After 58,000 Signatures And An Elon Musk Billboard, Biden Finally Recognizes Tesla

Tesla Inc TSLA fans' relentless and undoubtedly unique efforts to get U.S. President Joe Biden to acknowledge the company's role in America's transition to electric vehicles has reached a happy conclusion.

What Happened: Biden on Tuesday acknowledged Tesla as the country's largest electric vehicle manufacturer in a White House speech about his vision for a future made in America.

"From iconic companies, like General Motors Co GM and Ford Motor Co F building out new electric vehicle production, to Tesla, our nation's largest electric vehicle manufacturer," Biden said in his speech about his vision for a future made in America. 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who was vocal about Biden's presumed oversight, responded to the video on Twitter with a smiling emoji sporting sunglasses, often used to convey a sense of cool. 

😎

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 8, 2022

Why It Matters: Until today, President Biden failed to recognize Tesla or even mention the EV leader's name in anything related to America's electrification efforts. 

The Tesla CEO responded to a recent @POTUS tweet recognizing GM and Ford with a word puzzle for the president: "Starts with a T, Ends with an A, ESL in the middle," Musk said in an apparent effort to get Biden to acknowledge Tesla. 

Musk's Tweet saw significant engagement from Tesla fans as supporters followed up with responses to Biden, highlighting his oversight. Others saw it as more of an intentional slight and sought more extensive measures to urge Biden to mention Tesla.

More than 58,000 people signed a petition asking the president to acknowledge Tesla, and someone even bought a billboard in Times Square featuring the puzzle-like tweet from Musk.

It seems those efforts did not go unnoticed. Although we don't know if Biden was persuaded by the petition or the billboard, one thing is for sure: this is a pretty cool ending to what has been a pretty hot story 😎.

See Also: Turning A Tesla Cybertruck Into An Electric Boat: Here's How

Photo: jlhervàs from Flickr.