Tesla's Musk Calls Government's Hydrogen Funding 'Idiotic' And 'Bizarre' Amid EV Truck Triumph

Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk on Sunday reiterated his disagreement with hydrogen as a possible source of renewable energy and termed it “idiotic.”

What Happened: “Bizarrely, government funding is still being directed to hydrogen trucks,” Musk said. “It is idiotic.”

The CEO was responding to an X.com user who posted a picture and a video of a Tesla semi-truck passing through roads. “Bill Gates where art thou?” the user wrote, taking a dig at Bill Gates who has previously doubted the viability of electric trucks.

“Electricity works when you need to cover short distances, but we need a different solution for heavy, long-haul vehicles,” Bill Gates said in 2020.

Why It Matters: This renewed criticism from Musk comes amid discussions surrounding the Hydrogen for Trucks Act, introduced in the U.S. on March 11, 2022. The Act aims to establish a grant program showcasing the efficiency and reliability of heavy-duty fuel cell vehicles powered by hydrogen, particularly targeting trucks weighing over 26,000 pounds.

Musk has long expressed skepticism over hydrogen as an efficient fuel source. In May 2022, Musk said the world will overwhelmingly choose batteries over hydrogen for storing energy and termed the latter "the most dumb thing I could possibly imagine for energy storage."

Only last month, Musk said that California’s push for hydrogen ‘makes no sense’ after the California Transport Commission awarded a $41.9 million grant to Nikola Corp NKLA to build heavy-duty hydrogen refueling stations. Nikola is aiming to introduce its hydrogen fuel cell electric truck this quarter.

Meanwhile, Tesla’s all-electric heavy-duty semi-truck was first unveiled in 2017. It was pegged for a 2019 launch, but the first deliveries were eventually made to PepsiCo in December last year. PepsiCo received a total of 36 Tesla Semis, deployed in parts in Modesto and Sacramento.

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