Elon Musk is starting to realize, or at least admit, that Trump and the GOP are going to hurt Tesla greatly by removing battery and solar incentives without removing incentives for fossil fuels.

Many people were shocked when Elon Musk decided to back Donald Trump and the Republican Party, considering they have consistently attacked clean energy and electric vehicles, which are Tesla’s main products.

The GOP has been undermining renewable energy for years, and it doesn’t look like Musk’s $300 million donation to Trump and influence on the GOP were able to change that, as the latest budget to pass the GOP controlled-Congress undoes a lot of progress made by the Biden administration on clean energy and electric vehicle adoption.

The budget removes the $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicles, which is a big part of Tesla’s success in the US. It also kills incentives to build batteries in the US – another incentive that greatly benefited Tesla.

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It also removes 30% tax credit on battery storage and solar, which greatly helped Tesla’s energy division.

Yesterday, Tesla issued a statement calling for the Trump government to gradually phase out those incentives rather than removing them altogether:

Abruptly ending the energy tax credits would threaten America’s energy independence and the reliability of our grid – we urge the senate to enact legislation with a sensible wind down of 25D and 48e. This will ensure continued speedy deployment of over 60 GW capacity per year to support AI and domestic manufacturing growth.

Musk shared the statement and then added that while the government that he helped elect is removing incentives for electric vehicles and clean energy, it is not removing those for oil and gas:

The US is incentivizing the oil and gas industry at a rate of hundreds of billions of dollars per year.

Before backing Trump and the Republican Party, Musk had stated that he would be for the removal of EV and clean energy incentives if incentives for fossil fuels were also removed.

Musk has officially exited the Trump administration this week.

Electrek’s Take

It’s interesting to see Musk finally speaking out, albeit weakly, against some of Trump’s policies for the first time. He did note that the budget bill would increase the deficit, and now this.

A quick reminder that Musk said that Trump was the “only one who could save the Western world” and that if he is not elected, the US is basically done.

His stated goals with Trump were to “kill the woke mind virus” and get the deficit and debt under control.

The US has never been more divided, and Trump is pushing a budget that would add about $4 trillion to the US debt over the next few years. His backing of Trump hasn’t achieved anything meaningful toward those goals. Of course, Musk’s real goal in backing Trump was likely to get federal regulators and agencies that were closing in on him and his businesses off his back.

He was successful in doing that, but at what cost?

The EV tax credit is a significant factor in maintaining Tesla’s demand in the US, which is essentially its last primary market where it sells vehicles at a profit.

The removal of the 30% ITC for solar and energy storage would significantly slow down Tesla’s energy storage business, which has been its only growing business for the last two years.

In short, the budget would greatly weaken Tesla’s business in the US, which was its last remaining market that wasn’t doing too badly. Canada is gone. Europe is gone, and Tesla is facing tremendous pressure from competition in China.

Nigel Farage has successfully exploited the Commons recess to “grab the mic” and “dominate” the agenda, Harriet Harman has said.

Speaking on Sky News’ Electoral Dysfunction podcast, the Labour peer said that the Reform UK leader has been able to “get his voice heard” while government was not in “full swing”.

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Mr Farage used a speech this week to set himself, rather than Kemi Badenoch’s Tories, up as the main opposition to Sir Keir Starmer at the next election.

The prime minister responded on Thursday with a speech attacking the Clacton MP.

Baroness Harman said: “It’s slightly different between opposition and government because in government, the ministers have to be there the whole time.

“They’ve got to be putting legislation through and they kind of hold the mic.

“They can dominate the news media with the announcements they’re making and with the bills they’re introducing, and it’s quite hard for the opposition to get a hearing whilst the government is in full swing.

“What we used to do when we were in opposition before 1997 is that as soon as there was a bank holiday and the House was not sitting, as soon as the half-term or the summer recess, we would be on an absolute war footing and dominate the airwaves because that was our opportunity.

“And I think that’s a bit of what Farage has done this week,” Harman added.

“Basically, Farage can dominate the media agenda.”

She went on: “He’s kind of stepped forward, and he’s using this moment of the House not sitting in order to actually get his voice heard.

“It’s sensible for the opposition to take the opportunity of when the House is not sitting to kind of grab the mic and that is what Nigel Farage has done.”

But Baroness Harman said it “doesn’t seem to be what Kemi Badenoch’s doing”.

She explained that the embattled leader “doesn’t seem to be grabbing the mic like Nigel Farage has” during recess, and added that “there’s greater opportunity for the opposition”.

DALLAS — Connor McDavid had the breakaway goal that swung the momentum back to the Edmonton Oilers, and their captain happily touched the trophy they got after wrapping up another Western Conference title.

McDavid got that big goal in the second period after an earlier assist, 40-year-old Corey Perry scored again and the Oilers are going to their second Stanley Cup Final in a row after beating the Dallas Stars 6-3 on Thursday night in Game 5 to wrap up the West finals.

When McDavid accepted the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl, he gladly put his hands on it this time.

“It’s pretty obvious I think,” McDavid said about what was different from the end of last year’s West finals. “Don’t touch it last year; you don’t win. Touch it this year; hopefully we win.”

Edmonton scored on its first two shots and jumped ahead 3-0 in the first 8:07 on way to eliminating the Stars in the West finals for the second year in a row.

The Oilers get another rematch, against defending Stanley Cup champion Florida after their series last June went seven games after the Panthers had won the first three games. Game 1 is Wednesday night in Edmonton.

It’s the 12th rematch in Stanley Cup playoff history and the first since 2009 (Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Detroit Red Wings). Oddsmakers made the title odds a toss-up, with the Panthers and Oilers each listed at -110 to win the Cup on Thursday at ESPN BET.

Dallas was within a goal when Thomas Harley had a one-timer blocked by Mattias Ekholm, the Oilers defenseman playing for the first time this postseason. McDavid gathered the long ricochet well past center ice, stayed ahead of speedy Roope Hintz and beat goalie Casey DeSmith with 5:32 left in the second period.

“That’s a Connor McDavid kind of play and that’s just the player he is,” Perry said.

Mattias Janmark, Jeff Skinner, Evander Kane and Kasperi Kapanen also scored for Edmonton, the last an empty-netter in the closing seconds. Leon Draisaitl and Jake Walman each had two assists.

Jason Robertson scored twice and Hintz had a goal for the Stars, who ended their season in the West finals for the third year in a row. Wyatt Johnston and Harley each had two assists.

“You’ve got to keep knocking on the door,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “We chased every single game in this series and that’s a tough way to play hockey against that team. It was the story of the entire series, but the fourth goal, Connor’s goal … puck bounces into the neutral zone, he’s coming off the bench, he’s not missing that. It’s game over.”

DeSmith had taken over in net after starting goalie Jake Oettinger was pulled following Janmark’s goal that made it 2-0 only 7:09 into the game.

Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner had 14 saves. DeSmith, who hadn’t played since April 26 in Game 1 of the first round against Colorado, stopped 17 of 20 shots.

Perry scored on a power play, assisted by McDavid and Draisaitl, only 2:31 in the game. His seven goals are the most by any player age 39 or older in a single postseason, and the 2007 Stanley Cup champion with Anaheim when he was 22 is now going to his fifth Final in the past six seasons.

That was McDavid’s 100th assist in 90 playoff games, making him the second-fastest player in NHL history to reach that mark. Wayne Gretzky had 100 assists in his first 70 playoff games, and no other player has reached the mark in fewer than 125 games.

Robertson scored a minute into the third period to get the Stars within a goal again. Kane then scored on a shot that went off the skate of Dallas defenseman Esa Lindell and past DeSmith.

Jeff Skinner, the 33-year-old forward who has played 1,078 regular-season games over 15 years with three teams, scored his first career postseason goal for the 3-0 lead. His playoff debut was in the first-round opener against Los Angeles on April 21, but he didn’t play again until Thursday, when the Oilers were without injured forwards Zach Hyman and Connor Brown.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.