US electric vehicle giant Tesla was left out of a White House event on Thursday where President Joe Biden announced a slew of steps to “set a new pace for electric vehicles” in the USA. Automobile giants like General Motors, Ford, and Chrysallis parent company Stellantis were invited.
Speaking about being excluded from the event, Elon Musk said in a tweet “Yeah, seems odd that Tesla wasn’t invited.”
Yeah, seems odd that Tesla wasn’t invited
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 5, 2021
Automakers like Nissan Motor Co., Toyota Motor Co, Honda Motor Co were also excluded from the event, LiveMint reported.
A possible explanation for the automaker’s exclusion is Tesla’s non-union status. When asked about the incident White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said in a press briefing that Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis “are the largest key players of United Auto Workers (UAW). “I’ll let you draw your own conclusion.”
“I would not expect this is the last time we talked about clean cars, the move for electric vehicles, and we look forward to having a range of partners in that effort,” Psaki added.
In a CNBC interview, Biden administration’s transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg’s said that he did not know why Tesla was not invited. Musk responded to the comment by tweeting a meme that said “I’m not saying it’s sabotage. But it’s sabotage.”
According to Bloomberg, the White House event was convened for Biden to announce an executive order establishing the goal for half of all cars sold to be a battery-electric, plug-in hybrid, or fuel cell-powered by 2030. Biden also announced his administration is crafting greenhouse gas-reduction standards and fuel economy requirements for vehicles, including medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks.
