Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk, on Friday, criticized the Biden administration’s spending efficiency, after reports that the government’s $7.5 billion capital allocation to help build EV charging stations across the country resulted in only seven operational ones as of March.
What Happened: The Washington Post, in March, reported that only seven EV charging stations are operational across four states despite the administration allocating $7.5 billion to help build 500,000 EV charging stations in the country by 2030 more than two years ago.
In November 2021, Biden signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The law included $7.5 billion in EV charging infrastructure, of which $5 billion was allocated to individual states.
“Wow. I'm starting to think that the government is … not efficient at spending,” Musk responded to the report on Friday.
Why It Matters: Musk’s Tesla has its own fast charging network. As of the end of the first quarter, the company had over 6000 supercharger stations around the globe and over 57,000 connectors. Earlier this year, the company also opened over 15,000 of its superchargers across North America to non-Tesla EV owners.
Earlier this week, Musk said that the company would spend over $500 million to expand its network this year, not including operation costs, and create thousands of new chargers. This is despite the departure of the supercharger segment’s head Rebecca Tinucci last month on the heels of the company’s decision to lay off over 14,000 of its global workforce. The company also intends to lay off about 500 people from Tinucci’s supercharger group and reassign others.
Check out more of Benzinga's Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link.
Photo: Shutterstock
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Comments
Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.
