Tesla pushes back in the USA

Tesla is urging US President Joe Biden’s administration and a US appeals court to impose higher fines on American automakers that fail to meet fuel economy requirements for their cars.

Additionally, Tesla is calling for a swift tightening of fuel economy rules loosened by former President Donald Trump, as the relaxation ensures that emissions credits sold by Tesla to other carmakers are worth less when the punishment for breaking the rules is negligible. Other automakers complained that hiking penalties could cost them at least $1 billion annually, both for failing to meet the rules and higher prices for credits used to meet the rules.

Tesla continues to push back against the Trump era dissolution of vehicle emissions standards, which also has support from states such as California, as well as other automakers, who wish for more support to switch their vehicle production mode to a greener path. “The uncertainty perpetuated by NHTSA’s sluggish rulemaking pace is thus compounded by the likelihood of yet another round of litigation,” Tesla wrote.

The pushback also came just after Elon Musk publicly commented on the lack of support from the Biden administration, which professes to stand behind the EV industry, however seems to gravitate towards older US American brands such as General Motors. Musk said the following at during a panel discussion at the Code Conference in Beverly Hills: “(They) didn’t mention Tesla once and praised GM and Ford for leading the EV revolution. Does that sound maybe a little biased?”.

reuters.com, reuters.com (comments on US policy)