Washington Post – towing the UAW’s line in EV debate

The Washington Post’s writer, Faiz Siddiqui, beclowned himself in penning a garbage hit piece on Tesla and Elon Musk so devoid of logic and objectivity that it boggles the mind how the Washington Post would have allowed it to be posted.  The intent of the article is clearly to portray that there’s a “new Sheriff in town”, and that Tesla’s days on the government dole are over.  But the article conveniently neglects to mention that the “dole” had nothing to do with Tesla in the first place.  Or, that every EV and hybrid vehicle sold by manufacturers in the US has been made under the same dole the article insinuates was unique to Tesla.  Inconvenient facts are not to be mentioned in this article!

Other inconvenient facts: 
The current $7,500 tax credit is something of smoke and mirrors.  The tax credit for EV purchases are non-refundable and are realized through a purchaser’s tax return.  Purchasers realize only up to whatever federal income tax they owe, or $7,500.  Whichever is lower.  If a purchaser owes no federal income tax, they realize no tax credit.  If a purchaser owes $3,000 in federal income tax, then they get a $3,000 tax credit.  But the tax credit hasn’t applied to Tesla sales since 2018, while sales have only increased.  Odd how Faiz Siddiqui and the Washington Post would neglect to mention this.

The article also refers to a recently announced NHTSA investigation into Tesla’s driver assistance feature, but the piece neglects to mention that NHTSA is also looking at similar features in 12 other manufactures as well.  The investigation was conveniently launched in close timing with Biden’s recent White House “splashy event” which showcased unionized UAW manufacturers.  Tesla famously being non-unionized wasn’t invited, though being the number one EV seller in North America.  I wonder how that was orchestrated?  However, traffic safety is important, so let’s not criticize NHTSA for its investigation.  The fact remains that there have been several Tesla crashes with autopilot activated, involving parked emergency vehicles.  I believe all of them resulting from inattentiveness by the driver, but that doesn’t mean that Tesla’s autopilot couldn’t be improved or that NHTSA shouldn’t more tightly regulate such systems.

In yet another example of lopsided and incomplete reporting, the article casts doubt on Tesla’s profitability as being reliant upon selling “regulatory credits” (AKA carbon credits), in exactly the manner Democrats envisioned when they created the non-sense to begin with.  The article insinuates that Tesla is, or would not be truly profitable, but a more journalistically sound article would have been careful to note the economy of scale that Tesla is currently operating at.  Yes, starting up a huge manufacturing base of operations is a monumental and expensive task.  Long term profitability for Tesla will only be realized when Tesla is able to ramp up production.  Tesla currently has only one plant in NA (Freemont, CA), but will soon have a second, larger plant coming online in Austin, TX.  And a new plant in Belin, Germany to supply demand in Europe as well.  Tesla sold 235,000 vehicles in NA in 2020, and an estimated 139,000 vehicles in Q1/Q2 in 2021.  By comparison, Toyota sold 1,665,269 vehicles in 2021, and 1,255,101 to date in 2021.  Ford sold 1,233,200 vehicles in 2020, and an estimated 1,310,608 vehicles to date in 2021.  Tesla is healthily leading the NA EV market, with an estimated 54% of all EV vehicle sales in 2021, so I think they’ll be fine as they continue to grow.

And lastly, it’s the tail end of the article that reveals its true intention – furthering UAW unions FUD. 

Musk has long opposed unionization at Tesla and the company has been charged with unfair labor practices over conditions at its Fremont assembly plant. Tesla was found to have unfairly threatened workers with losing their stock options if they unionized and fired a worker for protected union-related activity.

The quote is clearly intended to portray Musk in a specific light.  Reading this quote, one would naturally think that Elon Musk is a union buster, but nothing could be further from the truth.  Let’s see what Musk said that makes him a union buster, illegally infringing upon employees’ rights to unionize:

He had more to say about the matter, and the individual who was fired (reportedly for threatening other workers), but this is the tweet that landed him in the labor board’s cross hairs. How scandalous!

Anyone happen to know how Tesla came into possession of its Fremont, CA plant?  Me either.  Hard to imagine why workers in Fremont wouldn’t want the UAW back.  It’s harder yet to imagine government doing everything it can to hobble the largest EV seller in the US.  At least until one remembers that in Democratic circles, the only things that matter are government control, and left leaning, union supporting politics.