Elon Musk backs Trump, he changes his mind about the electric car

Republican candidate says he 'has no choice' in receiving $45 million

By: Eleonora Lilli

Aug 6, 2024 at 5:55am ET

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Trump is against anyone with an electric car, indeed not. The presidential candidate has been going back and forth on electric vehicles in recent weeks (more than once) and now, during a rally in Georgia, he said: "I'm in favour of electric cars. I have to be because Elon has strongly supported me."

The money made available to Trump is a lot of money, we are talking about $45 million (approx. £35 million), which is really a lot of money to support the expensive campaign against Kamala Harris. "I have no choice", Trump said, to justify himself to his electorate, which is strongly tied to American oil.

The future is not all electric

Despite the support for the electric car after Elon Musk's cash injection, Trump made it clear that in his opinion the car industry will not be all battery powered.

"Not everyone has to have an electric car. I've told him [Musk] that, so we'll get rid of that mandate if you don't mind", Trump explained to voters, referring to the Biden administration's pledge in recent years to support BEV development, including a plan to increase electric-car sales to 50 per cent of the total by 2030, as well as regulations that make it harder for petrol cars to meet EPA standards.

What he had said before

Prior to receiving $45 million from Musk, Trump had abundantly criticised the costs of installing electric vehicle charging stations, , including providing inaccurate numbers on the actual costs as he had given conflicting estimates ranging from $5 to $12 trillion.

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He had also said, incorrectly, that the Biden government had spent $9 billion on eight chargers in the Midwest. In fact, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 allocated $7.5 billion for the installation of thousands of charging stations across the country.

Now the tones have changed. "I want you to have petrol cars, I want you to have hybrids, I want you to have every kind of car imaginable, while they want everyone to go with electric cars."