Connect with us

Lifestyle

Which Presidential choice is better for Tesla’s future?

Credit: PBS News Hour | YouTube

Published

on

Tesla’s next four years could be decided during Election Day as voters make their way to the polls. Both Presidential candidates have their own distinct advantages and disadvantages in terms of what they could offer Tesla and the entire EV manufacturing sector as a whole within the next few years. However, it comes down to which candidate is more believable. We all know that politicians are a lot of talk and relatively abysmal amounts of what they say actually happens.

For starters, I am completely undecided about this year’s election. Personally, I wouldn’t say I like talking about politics because I feel that people get incredibly ugly when talking about this subject in particular. However, I also think it is essential as a writer who focuses on electric vehicles to highlight what each candidate could offer Tesla. It is not a cookie-cutter scenario here, and quite frankly, both candidates offer substantial benefits.

It seems that Donald Trump’s advantages lean more toward Tesla’s growth in the United States through manufacturing and job creation. Everyone knows “Make America Great Again” and how Trump wanted to recreate the American manufacturing surge that was so dominant in the 20th century. With Tesla planning Giga Texas and what seems to be a few more production plants in the United States within the next few years, there is a chance that Tesla could widely benefit from the views of the current president. While that may be a stretch for some, it is the truth.

FactCheck.com estimates that the Trump campaign has created 6,688,000 jobs so far through his term. That’s a lot of new employment opportunities for people. However, in terms of sustainability, Trump lost 62,000 jobs because of solar tariffs, which is a significant loss for the Earth-friendly energy sector, and it has been a needle in my side in terms of giving him my vote. You can’t say you’re going to create jobs, then lose 62,000 of them because of a Chinese tariff. On top of it, he’s a big supporter of “clean coal,” which isn’t real, because coal isn’t clean.

Additionally, I’m not wholly convinced that Trump would be a great benefactor to the movement of sustainable energy. While I know he’s supported Tesla and Musk in the past, and he also pushed for the Fremont facility to reopen amid the pandemic, which is arguable, there are a lot of jobs in Natural Gas, Coal, and Oil. They bring a lot of money in, and they create employment opportunities. However, they’re not great for the environment, and that’s something that I have a big problem with, personally.


This is a preview from our weekly newsletter. Each week I go β€˜Beyond the News’ and handcraft a special edition that includes my thoughts on the biggest stories, why it matters, and how it could impact the future.

Advertisement
-

Biden, indeed, is the more environmentally-friendly choice between the two candidates. He has a laid-out plan for climate change, and he is a supporter of clean energy. One thing I like about him is that he is not denying that climate change is a threat to human existence, and I feel that whoever gets into office over the next two terms is going to have a real problem on their hands if they do not confront this issue head-on. I like that Biden has a specific plan to penalize the big polluters and hold them accountable for the environmental issues they have laid upon the Earth for revenue.

Biden also has a net-zero carbon goal by 2050, which many automotive companies have adopted in 2020. The big key with this is holding companies accountable and doing annual or even bi-annual check-ins to make sure they’re taking steps to work toward becoming cleaner.

Biden also has a plan to create 10 million clean energy jobs in the U.S. over the course of his term. This is an astounding number, but it will take a lot of work to create that many jobs in one sector in four years. So I have a little bit of trouble believing it.

One thing I found sort of humorous about Biden is the video clip he uploaded to Twitter in early August. While sitting in a Stingray, he says that EVs are the future of transportation and that he hopes they make an all-electric version of the Corvette variant. I found this sort of counterproductive, and I got a good chuckle out of it. Nothing says you love sustainability like sitting in a car that gets 12 MPG!

Either way the cookie crumbles in November, both candidates have their own advantages in terms of what they can do for EVs. Tesla being an American-based EV maker, holds to gain, or lose, the most from the election in terms of the potential of the sector in the coming years. Depending on who you ask, both candidates are the “best” for the job. Still, whichever party really ends up helping Tesla and sustainability could hold the Presidency for years to come, as environmentalism is growing and becoming a more critical issue every year.

A big thanks to our long-time supporters andΒ new subscribers! Thank you.

Advertisement
-

I use this newsletter to share my thoughts on what is going on in the Tesla world. If you want to talk to me directly, you canΒ email meΒ or reach meΒ on Twitter. I don’t bite, be sure to reach out!

Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

Advertisement
Comments

Elon Musk

Tesla primes Cybercabs for 4K streaming and high bandwidth gaming with Starlink integration

Tesla is now shipping Cybercabs from Giga Texas with Starlink hardware built in as standard.

Published

on

By

tesla cybercab with no manual controls showing a movie with two employees inside

Tesla’s Cybercabs are now leaving Gigafactory Texas with Starlink hardware on the rear hatch in significant numbers, according to drone footage captured Tuesday by longtime Austin drone observer Joe Tegtmeyer. Production at the factory ramped back up after the Labor Day weekend, and his flyover of the outbound lot showed rows of gold Cybercabs alongside Model Y Long Wheelbase units, many carrying the satellite module for the first time as standard equipment rather than a one off retrofit.

Tesla first showed Starlink built into an actual Cybercab on August 10, when the Robotaxi account posted images of a single gold unit with the antenna integrated into the roofline above the taillights and called it the first Cybercab with Starlink integration. That followed a July reveal where Tesla and Starlink jointly posted a cutaway diagram of the antenna placement without a working vehicle to back it up. Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s VP of AI software, said at the time that the connection isn’t required for the car to drive itself. It exists mainly for navigation, customer service and keeping tabs on the fleet.

Musk has made a different case in public. During Tesla’s Q2 earnings call, he said the company can’t afford robotaxis stranded in what he called “Bermuda Triangles of lack of cellular connectivity,” and he separately claimed on X that Starlink will eventually reach every Tesla built, calling it the only way to deliver high bandwidth to billions of vehicles. He has also pitched the antenna as an entertainment upgrade, telling riders they would be able to stream 4K video or play games during a trip.

Advertisement
-

The rollout has moved fast since. Robotaxi service opened to the public in Austin on September 3, and Cybercabs had already been spotted with Starlink hardware in Houston and near Miami International Airport in the weeks before Tuesday’s factory footage showed the module shipping at volume rather than on scattered test units. Whether the satellite link earns its keep is still an open question. Tesla’s unsupervised service currently runs in dense metro geofences in Texas and Florida, markets where cellular coverage is already strong, which is not where the rural dead zones Musk describes tend to show up.

Continue Reading

Lifestyle

Tesla Cybertruck targets job site crews with new Tailgate Utility Track and Bed Gear Box accessory

Tesla launched a $350 tailgate track and a $985 lockable Bed Gear Box for Cybertruck.

Published

on

By

Tesla Cybertruck construction site

Tesla’s Cybertruck team added two more items to the Tesla Shop, targeting job site crews and owners who use the truck bed for actual work rather than just showing it off. The official Cybertruck X account posted the Tailgate Utility Track and the Bed Gear Box within minutes of each other, part of a five item batch that also included a reflective jacket, a spray paint hat and an updated reflective tee.

The Tailgate Utility Track runs $350 and turns the folded down tailgate into another mounting surface. It’s a single aluminum track with a T-slot for sliding accessories and two L-track attachment points, plus two load stops included in the box. The pitch is straightforward: strap down oversized cargo, like lumber or a cooler, that hangs off the back of the bed without it sliding out mid-drive. It bolts onto the existing tailgate and works on every Cybertruck trim.

The Bed Gear Box costs $985 and is a different kind of accessory. It’s a lockable aluminum storage box, 55.78 inches long, 19.8 inches wide and 7.79 inches tall, that mounts to the bed’s L-track rails and comes with two internal bins for smaller items. According to Tesla, at just over 57 pounds empty, it’s meant to stay in place rather than come in and out with each trip, giving owners a factory-fit alternative to loose totes for tools, recovery gear or emergency supplies. Tesla’s listing notes that Long Range and Dual Motor AWD Cybertrucks need the L-Tracks accessory installed separately before the Gear Box will mount, since L-tracks come standard only on certain configurations.

Tesla Cybertruck bed gear box accessory

Tesla Cybertruck bed gear box accessory

Both accessories lean on the idea Tesla has been building toward since Elon Musk first described the Cybertruck’s third-party attachment strategy at the 2023 shareholder meeting, when he said the truck would ship with mounting points so outside companies, and Tesla itself, could keep adding gear without redesigning the bed. That’s the same L-track backbone underneath the tailgate shield and jumpseats Tesla launched last year, and the off-road armor package that arrived through the same X account in 2025.

Owners looking to round out the rest of the L-track ecosystem, cargo dividers, MOLLE panels, bed racks and similar gear, can find a wider range of options through our Cybertruck accessories collection.

Advertisement
-
Continue Reading

Elon Musk

Elon Musk says he knows how to save Earth for a billion years

Elon Musk says sentient AI satellites launched from the Moon could keep Earth livable forever.

Published

on

By

Elon Musk spent part of his weekend describing a plan to keep the planet livable for roughly a billion years, and it starts with satellites that can think for themselves.

In a post on X, Musk argued that swapping fossil fuels for solar and wind power will not be enough to protect humanity from what he called extremely severe extinction events, the kind that occur roughly every 100 million years. His fix is what he called sentient satellites, or solar-powered satellites, controlled by AI, that would sit in a fixed spot between Earth and the Sun after being launched off the Moon using a giant electromagnetic catapult instead of rockets.

The satellites’ onboard AI would make continuous, small adjustments rather than waiting on human instructions. The mass driver is Musk’s proposed way of getting the raw material there cheaply by using an electromagnetic launch track built on the Moon, where lower gravity and no atmosphere make it far easier to fling cargo into space than it is from Earth.

Musk shared a Grok generated estimate suggesting roughly 5 percent of Florida’s land, or about 1.68 million acres, could face regular flooding by 2070 under a high sea level rise scenario, and said humanity has about 50 years to act before coastal living looks very different than it does today.

Advertisement
-

This is not the first time Musk has floated the idea. He raised a similar concept in November, describing a solar powered AI satellite constellation that could make tiny adjustments to incoming sunlight to fine tune Earth’s temperature. Musk has also tied planetary risk to his broader vision at SpaceX, where his compensation package is explicitly linked to establishing a self-sustaining Mars colony, one he has described as an insurance policy against the kind of extinction event he referenced this weekend, and where he has said humans could set foot within five to seven years.

Continue Reading