Tesla is asking the Trump administration not to repeal rules that allow automakers to sell more polluting vehicles, despite CEO Elon Musk donating more than $200 million to Trump's campaign, which included repealing those rules as part of its platform.
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For years, Donald Trump has been spreading misinformation about electric vehicles. It was no surprise when you take away the federal tax credit for electric vehicles and EPA rules forcing manufacturers to produce more electric vehicles, a central part of his platform during the 2024 election campaign. What was more surprising was to see Tesla CEO Elon Musk support Trump with significant funding and claim that the former President was “right about everything.”.
Musk has even supported Trump when he called for an end to the “electric vehicle mandate.” While the CEO has publicly supported Trump in removing the electric vehicle tax credit, he has not commented on the EPA’s emissions rules.
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Now, Tesla is urging the Trump administration to keep those rules. A recent review by the National Academy of Sciences suggests the proposal fails to adequately assess the established science on climate change and the scientific community’s confidence in those findings. Tesla said the EPA does not have a sufficient legal or factual basis to overturn vehicle emissions standards. Slowing the transition to zero-emission vehicles would be harmful to Americans and the world.
Tesla understands this, as it wrote in its filing, but Musk seems to believe that other issues are more important than addressing climate change and air pollution. In the medium to long term, removing the tax credit may benefit Tesla by reducing competition in the U.S., but it will undoubtedly slow the adoption of electric vehicles, which is counter to Tesla’s mission.
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The EPA's emissions rules are critical to both Tesla's mission and its business, which is why the company is expressing its disagreement. Meanwhile, Musk has remained silent and has recently supported Trump's authoritarian tendencies in using the court system against political opponents.
