Tesla ranks under UnitedHealth, Temu, BP in brand reputation poll due to Musk
The 2025 version of the Axios Harris poll of brand reputation is out, and it shows a sharp decline in the reputation of Tesla and other Elon Musk-related brands, putting them among the lowest-ranked brands in America, largely due to the toxicity of Musk himself.
The Axios Harris Poll 100 ranks brand reputation of America’s 100 most visible companies, and asks a sample of thousands of Americans how they feel about each brand.
The survey is a collaboration between Axios and Harris that has been going on since 2019, though is based on 20 years of similar Harris Poll research before then, starting in 1999. It has developed its own reputation as a reliable way to take temperature of the American public’s opinion on various high profile brands.
It’s conducted through multiple samples of thousands of Americans, asking them what the most high-profile brands are, how familiar they are with those brands, and their opinions of those brands.
Tesla has been ranked in the survey many times over the years, with varying results. In the first poll in 2019, it ranked 42nd, with a brand score of 75.4 out of 100.
But Tesla rose from there, ranking 18th in 2020 and reaching a high-water mark as the 8th most trusted brand in America in 2021, with a reputation score of 80.2 out of 100.
Since then, the company’s shine has started to tarnish, and it has been dropping in the rankings. 2022 saw a slight dip to #12 and a score of 79.5, but in 2023 Tesla took a huge hit, dropping a whopping 50 places in the rankings. Axios titled the poll the “year of the tarnished titans” partially due to Tesla’s huge drop.
But the drop didn’t stop there, as Tesla dropped another position in 2024, down to #63, but with a brand score that would still at least be a barely-passing grade (for a lenient teacher), at 72.5 out of 100.
But this year’s poll shows that things just continue to get worse, and in fact, the reputation damage is accelerating.
In 2025, Tesla dropped another 32 places into 95th place, and down to a brand score of 61.3, a huge numerical drop in both position and brand score.
The only companies ranked worse are:
#96 Wells Fargo – which defrauded its customers and was fined ~$3 billion for it. Incidentally, the fraud was uncovered by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a government organization which Elon Musk is trying to dismantle.
#97 Meta (Facebook) – This feels self-explanatory, but just about everyone is unhappy with Facebook, for reasons with varying levels of rationality behind them.
#98 Twitter – Also run by Elon Musk, which has been flooded with Nazi rhetoric and disinformation after he wasted $44 billion and most of his time on it (though it consistently ranked poorly even before Musk’s takeover0.
#99 The Trump Organization – I mean, it has the name of the highest-profile traitor to America right there in the name.
#100 Spirit Airlines – The “most hated airline in America,” butt of innumerable jokes, with generally low levels of service.
SpaceX, the third company run by Musk on the list, also earned a low reputation score, ranking 86th with a score of 66.4.
Notably, there are several companies with bad reputations ranked above Tesla, many of which have had high-profile scandals either recently or that still loom large in the public consciousness.
For example, those in the title of this article: BP, which presided over the Deepwater Horizon oil spill; UnitedHealth, which is currently imploding and whose former CEO was recently murdered in broad daylight and lots of people kind of didn’t seem to mind it; and Temu, which has faced data privacy lawsuits and is the butt of many jokes for selling low quality products, on top of general anti-China sentiment.
For a few other names, another Chinese app, TikTok, is also ranked above Tesla. As is Fox Corporation, one of the largest purveyors of misinformation and causes of the political division we see in America today. And finally, Boeing, which spent last year wracked by scandals, yet is 7 places above Tesla on this year’s list.
Meanwhile, every other automaker on the list ranked higher than Tesla by at least 35 places (Ford, #60).
Electrek’s Take
So, the news is quite bad for Tesla. But why is Tesla ranked so low?
Well, as you may have divined from our repeated mention of a certain name, the primary reason is Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
As we’ve been warning people about for quite some time now, Tesla CEO Elon Musk is doing his best to completely destroy Tesla’s brand.
Musk has presided over an incredible amount of brand damage to Tesla, with the company ranking the lowest of any US EV brand in a recent survey. This negative perception seems to apply to pretty much any question asked about the brand, including its standout Supercharger network, which suggests that the reason isn’t anything to do with Tesla’s products.
As an EV publication, we have the same mission as Tesla – to advance sustainable transport. In order for that to happen, we obviously want the (formerly) largest EV company in the world to do its job the best it can.
The problem is, Musk doesn’t have that mission, and has been doing his best over the last year(s) to ruin Tesla’s brand perception with increasingly idiotic decisions, both in terms of his public advocacy and his work within Tesla.
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, has driven protests against the company, embarrassed owners and pushed many customers away. The first round of the poll started on Jan 22, which means it captured the period after Musk did two back-to-back Nazi salutes in public.
Beyond politics, Musk’s leadership (or lack thereof) has also resulted in Tesla putting all of its effort into products that either don’t work or don’t sell, instead of focusing on Tesla’s strengths like its cost advantages and Supercharger network.
So, once again, this report shows the effect of the constant drumbeat of bad Tesla business moves and horrendous public behavior by the company’s CEO.
Indeed, it seems like the legend of the “Tesla killer” finally came true – and it’s Elon Musk.
The company’s employees, for the most part, are still working to succesfully to make good electric vehicles. But Musk is spending the money he made from selling EVs to try to ruin EVs – something that the company itself had to call him out on in its quarterly report (and which the formerly-more-lucid Musk would have opposed just a few years ago before he forgot how climate change works).
Unfortunately, Tesla’s board seems content to destroy the company, and its shareholders do too, as they voted again last year to give Musk $55 billion in exchange for his bad leadership, an award that is greater than the total amount of profits Tesla has made over its entire lifetime.
That pay package was stopped by a court for violating corporate law, but Musk has spent his political influence getting Texas to rewrite its business laws to disadvantage shareholders and benefit Musk personally – even as Texas continues to block Tesla from selling cars in the state Musk unwisely moved its headquarters to.
We’re not sure what’s going to make Tesla’s board (which have been dumping TSLA stock like mad) or shareholders wake up to Musk’s destruction of the company, but this report is just one more data point showing how severe the situation has gotten.
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Environment
Volvo Penta teams up with e-power to equip Boels with next-gen Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS)
Veteran marine and industrial power solutions company Volvo Penta has joined forces with energy solutions provider e-power to build battery energy storage systems (BESS). Volvo Penta’s battery systems for energy storage will power BESS units built by e-power that can be catered to a range of applications, most notably construction rental clients like Boels Rentals in Europe.
Volvo Penta is a provider of sustainable power solutions that currently serves land and sea applications under the Volvo Group umbrella. As more and more of the world goes all-electric, the global manufacturer has also adapted, sharing cultural values with Volvo Group to engineer new and innovative sustainable power solutions.
Nearly 100 years later, Volvo Penta remains an industry leader in marine propulsion systems and industrial engines. As more and more of the world goes all-electric, the Swedish manufacturer has also adapted, sharing cultural values with Volvo Group to engineer new and innovative sustainable power solutions.
For example, all Volvo Penta diesel engines now run on hydro-treated vegetable oil (HVO), reducing well-to-wheel emissions by up to 90% across the marine and industrial power industries. On the zero-emissions side, Volvo Penta has expressed its dedication to fossil-free power solutions, including battery electric components to serve heavy-duty applications such as terminal tractors, forklifts, drill rigs, and feed mixers, to name a few.
To leverage its battery electric value chain, Volvo Penta has also ventured into battery systems for energy storage (or BESS subsystems). These energy-dense, purpose-built BESS subsystems can provide portable, sustainable energy for all-electric charging and reduce grid dependency.
Volvo Penta to deploy battery systems for energy storage
Volvo Penta recently announced a strategic partnership with e-power, a Belgian power solutions provider. Together, Volvo Penta and e-power will develop a scalable Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) for Boels Rental.
The collaboration continues a long-standing partnership between all three companies. Boels – one of the largest construction rental companies is a long-time customer of e-power generators that utilize Volvo Penta engines. As the company shifts toward electrification and sustainability, it will again turn to those companies to deliver reliable performance.
Volvo Penta’s BESS subsystem comprises battery packs, a Battery Management System (BMS), DC/DC converters, and thermal management, combining to offer a compact, high-density, and transport-friendly solution optimized for rental operations. The company shared that this BESS design is integration-ready, enabling other OEMs like e-power to adapt and scale systems to customer-specific needs. Per e-power business support director, Jens Fets:
We’ve built our reputation on reliability and efficient power systems. Working again with Volvo Penta, this time on battery energy storage, allows us to meet the growing demand for energy in a silent, low-emissions, compact and mobile design—especially in rental applications.
The deployment of these new battery energy storage systems will help Boels cater to its customers’ growing demand for clean, silent, and mobile energy solutions in construction and other industrial applications.
Aside from being more quickly adaptable to customer needs, Volvo Penta says its BESS architecture marks an overall shift in rental power systems. This is welcome news for all who support a cleaner, more sustainable future across all industries.
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That didn’t take long! Just a few hours after Mercedes revealed the screen-heavy interior of its upcoming 2026 GLC EV, photos of the new crossover’s exterior – and that controversial grille! – leaked on Instagram and Reddit. We’ve got them here.
Two days ahead of the GLC EV’s officially schedule global debut, images that reportedly show the new 2026 Mercedes undisguised have leaked on Instagram and Reddit. They show the blocky new light-up grille on the nose of a very smooth, jellybean-like crossover shape that, despite Mercedes’ insistence that it’s moving away from the EQ series’ design language, looks an awful lot like an EQ Mercedes.
Check out the leaked images from kindleauto’s Instagram account, below, and see if you agree with that assessment.
If you need to see more before you feel comfortable commenting on the new SUV’s looks, there’s a few more angles over on the r/mercedes_benz subreddit.
Leaked exterior pictures of the upcoming GLC EV
byu/Quick_Coyote_7649 inmercedes_benz
As with everything else on the internet, take those unofficial images with a grain of salt and maybe wait until the GLC EV’s official reveal in a few days’ time before casting your final vote on the new look – but there’s very little reason to believe the new Mercedes will look terribly different from what you see here.
Will the new grille and tech-forward interior with its massive, 39″ screen and MB.OS software be enough to turn the tide for Mercedes-Benz, enabling it to finally gain some traction in the electric crossover market? That remains to be seen, but the recently updated Tesla Model Y and crisply-styled new BMW iX3 with its 500 miles of range will make it an uphill battle, for sure.
We got a sneak peek at the new GLC back in July, when Mercedes-Benz Group CEO, Ola Källenius said that, “We’re not just introducing a new model – we’re electrifying our top seller.” Back then, we learned that the new GLC EV would have a wheelbase 3.1″ longer than the current ICE-powered model, as well as more head- and leg-room for its occupants and an extra 4.5 cubic feet (for 61.4 total) of cargo space.
Källenius also promised an innovative new 800V electric architecture and the latest battery tech, which will enable the electric GLC to add around 260 km (~160 miles) of WLTP range in just ten minutes thanks to more than 300 kW of charging capability.
SOURCES | IMAGES: kindleauto; Quick_Coyote_7649.
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For more than 30 years, John Deere’s go-anywhere Gator has been a trusted tool for ranchers, landscapers, and hobby farmers. But the all-electric TE 4×2 version of Big Green’s little truckster rarely gets to steal the spotlight from its ICE-powered 6×4 cousins.
We’re going to change that.
Unlike some of those other UTV brands that just recently entered the electric vehicle game, John Deere introduced its first all-electric Gator way back in 1998.
That OG E-Gator was designed from the ground up for quiet work in places like golf courses, university and hospital campuses, luxury resorts, and corporate grounds – but its go-anywhere design and quiet running made it a favorite of hunters and ranchers, too. Fitted with eight heavy, 12V lead-acid batteries, the ’98 Gator could deliver 6 hours of runtime between overnight charges.
We haven’t come a long way, baby
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. That seems to be the mentality at Deere when it comes to the all-electric Gator. The TE 4×2 hasn’t chased trends or tried to reinvent itself with flashy autonomous tech. Instead, it’s relied solid, work-horsey reasons. Instead, the UTV has leaned on the formula that’s made it a winner for more than 25 years: bulletproof reliability, low maintenance, and a design that just works. Even the added weight of the low-tech batteries compared to more energy-dense li-ion deals makes sense in this application, providing weight over the drive wheels that delivers sure-footed traction on slippery grass or muddy trails.
That’s not to say the Gator hasn’t changed at all over the last few decades. The electrical system has been upgraded to 48V, and its high-capacity, deep-cycle batteries (12 kWh total capacity) give the TE 4×2 dependable, all-day runtime (up to 8 continuous hours) with the benefit of modern chargers, regenerative braking (!), and updated safety features.
The TE 4×2 electric Gator is available from your local Deere dealer with prices starting at $15,699. And, if you’re looking for an endorsement: my personal Gator is easily my favorite thing … maybe I should try to change my Twitter X handle to “GatorJo”?
Let me know what you think of that idea in the comments.
SOURCE | IMAGES: John Deere.
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