might fight back if Trump puts his 20% tax on everything. This could make it hard for Tesla to sell cars in Europe where they have a big factory
All this means Muskʼs support for Trump might not help Tesla as much as people think. Even though SpaceX and Starlink work with government a lot changes in EV rules could slow down the switch to electric cars