Incumbent President Joe Biden has officially withdrawn from the 2024 U.S. election, amidst expectations that another term from former president Donald Trump could drastically affect the landscape of federal electric vehicle (EV) programs.
President Biden announced the news in a letter shared on Sunday, in which he announced an endorsement for Vice President Kamala Harris after months of criticism of his age and mental acuity. The announcement also follows Elon Musk’s official endorsement for former President Trump last weekend, and after Trump recently selected Ohio Senator JD Vance as his running mate.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 21, 2024
It’s not yet clear whether Harris will become the Democratic nominee for the 2024 election, though Biden’s endorsement will likely hold some weight in the party’s decision. This endorsement also comes as Republicans aim to do away with some of Biden’s aggressive EV adoption measures, including the Biden target of making 50 percent of vehicle sales fully electric by 2030, and the $7,500 EV subsidy.
In recent weeks, Trump has said that he would end the mandate on his first day back in office, eliciting widespread discussion about subsidies, government, EV adoption, and more. Vance also proposed an anti-EV bill last year seeking to replace the subsidy with one of the same amount for gas vehicles.
Despite his past statements about EVs, Vance recently praised Musk for building Tesla, saying that he was similar to an “older generation of American entrepreneur.”
“Elon is actually a great example of an American entrepreneur,” Vance said during an interview last week. “He’s built a company, but also a company that’s employed a lot of good American workers. If you think about it, Elon Musk is, in some ways, a throwback to an older generation of American entrepreneur. He builds real things. He builds cars. He builds rockets. And that’s the kind of economy that President Trump wants to create.”
Musk recently denied reports that he was paying $45 million per month to a political action committee (PAC) supporting Trump, though he did follow up to say that he had created his own PAC to support candidates with a focus on merit-based, personal-freedom-focused policy, adding that the funding is currently far below that amount.
“That is false,” wrote Musk on X. “I have not pledged anything to anyone! I did create a PAC that is focused on supporting candidates who favor a meritocracy and personal freedom, but funding to date has been far below that level.”
President Joe Biden comes after Elon Musk following Trump endorsement
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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.
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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
