Elon Musk, White House discuss electric vehicles

Tesla head Elon Musk met with senior White House officials on Friday (Jan 27) to discuss the Biden administration’s push to grow the electric vehicle (EV) market, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

Musk, who has had sometimes openly prickly relations with President Joe Biden, met infrastructure development coordinator Mitch Landrieu and clean energy adviser John Podesta.

They discussed “electrification and how the bipartisan infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act can advance EVs and increase the electrification more broadly”, Jean-Pierre said, referring to two major pieces of legislation passed under Biden providing subsidies and incentives to bolster clean energy, EVs and general infrastructure.

Jean-Pierre said Biden did not meet with Musk, but “it’s important that senior members of his team had a meeting”.

The billionaire entrepreneur occupies an unusual place at the intersection of cutting edge industry and politics with ownership of the country’s most famous EV brand, space projects and Twitter.

He has often tangled with the Biden administration and has used Twitter to embrace right-wing talking points.

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On Thursday, he said he met with Republican Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy and Democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries as Congress explores potential curbs on social media platforms.

Musk tweeted that he went to “discuss ensuring that this platform is fair to both parties”. AFP