Donald Trump admits EV flip-flop was a quid-pro-quo to safe Elon Musk’s assist

The former president, well known for the transactional nature of his politics, has championed an economic agenda relying heavily on cheap, plentiful energy through fracking and mining of U.S. fossil fuel deposits that drive climate change. Tesla’s stated mission however is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.

Speaking to supporters in Atlanta, Trump now said EVs aren’t all that bad, adding they could continue being a small slice of the U.S. car market should he retake the White House. 

“I’m for electric cars. I have to be, you know, because Elon Musk endorsed me very strongly,” he said in comments shared widely throughout Musk’s fanbase by accounts like John Stringer’s Tesla Owners Silicon Valley and blogsite Teslarati. “So I have no choice.”

“I am for electric cars. I have to because Elon Musk endorsed me very strongly, Elon. So, I have no choice.”

Donald Trump
pic.twitter.com/A0SfvDp5Al

— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) August 5, 2024

Last month the New York real estate mogul pledged to roll back President Biden’s EV subsidies, which he labelled a “green new scam,” on day one of a second Trump administration.

Speaking to Maria Bartiromo on Thursday, Trump explained all the electric cars in the future will be made in China, since the United States doesn’t have the mineral resources of its rival, the world market leader in processing battery-grade lithium.

“They don’t go far [and] they cost too much,” he said, referring to EVs. “I like Tesla, but you know what? It’s limited.”

His vice presidential pick, J.D. Vance, meanwhile has pushed a bill called the “Drive American Act” that would repeal Biden’s $7,500 federal tax credit for EVs and hand them instead to conventional combustion engine cars.

This has put Musk on the backfoot, forcing the EV champion to claim late last month Trump’s hostility to EVs would harm his competition more than it would Tesla itself.

Musk’s brand sells roughly as many EVs in the U.S. as all its other competitors combined. Along with China’s BYD, it is one of the only two carmakers in the world to build EVs profitably at scale.

Consumers fleeing brand in Europe

Nevertheless, Elon Musk’s brand of right-wing politics, increasingly ardent since he acquired Twitter at the end of October 2022, has fractured the Tesla community into those that support its mission to phase out fossil fuels and tech enthusiasts that back Musk first and foremost.

Anecdotal and empirical evidence suggests this has contributed to a small but growing number of customers abandoning the brand for competitors like Rivian, especially in Tesla’s own stronghold of California. 

Europe, whose EV market is 60% larger than the U.S., has seen a plunge in Tesla demand as the tycoon embraced the continent’s far right, an ally of Trump, who is highly controversial on the continent. As president, Trump cozied up to Russia’s Vladimir Putin while branding European Union as America’s real “foe” in the region.

Musk’s engagement with political fringe parties like the AfD, under official observation by Germany’s domestic intelligence service as a danger to democracy, has soured support for the brand in an EV-friendly market where consumers are already spoiled for choice.

On Monday, registration data published for Germany, the UK and France—the three largest EV markets in Europe—showed Tesla sales in the first seven months drop 41%, 13% and 28%, respectively, over the previous year’s period.

By comparison the most recent continent-wide data showed EV sales edged 1.6% higher in the first half of this year, implying all other brands dramatically outperformed Tesla.