Points Biden Is Missing: GM Has Fought EV Progress (Repeatedly), Tesla Has Led Vehicle Electrification.

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I find it really odd that the Biden administration is not only ignoring Tesla and its contributions to the electric vehicle market but is outright lying to the American people about General Motors (GM) being the leader of the industry. I’ve written about this already, but other things have happened since then. It seems as if there is a targeted push to convince the American people that GM is really the leader of the EV market and that GM, not Tesla, is responsible for widespread EV adoption.

I’ve been told by some friends that it’s not that big of a deal, but imagine having the credit for all of your hard work stolen from you and given to someone else who was not only lazy but fighting the work you were doing in the first place.

This is not just gaslighting, but straight up lying by omission. By not mentioning Tesla or its achievements at all, the current administration is telling its base that Tesla’s work is not important.

By painting GM as this leader when it clearly is not, the Biden administration is also gaslighting the American people by deflecting from GM’s role in creating the climate crisis as well as fighting in favor of Trump and the fossil fuel industry just a short time ago in an effort to not let California and other states require higher fuel efficiency standards than the US as whole.

In fact, GM has fought against California zero-emission vehicle laws and fuel economy regulations for decades. Most recently, it seems that the company was trying to cull the favor of now former President Trump, or just wanted really weak fuel economy regs.

The LA Times reported that although GM backed off from its fight with California over the state’s auto emissions rules, it really didn’t. If you remember, President Trump killed Obama-era fuel economy standards that were focused on cutting auto emissions, which led to California setting its own emissions rules. California, along with several other states, sued the Trump administration when he tried to stop California from enacting stronger standards (something it’s been allowed to do since the Clean Air Act was enacted) — and GM took Trump’s side.

Dan Becker, a transportation expert at the Center for Biological Diversity pointed out that this meant nothing. Becker’s organization was one of several environmental organizations that received a letter from GM’s CEO, Mary Barra. It was a letter announcing that GM was withdrawing from the lawsuit over the California waiver. Becker told the LA Times:

“They’re putting down the weapon aimed at California’s waiver. But they’re still pushing for lower emission standards.”

The Biden Administration Hasn’t Uttered The Word “Tesla” Once. Why?

When the Biden administration first snubbed Tesla on behalf of UAW, I was kind of shocked. Surely our president knew of Tesla’s achievements and leadership in the industry. Surely he and his advisors have seen the news regarding Tesla’s record sales and Tesla’s success.

I believe that not only have they seen it, but for some reason, they are intentionally trying to deceive the American people about Tesla and EVs, and the importance of Tesla’s role. Tesla’s mission is to accelerate the transition to sustainability. The Biden administration needs Tesla as an ally for its EV goals. Plus, it’s easy PR for the administration! It would make sense for the current administration to include Tesla along with the other automakers when hyping up electric vehicles.

It shouldn’t hurt the UAW for non-union companies who have the same climate goals to join in and help fight for a cleaner planet. This is a time when parties should put aside their individual objectives and focus on what’s important: solving the climate crisis.

Tesla isn’t a union company and its employees have rejected the idea of starting a union. Instead of accepting this, the UAW punished Tesla and its employees by spreading misinformation. And, sadly, this is now reaching the highest levels of political office. The reason, I think, that President Biden and his administration are not just ignoring Tesla’s role, but downplaying it to the point of pure gaslighting is because he believes the misinformation.

This is just my opinion, but why else has the President of the United States continued to ignore Tesla’s contribution and leadership of the EV industry while straight-up lying about GM’s role as the leader?

Tesla, not GM, is the leader of the EV industry. Tesla made electric vehicles cool, fun, scalable, and safe. In contrast, Biden’s pick as the “leader,” produced the EV1 — yes, it was the first-ever mass-produced EV — but then GM believed that EVs were part of an unprofitable niche of the market and crushed most of its EV1 vehicles despite the protests of its customers. GM took back its EV1s when customer leases (the only way to get the car) ended and then crushed them. There are around 40 that are still in existence in museums or such, but their electric powertrains have been deactivated under the agreement that the cars are not to be reactivated and driven on the road.

GM didn’t want to lead the EV market because it wasn’t profitable for the company at the time and the tech was much less mature, truly not ready for the masses. Nonetheless, it had an opportunity but didn’t take it. It could have kept working seriously on EVs. President Biden, it seems, would have the general public believe otherwise — that it was GM that revolutionized the EV industry, that is was GM that made EVs fun, accessible, and desirable. It was not. That was Tesla.


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Johnna Crider

Johnna owns less than one share of $TSLA currently and supports Tesla's mission. She also gardens, collects interesting minerals and can be found on TikTok

Johnna Crider has 1996 posts and counting. See all posts by Johnna Crider