“That’s an Elon. That is beautiful,” Trump said when he saw the Cybertruck. The stainless steel truck was decorated with an image of Trump and the American flag, and had the words “Make America Great Again” on the hood.
During the stream, Trump praised Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk, saying, “Elon is a great guy, yeah. He’s really a fantastic person.” Trump added that Musk is “truly a genius” for his work in underground tunnels to reduce traffic and in creating reusable rockets.
However, Trump also criticized electric vehicles (EVs) in the interview. He claimed that EVs don’t travel very far, are expensive, and rely heavily on China for manufacturing. He accused the Democratic Party of trying to enforce an “EV mandate,” which he said would take away Americans' choice to buy gas or hybrid vehicles.
Complete electrification, Trump said, “is essentially never going to work.”
“In my opinion, it’ll never work because you’re always going to have a weight problem. You’re always going to have- it’s never going to be the same kind of a thing where you can drive for two days without stopping. It’s just not going to happen,” Trump said.
Several Democratic Party figures, including President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, have previously denied this claim, saying that their party is not mandating EVs but is only supporting the industry to offer consumers the choice to buy an EV if they want to.
Musk officially endorsed Trump in July after the shooting incident at a rally in Pennsylvania. Despite this, Trump is seeking to eliminate subsidies for electric vehicles.
During Tesla's second-quarter earnings call in late July, Musk said that eliminating subsidies would have limited impact on Tesla but would be “devastating” for its competitors. He added that getting rid of EV subsidies could probably help Tesla in the long term.
Last week, Musk discussed the idea of a "government efficiency commission" with Trump during a podcast with Lex Fridman. Musk expressed his willingness to be part of this commission, which might aim to remove unnecessary laws and regulations that hinder key development projects.
At his first joint rally with his vice presidential pick JD Vance in Atlanta on Saturday, Trump softened his criticism of EVs, calling them “fantastic” and saying he supports electric cars.
“I'm for electric cars. I have to be, you know, because Elon endorsed me very strongly. So I have no choice," Trump said.
0 Comments