Some of Tesla’s loyal fans and CEO Elon Musk recently complained that the U.S. government unfairly snubbed the largest U.S. electric car maker in its efforts to support the development of electric vehicles to combat climate change. More than 33,000 people have signed a petition on the change.org website asking U.S. President Joe Biden to recognize Tesla’s leadership in electric vehicles.
Petitioners accuse Biden of ignoring Tesla, which has no union, and supporting traditional Detroit automakers because they have unions. Fans of Musk and Tesla have been expressing their dissatisfaction with the Biden administration, but the new petition is their first large-scale public effort to underscore their argument that the company and its commitment to clean energy vehicles investment has been ignored by the government.
This is an insult to Americans who work for Tesla, the petition said, calling on Biden to “do the right thing by acknowledging Tesla’s efforts to make electric vehicles possible. Musk had expressed dissatisfaction that Tesla was not invited to an electric vehicle summit hosted by the White House last September, saying the White House was biased against Tesla.
Last Wednesday, the White House invited the CEOs of 10 major U.S. companies to a meeting to discuss Biden’s infrastructure bill, including General Motors CEO Mary Barra and Ford CEO Jim Farley, and Tesla was again ignored.
This apparent neglect annoyed some of Musk’s more than 72 million followers on Twitter, as well as Musk himself. “For unknown reasons, the President of the United States cannot say the word Tesla, Musk said in a tweet on Sunday. In a tweet last week, Musk also said that Biden treats the American public like a fool.