Tesla once again tells its own CEO Elon Musk to knock it off with the politics
Tesla just dropped its Q1 2025 earnings and the news isn’t great, as sales and profits have fallen significantly and missed already-low expectations. And in the earnings report, the company has issued what seems to be an admission that its own CEO’s actions are to blame.
It’s been a rough time for Tesla employees lately. The company’s mission is an admirable one: to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable transportation. Many employees joined the company with that mission in mind, wanting to do something positive for the world.
But in recent times, the highest-profile employee of the company, its CEO and largest individual shareholder Elon Musk, has moved away from that mission. He spent huge sums from his personal wealth to campaign for an anti-EV political candidate, and is now actively participating in politics as an ally to those anti-EV forces and spreading climate misinformation along the way.
He’s also famously vindictive and Tesla’s board refuses to rein him in as he works to destroy the company.
So what is a Tesla employee to do, in this case? On the one hand, they want to do what’s right for the company. On the other hand, they don’t want to attract the ire of their boss who wants to do what’s wrong for the company. When your livelihood is at stake, sometimes you’ll choose to just keep your head down, keep working the best you can, and hope in vain that at some point the CEO might change his mind and stop acting like an idiot, or the board might finally step in for the good of the company. (Or, alternately, if you have other options, you might quit to make a statement, like many executives have)
However, we’ve seen some instances of some Tesla employees trying to do something, anything, to cry out to the world that all of this isn’t normal. And one example of that comes from Tesla’s earnings report today.
Tesla says tariffs will harm it
It’s right there in the third paragraph of the summary at the beginning of the document:
Uncertainty in the automotive and energy markets continues to increase as rapidly evolving trade policy adversely impacts the global supply chain and cost structure of Tesla and our peers.
This sort of statement is not a surprise to see in a quarterly report in the environment we’re currently in. The US stock market and economy as a whole are showing increasingly worrying signs, almost entirely due to the flailing actions of the ignoramuses who somehow find themselves in the Oval Office (despite that there exists a clear legal remedy stopping insurrectionists from holding office in the US).
These actions have included the announcement of several tariffs (even though that is the purview of Congress), seemingly determined randomly through a dumb formula that didn’t even use the right numbers, and which seem to change every day (as one would expect when the person implementing them is senile and was profoundly stupid even before he went senile).
This idiotic flailing has produced the expected response: retaliatory tariffs, distrust from the international community, less availability of goods domestically, chaos among the business community, and pushing nations we consider as our rivals closer to the rest of the world.
Businesses, on the whole, have tried to stick to factual statements in their earnings reports and business forecasts. But despite that these statements are generally dry, the message remains clear: tariffs will increase costs for everyone and make business more difficult.
And Tesla’s statement is similarly dry, pointing to the uncertainty of ever-changing tariff decisions and how they will affect supply chains and cost. This is especially true for Tesla Energy, which will be affected much more than its car business, as Tesla also acknowledged today, stating “the current tariff landscape will have a relatively larger impact on our Energy business compared to automotive.”
But for Tesla, this is still exceptional given that the company’s moonlighting CEO, who spends little time working on Tesla business and is otherwise occupied with his twitter addiction, stealing Tesla resources for his private AI company, and trying to shut down the Environmental Protection Agency. Along with all this, Musk is also an advisor in the very administration that is making Tesla’s business difficult.
Musk has stated his opposition to tariffs, but he himself has to walk a thin line and occasionally downplay his language, given his self-professed “love” for Mr. Trump. And, despite this supposed opposition, he still remains one of the largest financial backers of the tariff advocate in question.
But Musk’s politics are also harming the company
But tariffs aren’t the only thing that will make Tesla’s business difficult, as Tesla acknowledged today in its letter. It continued to say:
This dynamic, along with changing political sentiment, could have a meaningful impact on demand for our products in the near-term.
Again, a rather dry statement elucidating a very significant problem with the company at the moment.
It’s not so much that political sentiment about EVs is changing, as EV sales continue to grow globally, despite headlines falsely suggesting otherwise. It’s sentiment against Tesla that is changing, largely due to Musk’s involvement in politics.
The main driver of Tesla’s recent sales decline has been Musk’s high-profile political advocacy, which has included support for German neo-Nazis and agreeing with a defense of Hitler’s actions in the Holocaust, among many other white supremacist statements. This has driven protests against the company, embarrassed owners and pushed many customers away.
It shouldn’t have to be said that allying a company’s brand with neo-Nazis is a bad political decision, especially so if you, as an individual, are so tied to the brand.
In fact, this is something that Tesla acknowledged very early in its existence, as the company used to make a very intentional effort not to make EVs political, hoping to be able to sell to as broad of an audience as possible. Musk seems to have forgotten that directive sometime during his ongoing twitter addiction (an addiction so bad that he has now overpaid for the company not once, but twice).
This isn’t the first time Tesla has had to do this
But this isn’t the first time Tesla has had to call out its own CEO’s actions. As the Musk problem has continued to get worse, Tesla has said similar things multiple times in recent months.
In March, Tesla’s policy team sent a letter to the US Trade Representative urging the USTR to “consider the downstream impacts” of proposed actions. One of those downstream impacts includes retaliatory tariffs, and given the high profile nature of the attachment between Tesla’s CEO and another social media addicted clown who’s implementing said tariffs, there was a lot of talk about Tesla becoming target of those tariffs.
And sure enough, Tesla has seen other governments retaliate against it. Canada has removed Tesla from some incentive programs and is investigating Tesla’s sudden incentive cash grab. The UK, one of the few territories where Tesla sales are not down, has also considered removing the company from incentive programs.
Tesla has also had to walk a thin line on EV incentives, stating that it supports killing EV incentives in the US because Musk said so (even though that would harm the company), while still lobbying for EV incentives overseas where the Musk/Trump stink isn’t overpowering the conversation.
So, in the end, it seems like a really tough time to be a Tesla employee. The company knows that its CEO is harming it, but the board won’t do anything about it, and speaking up too forcefully can get you fired. Pour one out for the employees, we hope you’re holding it down well enough.
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Oil pumpjacks operate at Daqing Oilfield at sunset on November 18, 2024 in Daqing, Heilongjiang Province of China.
Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty Images
Energy supermajors are being forced to confront some tough choices in a weaker crude price environment, with generous shareholder payouts expected to come under serious pressure over the coming months.
U.S. and European oil majors, including Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Shell and BP, have moved to cut jobs and reduce costs of late, as they look to tighten their belts amid an industry downturn.
It reflects a stark change in mood from just a few years ago.
In 2022, the West’s five biggest oil companies raked in combined profits of nearly $200 billion when fossil fuel prices soared following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Flush with cash, the likes of Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Shell, BP and TotalEnergies sought to use what U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres described as their “monster profits” to reward shareholders with higher dividends and share buybacks.
Indeed, the amount of cash returns as a percentage of cash flow from operations (CFFO) has climbed to as much as 50% for several energy companies in recent quarters, according to Maurizio Carulli, global energy analyst at Quilter Cheviot.
It’s better to cut buybacks than dividends: For investors, buybacks are gravy, but dividends are the meat.
Clark Williams-Derry
Energy finance analyst at IEEFA
In today’s environment of weaker crude prices, however, Carulli said this policy risks taking on new levels of debt beyond what could be considered a “healthy” balance sheet.
BP and, more recently, TotalEnergies have announced plans to take steps to reduce shareholder returns.
Quilter Cheviot’s Carulli described this as a “sensible change in direction,” noting that other oil majors will likely follow suit.
Thomas Watters, managing director and sector lead for oil and gas at S&P Global Ratings, echoed this sentiment.
Oil refinery at sunrise: an aerial view of industrial power and energy production.
Chunyip Wong | E+ | Getty Images
“Oil companies are under pressure as crude prices soften, with the potential for prices to fall into the $50 range next year as OPEC continues to release surplus capacity and global inventories build,” Watters told CNBC by email.
“Faced with the challenge of sustaining these returns in a lower-price environment, many will look to reduce costs and capital spending where they can,” he added.
Dividend cuts ‘would send shivers through Wall Street’
Clark Williams-Derry, energy finance analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), a non-profit organization, said trimming the share buybacks is likely Big Oil’s easiest option.
“Over the past few years, oil companies have used buybacks to return cash to investors and prop up share prices. And it’s better to cut buybacks than dividends: For investors, buybacks are gravy, but dividends are the meat,” Williams-Derry told CNBC by email.
“A cut in a dividend would send shivers through Wall Street,” Williams-Derry said.
Saudi Arabia’s state oil producer Saudi Aramco did just that earlier in the year, slashing the world’s biggest dividend amid an uncertain outlook for oil prices.
Brent crude futures year-to-date.
IEEFA’s Williams-Derry linked the move to a steady weakening of the Saudi Aramco’s share price through most of this year, noting that other private oil majors will want to avoid the same fate.
Ultimately, Williams-Derry said oil majors likely have three questions to consider now that the Ukraine boom in oil prices has faded.
“Do they keep taking on new debt to fund their shareholder payouts? Do they slash buybacks, eliminating one of the major factors propping up share prices? Or do they cut back on drilling, signaling weaker production in the future?” Williams-Derry said.
“There are risks to each choice, and no matter what they choose they’re bound to make some investors unhappy,” he added.
Big Oil outlook
For some, Big Oil’s current state of play is not nearly as bad as it might have been.
“It perhaps hasn’t been as gloomy as people expected earlier in the year, because you’ve had this narrative, really since the announcement of Trump’s tariffs back in April, that the oil market was meant to go into a glut and a period of oversupply later in the year,” Peter Low, co-head of energy research at Rothschild & Co Redburn, told CNBC by video call.
“What’s actually surprised people is how resilient oil prices have been because they have stayed in that $65 to $70 a barrel range, more or less,” he added.
Oil prices have since slipped below this range.
International benchmark Brent crude futures with December expiry traded 0.4% lower at $64.97 per barrel on Friday, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures with November expiry dipped 0.3% to trade at $61.24.
“The question, probably less for 3Q and perhaps more for 4Q, is really to what extent distributions and buybacks in particular might need to be to cut to reflect a weaker commodity price environment,” Low said.
“I think given that 3Q was OK, they will probably wait to see what happens in the coming weeks and months and 4Q would be a more natural point for them to revisit shareholder distributions,” he added.
TotalEnergies and Britain’s Shell are both scheduled to report third-quarter earnings on Oct. 30, with Exxon Mobil and Chevron set to follow suit on Oct. 31. BP is poised to report its quarterly results on Nov. 4.
A new whitepaper by heavy truck makers PACCAR and Dragonfly Energy that incorporates real-world fleet trial data and Environmental Chamber Testing conducted at the PACCAR Technical Center seems to indicate that over-the-road truck drivers are ready to embrace battery power and reduce emissions – just not while they’re driving.
The whitepaper, titled Reducing Idle Time & Fuel Costs: Lithium Powered Solutions for Commercial Fleets, looked at different ways to reduce harmful diesel emissions across the duty cycles of a number of different fleet operations, and what they found was that powering a truck’s auxiliary and cabin systems with a high-voltage lithium-ion battery dramatically reduced engine idle time even under worst-case operating scenarios.
Another report by a group called the Clean Air Task Force showed that idling heavy-duty diesel engines while drivers are “hoteling” in their trucks (they’re parked, but running the engine to power the sleeper cab’s climate controls, kitchens, or electronics) exacts a heavy toll on both drivers and shipping fleets.
Idling not only burns fuel and increases operating costs at 0 MPG, it also emits a dangerous cocktail of harmul pollutants that pose direct health risks to drivers, rest stop employees, and nearby communities. Diesel exhaust contains fine particulate matter (PM), nitrogen oxides (NOₓ), and numerous airborne toxins that are known carcinogens, making them a serious problem even to those who think climate change is a global conspiracy from “Big Science” to keep those plucky young oil billionaires in the place.
From a mechanical standpoint, extended idling also accelerates engine wear, degrades emission-control systems, increases maintenance, and shortens engine life.
Battle Born semi batteries
By adding a relatively high capacity hybrid battery (like Dragonfly Energy’s Battle Born brand batteries) to the something like a PACCAR Kenworth T680 (at top), drivers can stay parked for several hours, operating their sleepers’ refrigerators, ACs, or heaters without the noise and emissions and costs of diesel – and they probably sleep better too, without the drone of neighboring diesels cranking on around them all night.
“We believe idle reduction remains one of the most immediate and cost-effective ways fleets can reduce fuel consumption and emissions while improving driver comfort. But just as important, the industry is increasingly focused on operational efficiency and maximizing asset utilization,” explains Wade Seaburg, chief commercial officer at Dragonfly Energy. “We believe our collaboration with PACCAR not only validates the performance of our LiFePO₄-powered solutions, but also highlights how they help fleets maximize uptime, extend equipment life and get more out of their assets.”
The electrification of the auxiliary systems also reduces engine hours, stretching out the time between scheduled maintenance and reducing operational downtime.
In other words, the hybridization of OTR trucks is a win-win-win. The full whitepaper is available for download at BattleBornBatteries.com/Lithium-Powered-Idle-Reduction. Take a look at it yourself, then let us know what you think of the idea in the comments.
SOURCE | IMAGES: PACCAR, Dragonfly Energy; via AP Newswire.
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French car brand Renault believes they’ve got the key to more affordable EV batteries, and their new LFP tech promises to slash the costs of production by 40%. The result? New, desirable EVs with a sub-20K price tag that aren’t made in China.
Spanish news site Motorpasión is reporting that Renault, like Ford, is embracing a more affordable lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) battery chemistries that are safer, cheaper, and less dependent on rare mineral mining than conventional li-ion batteries.
That’s a big change from the recent past. Because they’re less energy dense and weigh a bit more than comparably-sized lithium-ion NMC (nickel-manganese-cobalt) batteries, European automakers looked down on LFPs. But with Chinese automakers like BYD, MG, and Leapmotor flooding Europe with affordable LFP-powered EVs, that stigma is fading fast.
Fun, affordable LFP vehicles
The stability, battery life, and cost advantages of LFP have become too compelling to ignore — especially as global lithium and nickel prices continue to fluctuate, making long-term business projections difficult. Renault’s decision to embrace LFPs then, is less about catching up on the Chinese’ technology than it is about catching up catching up on the Chinese’ economics, and acknowledging that affordability is the real barrier to mass adoption.
That was the thinking behind Renault’s relaunch of the R5 E-TECH (sold as the Le Car in the US) and the announcement that a new Twingo would be coming soon.
It was also the thinking behind the French carmaker’s decision to launch the new Ampere vehicle software development sub-brand back in 2023. At the time, the stated goals were to improve (what are now called) Renault’s software-defined vehicles and, separately, to reduce manufacturing costs of new EVs by 40% – which, if you’ll notice, is just about what the switch to LFP chemistries will enable them to do.
“Creating a new model of company specializing in electric vehicles and software running as of today: How better to illustrate our revolution and the boldness of our teams?” asked Luca de Meo, Renault Group CEO, at Ampere’s launch. He answered his own question, saying, “Instill a sustainable corporate vision and ensure it is reflected in each and every process and product. Build on the Group’s strengths and review the way we do everything. Form a tight-knit team and work for the collective. Harness our French roots and become the leader in Europe. Assert our commitment to our customers, our planet and those living on it.”
Renault is set to launch an all-new, all-electric version of its iconic Twingo minicar from the 1990s in the next few months (at top). The car is targeted straight at the BYD Dolphin and is expected to have a starting price of about €17,000 (just under $20,000 US).
SOURCE: Motorpasión; images via Renault.
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