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Tesla’s Elon Musk talks EV charging infrastructure and billionaire taxes
Elon Musk’s recent appearance at the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit included several notable insights from the Tesla and SpaceX executive. Musk covered numerous topics during his interview, from the Cybertruck’s updates to the purpose of the Tesla Bot. Musk also shared some of his more direct thoughts about the US government’s upcoming EV incentives, which heavily favor union-built electric cars such as the Chevy Bolt EV, as well as the idea of billionaires and how they are taxed.
When asked about the Biden administration’s plan to support the buildout of EV chargers across the country, Musk argued that he actually believes there should be no subsidies. The Tesla CEO noted that government support for the buildout of electric car chargers is “unnecessary.” He also called for the Biden administration’s EV incentive plan to be deleted. Musk added that since the beginning, Tesla has not pushed for EV subsidies, and even the $7,500 tax credit that the company maxed out was mostly due to GM’s lobbying in the past.
“Unnecessary. I mean, do we need support for gas stations? So there’s no need for this support for a charging network. I’d delete it. I’m literally saying get rid of all subsidies. And also for oil and gas… Maybe (Tesla’s competitors) need it. I don’t know. But I think just generally, I’m in favor of deleting subsidies. When we started Tesla, there were no EV subsidies at all, and gasoline was super cheap. We did not anticipate any subsidies; that came later. The $7,500 tax credit came as a result not because of Tesla’s activity but because of General Motors’ lobbying. So I would just say delete them all,” Musk said.
Apart from discussing EV chargers and incentives, Musk also spoke about the billionaire class, stating that even if all billionaires in the United States are zeroed out, it will not solve anything if the government does not improve its spending. Musk then shared some of his ideas about how billionaires should be taxed.
“First of all, I pay a lot of tax. My marginal tax rate is like 53%. That’s not trivial. Obviously, there’s asset-based taxes, the sales tax, and everything else. There’s also the estate tax. Generally, I think the estate tax is a good tax. If you think of assets beyond a certain level, that are far beyond let’s say, somebody’s ability to consume, then at some point what you’re really doing is capital allocation.
“So it’s not money for personal expenditure. It does not make sense to take the job of capital allocation away from people who demonstrate great skill in capital allocation, and give it to an entity that has demonstrated very poor skill in capital allocation, which is the government. I think of the government essentially as a corporation. It is simply the biggest corporation with a monopoly on violence, and where you have no recalls,” Musk said.
Musk is currently in the process of selling some of his personal TSLA shares. As of date, Musk has offloaded 10.1 million shares, though he still has about 7 million to sell to complete his target of selling off 10% of his stake in the company. With this, Musk is estimated to pay about $15 billion worth of taxes. Despite this, the CEO is commonly criticized on social media due to his net worth, which has increased amidst Tesla’s rise in the market.
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Armored Tesla Cybertruck “War Machine” debuts at Defense Expo 2025
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Tesla Megapacks chosen for 548 MWh energy storage project in Japan
Tesla plans to supply over 100 Megapack units to support a large stationary storage project in Japan, making it one of the country’s largest energy storage facilities.
Tesla’s Megapack grid-scale batteries have been selected to back an energy storage project in Japan, coming as the latest of the company’s continued deployment of the hardware.
As detailed in a report from Nikkei this week, Tesla plans to supply 142 Megapack units to support a 548 MWh storage project in Japan, set to become one of the country’s largest energy storage facilities. The project is being overseen by financial firm Orix, and it will be located at a facility Maibara in central Japan’s Shiga prefecture, and it aims to come online in early 2027.
The deal is just the latest of several Megapack deployments over the past few years, as the company continues to ramp production of the units. Tesla currently produces the Megapack at a facility in Lathrop, California, though the company also recently completed construction on its second so-called “Megafactory” in Shanghai China and is expected to begin production in the coming weeks.
READ MORE ON TESLA MEGAPACKS: Tesla Megapacks help power battery supplier Panasonic’s Kyoto test site
Tesla’s production of the Megapack has been ramping up at the Lathrop facility since initially opening in 2022, and both this site and the Shanghai Megafactory are aiming to eventually reach a volume production of 10,000 Megapack units per year. The company surpassed its 10,000th Megapack unit produced at Lathrop in November.
During Tesla’s Q4 earnings call last week, CEO Elon Musk also said that the company is looking to construct a third Megafactory, though he did not disclose where.
Last year, Tesla Energy also had record deployments of its Megapack and Powerwall home batteries with a total of 31.4 GWh of energy products deployed for a 114-percent increase from 2023.
Other recently deployed or announced Megapack projects include a massive 600 MW/1,600 MWh facility in Melbourne, a 75 MW/300 MWh energy storage site in Belgium, and a 228 MW/912 MWh storage project in Chile, along with many others still.
What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.
Tesla highlights the Megapack site replacing Hawaii’s last coal plant
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Elon Musk responds to Ontario canceling $100M Starlink deal amid tariff drama
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said, opens new tab on February 3 that he was “ripping up” his province’s CA$100 million agreement with Starlink in response to the U.S. imposing tariffs on Canadian goods.
Elon Musk company SpaceX is set to lose a $100 million deal with the Canadian province of Ontario following a response to the Trump administration’s decision to apply 25 percent tariffs to the country.
Starlink, a satellite-based internet service launched by the Musk entity SpaceX, will lose a $100 million deal it had with Ontario, Premier Doug Ford announced today.
Starting today and until U.S. tariffs are removed, Ontario is banning American companies from provincial contracts.
Every year, the Ontario government and its agencies spend $30 billion on procurement, alongside our $200 billion plan to build Ontario. U.S.-based businesses will…
— Doug Ford (@fordnation) February 3, 2025
Ford said on X today that Ontario is banning American companies from provincial contracts:
“We’ll be ripping up the province’s contract with Starlink. Ontario won’t do business with people hellbent on destroying our economy. Canada didn’t start this fight with the U.S., but you better believe we’re ready to win it.”
It is a blow to the citizens of the province more than anything, as the Starlink internet constellation has provided people in rural areas across the globe stable and reliable access for several years.
Musk responded in simple terms, stating, “Oh well.”
Oh well https://t.co/1jpMu55T6s
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 3, 2025
It seems Musk is less than enthused about the fact that Starlink is being eliminated from the province, but it does not seem like all that big of a blow either.
As previously mentioned, this impacts citizens more than Starlink itself, which has established itself as a main player in reliable internet access. Starlink has signed several contracts with various airlines and maritime companies.
It is also expanding to new territories across the globe on an almost daily basis.
With Mexico already working to avoid the tariff situation with the United States, it will be interesting to see if Canada does the same.
The two have shared a pleasant relationship, but President Trump is putting his foot down in terms of what comes across the border, which could impact Americans in the short term.
Armored Tesla Cybertruck “War Machine” debuts at Defense Expo 2025
Tesla Megapacks chosen for 548 MWh energy storage project in Japan
