Tesla defends its impact on California as Musk alienates blue states
Tesla released a new blog post defending its impact on California and says that it now employs 47,000 people in the state.
California has been critical to Tesla’s success over the last 20 years.
The state has helped Tesla in its time of need and its strong climate initiatives and EV incentives have made it the biggest market for electric vehicles in the US and, therefore, Tesla’s biggest market.
However, the love story between Tesla and California ended somewhat abruptly in 2020. Early measures to curb the spread of Covid 19 resulted in Tesla having to close its Fremont factory, which angered CEO Elon Musk to the point of threatening to move Tesla from California.
By 2021, Tesla delivered on the threat and moved its headquarters to Texas.
The automaker always maintained that it is still heavily investing in California and walked back threats made by Musk to even move Fremont factory at one point.
But the behavior of Musk over the last year resulted in Tesla’s popularity in what is still its most important US market plummeting.
Since Tesla’s move to Texas, the CEO has made it clear that he is now Republican and even encouraged people to vote Republican during the last election – a rare thing for a tech CEO to officially take a side like that.
This didn’t help Tesla’s case in blue states, like California. On top of it, Musk called the Democratic party “the party of hate” and he regularly makes negative comments on the left on his popular Twitter page.
In an apparent damage control effort, Tesla released a rare blog post defending its impact on the state of California.
In the post, the company listed all its primary operations in the state:
Tesla’s footprint in California is made up of Megapack production and vehicle castings in Lathrop, hardware and software engineering in Palo Alto, vehicle and battery manufacturing in Fremont, battery development and testing in San Diego and vehicle design in Hawthorne.
Tesla listed some of its economic impacts in the state of California based on IHS research:
- Tesla-supported California jobs (direct and indirect) exceeded 80,000 in 2021. Over 43,000 of these stemmed from $1.6 billion in expenditures with California suppliers.
- For every 100 direct Tesla jobs, 50 more were supported in the supply chain and 68 by follow-on consumer activity.
- From 2018 to 2021, Tesla paid an average of $1 billion in federal, state and local taxes annually, with approximately $400 million going toward state and local taxes in 2021.
- Tesla’s average contribution to the gross state product (GSP) rose by 42% between 2018-2021, while the state’s GSP grew by 16%.
- Wages from Tesla and Tesla-connected jobs resulted in $16.6 billion in economic activity, or $44.4 million injected into California’s economy each day.
Tesla confirmed that it now has 47,000 employees in California:
In 2022, we grew to 47,000 employees (direct employment) in California, and our production footprint continued to increase as our 2 millionth vehicle rolled off the lines in Fremont. Since 2016, we have made over $5 billion in capital investments in our facilities. We are confident that these trends will continue and that 2023 will be an even bigger year for Tesla in California.
That’s just a little less than half of its global workforce still being located in California.
Electrek’s Take
Despite Tesla not having an official PR department anymore, I’ve seen an effort lately for the automaker to have more of its own communications directly with the public lately and not just through Elon Musk’s Twitter.
Since dissolving Tesla’s PR department, Musk made it so everything goes through him and that has become a problem lately as he increasingly antagonizes part of the population in the US.
When you lead a company that sells products and services to consumers, it’s just bad business to become publicly political like Musk has been doing over the last year.
It looks like Tesla is trying to have its own voice again with being more active on social media and now some blog posts like this one.
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The State of California is moving to ban the sale of Tesla cars amid claims that the company and its CEO, Elon Musk, have misled buyers about the self-driving capabilities of their cars. We’ve also got market-leading news out of Vietnam and a pricey, pricey lesson for one VW ID.Buzz buyer on today’s lesson-learning episode of Quick Charge!
We also ask what this might mean for the recent Uber/Lucid autonomous taxi tie-up and go through a full rundown of the fastest depreciating EVs on the market (and yes, there are four Tesla models in the top 10 … because the Cybertruck was too new to qualify).
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If you’re considering going solar, it’s always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.
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Sunrun is putting tens of thousands of home batteries to work in Puerto Rico as the island’s electric grid faces a summer of high temperatures and energy shortfalls.
The company says it’s now dispatching energy from over 37,000 residential batteries to help grid operator LUMA keep the lights on. That stored power is being used to prevent rolling blackouts when demand spikes and centralized power plants can’t keep up.
Sunrun’s emergency power contribution has grown more than tenfold since last summer. LUMA expects more than 75 energy shortfall events between now and October, with each dispatch sending electricity to the grid for four consecutive hours. During several recent evenings, Sunrun and other virtual power plant (VPP) operators provided enough energy to offset a 50-megawatt generation gap, LUMA said.
Sunrun CEO Mary Powell said Puerto Rico’s aging infrastructure and intense weather patterns make home battery support increasingly critical:
It’s going to be a very difficult summer, which is why Sunrun has ramped up our dispatch capabilities, using tens of thousands of home batteries to support the grid and people of Puerto Rico.
She added that distributed power plants like Sunrun’s serve the same role as natural gas peaker plants – offering fast, reliable power during high-demand moments – but with clean energy.
Sunrun customers enrolled in the VPP will get paid too. Each participating battery earns about $200 minimum for the season, and customers who allow more of their stored energy to go to the grid earn even more. Sunrun also earns revenue for operating the VPP.
Read more: The US’s largest virtual power plant now runs on 75,000 home batteries
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Volkswagen is advertising ID.4 leases starting at just $99 a month. It’s hard to find any car lease these days for under $100 a month, but for $45,000 electric SUV, it’s almost unheard of.
Volkswagen offers ID.4 leases as low as $99 a month
The Volkswagen ID.4 was the third top-selling EV in the US in January after the 2025 model year went back on sale.
Volkswagen’s electric SUV starts at $45,095 with an EPA-estimated driving range of 291 miles. It’s available in five different trims: Pro, AWD Pro, Pro S, AWD Pro S, and AWD Pro S Plus.
The base 2025 VW ID.4 Pro RWD is equipped with 282 hp from a single rear electric motor. Inside, it features a 12.9″ infotainment system with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay support, heated front seats, dual-zone climate control, and Volkswagen’s new ID.Cockpit digital instrument display.
Upgrading to the AWD version will gain a tow hitch and an additional 53 hp, for a combined maximum of 335 hp. The added power comes at the cost of some range, with an EPA-estimated range of 263 miles.
Volkswagen was already offering 2025 ID.4 leases as low as $129 a month, but some dealers are listing it for even less this month.
A California dealership, Volkswagen of Garden Grove, has the 2025 ID.4 Pro RWD listed for lease at just $99 per month. The offer is for 24 months with $2,995 down. According to the dealer, the offer includes a $5,000 cash back bonus, good on a new ID.4 purchase or lease.
We thought the 2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 was a good deal with leases starting at just $179 per month, but for $99, now that’s a steal.
Looking for deals on the Volkswagen ID.4 near you? You can use our link to find and view offers on the 2025 Volkswagen ID.4 in your area (via a trusted affiliate link)
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