Tesla Lobbying UK on EV Policies … as Trump Guts Critical US Auto Po…

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The Guardian is reporting that Tesla has been “privately warning” (aka lobbying) the UK government that its plans to water down EV policies will hurt EV sales and make it harder for the country to reach its climate goals. First of all, well, I think all of that must be pretty obvious, no? How would weakened EV policies not lead to fewer EV sales and less CO2 reduction?

The important point, though, is that Tesla is actually trying to use its influence to get the government to be smarter policy-wise.

“The Labour government in April worried some electric carmakers by weakening rules, known as the zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate. The mandate forces increased sales of EVs each year, but new loopholes allowed carmakers to sell more petrol and diesel cars,” The Guardian writes. “New taxes on electric cars in last week’s budget could further undermine demand, critics have said.”

Tesla, like other automakers, submitted comments to a government consultation earlier in the year. The company claimed that it was “essential” that the government not introduce loopholes (aka “flexibilities”) to the gradually scaling EV mandate. In addition, the US company pushed for support for the used-car market to get it to transition to EVs. (Naturally, if it’s easier for the first owner of an EV to sell it on to someone else, it is easier for that initial owner to buy another new EV.)

All of this is common sense so far. Whether Tesla has any influence of the Labour government, well, that’s another matter…. But it is true that Labour Party should be doing all it can to advance cleantech solutions, not weaken and slow the cleantech transition.

But What About The USA?…

What was most striking to me about this news was how it is completely in contrast to what the Elon Musk–supported Trump administration has been doing. In fact, there’s news today on this matter as well.

After completely eliminating consumer subsidies for electric vehicles (new and used vehicles), the Trump administration is looking to water down the USA’s already rather weak fuel economy standards, which had at least slightly been encouraging automakers to produce and sell more electric vehicles. “The Trump administration is set to propose a significant rollback of fuel economy standards finalized by former President Joe Biden last year, its latest push to make it easier for automakers to sell gas-powered cars, sources told Reuters,” Reuters reports.

“The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is expected to propose significantly reducing the fuel economy requirements for 2022-2031 model-year vehicles. President Donald Trump is set to announce the plan at a White House event on Wednesday that is expected to include executives from the three largest U.S. automakers, the sources added. Earlier this year, Trump signed legislation that ended fuel economy penalties for automakers, and NHTSA said they faced no fines dating back to the 2022 model year.”

So, yes, the Trump administration is going full-on anti-EV and anti-progress, in ways far beyond what Tesla is pushing the UK government not to do.

Note that the higher fuel economy standards Biden approved were estimated to save drivers $35.2 billion.

As I just noted, yup, we’re basically the Simpsons. And Lisa didn’t win the presidential election.

Reuters also notes that Stellantis paid $190.7 million in civil penalties in 2024 for not meeting fuel economy requirements in 2019 and 2020, and also paid almost $400 million in civil penalties for not meeting fuel economy requirements in 2016–2019, while GM had to dish out $128.2 million in civil penalties for not meeting fuel economy standards in 2016 and 2017.