Did Musk just kneecap Biden’s EV agenda?

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May 01, 2024 View in browser   By Arianna Skibell Presented by  A Tesla electric vehicle charging station is seen in Falls Church, Virginia. | Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images Elon Musk just threw a wrench into President Joe Biden’s electric vehicle plans. Tesla’s renowned charging network is a backbone of the administration’s effort to get Americans out of gasoline-powered cars and into electric ones. But this week, Musk abruptly laid off almost all of Tesla’s Supercharger team, writes David Ferris. “It feels like the rug just got pulled out from under a lot of the industry alignment that has been built in the last 12 months,” Matt Teske, CEO of the EV-charging software platform Chargeway, told David. While past rounds of layoffs were spread among various Tesla divisions, Monday’s bloodbath targeted the jobs of hundreds of people on the EV charging team, including the unit’s top dog, Rebecca Tinucci. “We need to be absolutely hardcore about headcount and cost reduction,” Musk said in an email to Tesla staff Monday, reported first by The Information. The layoffs come amid the company’s falling profits. The move potentially undercuts a deal Tesla struck with the White House last year to open the company’s vehicle chargers to other automakers in exchange for accessing federal dollars. And access Tesla did. The company won almost 13 percent of all EV charging awards from Biden’s 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law, earning more than $17 million in infrastructure grants. Tesla’s charging technology is now emerging as the industry standard in the U.S., baked into the designs for future EVs from numerous automakers and slated for inclusion in a nationwide network of charging stations. Musk says Tesla will continue to build Superchargers. In a post on his social media site X, formerly Twitter, he wrote: “Tesla still plans to grow the Supercharger network, just at a slower pace for new locations and more focus on 100% uptime and expansion of existing locations.” Some analysts David spoke with said the slower pace of expansion, while unexpected, may be a calculated move as other EV charging players expand in the arena. But others questioned how Tesla will carry out an expansion, even a slower one, if the team in charge is nonexistent. No one David contacted for this story could name a single person in Tesla’s charging sector that still works there.   It's Wednesday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host, Arianna Skibell. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to askibell@eenews.net.   A message from NRECA: Keeping the lights on has never been more important. Families, businesses and America’s national security depend on reliable electricity every day. That’s why electric co-ops are fighting for smarter energy policies that prioritize reliability and affordability for all. Learn more.   Listen to today’s POLITICO Energy podcast Today in POLITICO Energy’s podcast: Zack Colman breaks down the pushback facing the Biden administration's new rules to speed up permitting for energy projects.   A message from NRECA:   Power Centers A coal-fired plant stands in the distance in Juliette, Georgia. | Branden Camp/AP No coal pollution, except for emergencies The Biden administration’s final climate pollution limits for power plants offer two exceptions sought by the Edison Electric Institute, a major utility trade group that has been broadly critical of the standards, writes Jean Chemnick. One provision temporarily exempts fossil fuel power plants from the new standards during grid emergencies, and the other allows a facility an extra year to retrofit with carbon capture or remain in operation if grid operators can't line up replacement power generation in time. Biden goes monument-happy Biden has embraced his power to protect public lands, signing more proclamations to create national monuments in his first term than any president since Jimmy Carter, writes Jennifer Yachnin. In part because of congressional gridlock on conservation issues, Democratic lawmakers, environmental advocates and tribal leaders are urging Biden to get even more aggressive. Administration officials have hinted they could get their wish.   THE GOLD STANDARD OF ENERGY POLICY REPORTING & INTELLIGENCE: POLITICO has more than 500 journalists delivering unrivaled reporting and illuminating the policy and regulatory landscape for those who need to know what’s next. Throughout the election and the legislative and regulatory pushes that will follow, POLITICO Pro is indispensable to those who need to make informed decisions fast. The Pro platform dives deeper into critical and quickly evolving sectors and industries, like energy, equipping policymakers and those who shape legislation and regulation with essential news and intelligence from the world’s best politics and policy journalists. Our newsroom is deeper, more experienced, and better sourced than any other. Our energy reporting team—including Ben Lefebvre, Alex Guillen and Kelsey Tamborrino—is embedded with the market-moving legislative committees and agencies in Washington and across states, delivering unparalleled coverage of energy policy and the energy industry. We bring subscribers inside the conversations that determine policy outcomes and the future of industries, providing insight that cannot be found anywhere else. Get the premier news and policy intelligence service, SUBSCRIBE TO POLITICO PRO TODAY.     In Other News A synchronized emergency: For cicadas, it's safety in numbers. But climate change may be throwing off their timing. Sounds fishy: Climate change could virtually disappear in Florida, at least according to state law. Subscriber Zone A showcase of some of our best subscriber content. A Stanford University energy research program offered perks to the fossil fuel industry in exchange for funding. | Ben Margot/AP Stanford University plans to investigate a long-running energy research program that's supported by some of the world's largest fossil fuel companies. Democrats used a Senate Budget Committee hearing to highlight new findings in an ongoing congressional investigation into what they call major oil companies' decadeslong climate disinformation campaign. A U.S. Court of Appeals on Wednesday ordered a lower court judge to end a climate change lawsuit filed against the federal government by children for the second time. That's it for today, folks! Thanks for reading.   POLITICO IS BACK AT THE 2024 MILKEN INSTITUTE GLOBAL CONFERENCE: POLITICO will again be your eyes and ears at the 27th Annual Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles from May 5-8 with exclusive, daily, reporting in our Global Playbook newsletter. Suzanne Lynch will be on the ground covering the biggest moments, behind-the-scenes buzz and on-stage insights from global leaders in health, finance, tech, philanthropy and beyond. Get a front-row seat to where the most interesting minds and top global leaders confront the world’s most pressing and complex challenges — subscribe today.       A message from NRECA: American families and businesses expect the lights to stay on at a cost they can afford. But that’s no longer a guarantee. Over the next five years, 19 states from Montana to Louisiana are at high risk of rolling blackouts during normal peak conditions. We must have a serious conversation in this country about where we’re going and what it will take to realistically get there. Policymakers cannot overlook the laws of physics or the reality of the current situation. The stakes are too high to get this wrong. As electricity demand grows and supply fails to keep up, bad public policy is making the problem worse. That’s why America’s electric co-ops are fighting for smarter energy policies that prioritize reliability and affordability for all. Electric co-ops have a better plan. Learn more.     Follow us on Twitter Arianna Skibell @ariannaskibell   Follow us

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