Elon Musk, White House discuss electric vehicles

Tesla CEO Elon Musk looks at Tesla cars as he attends the start of the production at Tesla’s “Gigafactory” on March 22, 2022 in Gruenheide, southeast of Berlin. US electric car pioneer Tesla received the go-ahead for its “gigafactory” in Germany on March 4, 2022, paving the way for production to begin shortly after an approval process dogged by delays and setbacks. (Photo by Patrick Pleul / dpa-Zentralbild POOL / AFP)

WASHINGTON – Tesla head Elon Musk met with senior White House officials Friday to discuss the Biden administration’s push to grow the electric vehicle market, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

“That meeting did happen today,” she told reporters.

Musk, who has had sometimes openly prickly relations with President Joe Biden, met infrastructure development coordinator Mitch Landrieu and clean energy advisor John Podesta.

They discussed “electrification and how the bipartisan infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act can advance EVs and increase the electrification more broadly,” Jean-Pierre said, referring to two major pieces of legislation passed under Biden providing subsidies and incentives to bolster clean energy, electric vehicles and general infrastructure.

Jean-Pierre said Biden did not meet with Musk, but “it’s important that senior members of his team had a meeting.”

The billionaire entrepreneur occupies an unusual place at the intersection of cutting edge industry and politics with ownership of the country’s most famous EV brand, space projects and Twitter.

He has often tangled with the Biden administration and has used Twitter to embrace right-wing talking points.

On Thursday, he said he met with Republican Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy and Democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries as Congress explores potential curbs on social media platforms.

Musk tweeted that he went to “discuss ensuring that this platform is fair to both parties.”

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