Tesla CEO Elon Musk and a pair of prime aides to President Joe Biden met in Washington on Friday to debate the electrical automobile trade and the broader aim of electrification.
Musk and Biden didn’t meet, White Home press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre mentioned.
The 2 haven’t had the smoothest of relationships, with Biden, a giant supporter of labor unions, dissatisfied by Musk’s refusal to permit them into his factories.
White Home aides Mitch Landrieu and John Podesta sat down with the Tesla chief — who additionally owns Twitter and SpaceX — at Tesla’s workplace in downtown Washington to debate shared targets round electrification.
Their dialogue touched on how infrastructure and local weather laws that Biden signed into legislation final yr may also help enhance the manufacturing of electrical autos and charging stations, and encourage extra folks to change from gas-fueled to electric-powered autos and to decide on extra electrical home equipment, like warmth pumps and stoves. Rebates and tax credit can be found to encourage that shift.
Landrieu oversees federal spending on infrastructure, which included monetary assist for the electrical automobile trade. Podesta is the president’s level man on spending on Biden’s local weather and clear power initiatives.
Requested whether or not the assembly signaled a brand new section in White Home relations with Musk, Jean-Pierre mentioned it “says rather a lot” about how Biden sees the significance of each items of laws.
“I believe it’s vital that his group, senior members of his group, had a gathering with Elon Musk,” she mentioned.
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