What a Biden presidency will mean for EVs, renewable energy and Tesla

[fbitz777]

• He will formally set a “net zero” emissions target by 2050 for the USA.
• He will unleash billions if not trillions of dollars of investment in renewable energy to transition away from fossil fuels, bringing jobs to the “rust belt” and mid-west. His natural inclination will be to negotiate a package even if the Senate is hostile, as that way the policy becomes more ‘sticky’. But if they become bloody-minded and obstructionist, he does have the option of appropriating the funds by declaring Climate Change to be a national emergency and therefore bypassing Congress. Donald Trump set the precedent by declaring the construction of the Mexican Border wall to be an “emergency” after Congress refused to release the money for it. At least Climate Change is a real emergency rather than a confected one.
• He aims to massively increase the number of EV charging stations around the country.
• He will remove the manufacturer cap on the $7500 EV tax credit and restore the tax credit permanently for US-made electric vehicles, but narrow it to “middle-income” or lower buyers, meaning people with less than $250,000 annual income. This will be enormously helpful to Tesla.
• He will reinstate the solar investment tax credit.

-Net zero by 2050 is not very ambitious.

-I live in Rust Belt. Good luck of getting rid of fracking...even Biden reversed his stance while campaigning here.

-EV charging stations have seen a massive increase already; not sure what Biden has to do with it.

-7500 EV credit: where did you see Biden propose to restore it? Having used 5 of these myself I can tell you that I would probably buy a brand with existing credits (Audi, VW, RIvian,...) just to take advantage...4 of my 5 credits were for Ford and GM Evs.

-Solar Investment Credit...this was set to expire back in 2007 and has been extended many time (right now still valid in 2021). I received 30 percent installing my panels in 2017 but now the same project is quoted 30 percent less! Had I known that I would have waited!

 

[jbcarioca]

There are a significant number of foreign relations topics that will be material for Tesla that have not been mentioned. Such topics as agreements to lead Brazil to reduce deforestation and adopt environmentally positive actions are typical, and there are dozens of those around the world that have been specifically included in formal policy statements. With one of the ten largest automotive markets and a huge energy market, Brazil may evolve to a major market for Tesla. The other global initiatives including specifically Paris accord revisions are almost certain to become major poise factors for Tesla.

Obviously much of that agenda will be subject to legislative actions in many places around the world. I think the totality of these will certainly be worth at least a doubling of probable BEV prospects and probably at least quadrupling of renewable, storage and grid management opportunities globally.

All this is so consequential that reasonable quantification is impossible thus far. Sometime around June 2021 or so we should begin to understand the global consequences of this [censored] change in the US. People with better crystal balls than have I might forecast rather better. In any event this is a strong TSLA buy signal.

 

[Didaho]

Think the main issue is it's got no place in the Australia section..

If it talked about the pressure the USA reversal might cause on Australia's climate policy - different story.

The removal of the manufacturer cap on the rebate will be a massive positive for Tesla (given they are the only manufacturer to reach the cap)

I think GM is over the cap as well, maybe why they penned that wacky Nikola deal.
To your first point, as far as I can see, the pressure's included in every bullet point - our pollies take direct inspiration (or licence) from US policies / media reporting (on occasion we send a really bad idea back to even the ledger).

 

[1windy]

-Net zero by 2050 is not very ambitious.

-I live in Rust Belt. Good luck of getting rid of fracking...even Biden reversed his stance while campaigning here.

-EV charging stations have seen a massive increase already; not sure what Biden has to do with it.

-7500 EV credit: where did you see Biden propose to restore it? Having used 5 of these myself I can tell you that I would probably buy a brand with existing credits (Audi, VW, RIvian,...) just to take advantage...4 of my 5 credits were for Ford and GM Evs.

-Solar Investment Credit...this was set to expire back in 2007 and has been extended many time (right now still valid in 2021). I received 30 percent installing my panels in 2017 but now the same project is quoted 30 percent less! Had I known that I would have waited!

-Only reversed his stance to pander for votes. Just wait....
-Dont buy Audi many buybacks. Nightmare

 

[Vostok]

Think the main issue is it's got no place in the Australia section.. If it talked about the pressure the USA reversal might cause on Australia's climate policy - different story.

It has already had an effect in Australia, if you read Scott Morrison’s congratulatory message to Joe Biden that “we want to see global emissions fall” and that we need to “confront the challenge of climate change”.

Whether we believe this will lead to action or not is another matter, but clearly it’s already had an effect on the political dynamic. There is no way Scott Morrison wold have written something like that if Donald Trump had won.

 

[Vostok]

Since Tesla doesn't bribe him, don't expect them to get anything from him.

So removal of the manufacturer cap on the $7500 EV tax credit, and providing the tax credit permanently for US-made electric vehicles won’t help Tesla? Interesting logic...

 

[Vostok]

I work in the Solar field and people saying that climate change is an emergency is just weird to me as the earth has been cooling and heating since its creation

There’s an important piece of information you left out... and that is the rate at which these changes are occurring.

Yes the earth has been cooling and heating since it was formed, but extremely slowly. Over the past 800,000 years, the “normal” rate of change of CO2 in the atmosphere has been in the range of -46 to +49 parts per billion per annum (ppb/pa). 800,000 years is a pretty good barometer for defining what is “natural” variation in terms of when humans have been on this planet, and anything outside that is by mathematical definition not “natural”.

We are now seeing CO2 increase at rates more than 50 times faster than at any time over the past 800,000 years. The last time there was an annual reduction in CO2 levels was in 1946. Since then the rate of increase itself has increased, breaking through 500 ppb/yr in 1954, 1000 ppb/yr in 1965, and over the past decade has been between 2000 ppb/yr and 3000 ppb/yr.

This has happened in less than 100 years - a mere blip of time compared to the virtual steady-state we saw in the first 800,000 years.

So how do you explain this unprecedented rate of increase of CO2?

 

[Big Dog]

I live in Rust Belt. Good luck of getting rid of fracking...even Biden reversed his stance while campaigning here.

His energy group don't have to ban fracking, they can just regulate it out of existence.

 

[Vostok]

Uh, no. Congress still has the power of the purse. A President can redirect a few billion here and a few billion there -- of already appropriated funds -- but that is chump change in DC. To spend any real money on renewable energy, Congress will have to fund it. (That pesky Article I of the Constitution.)

Thanks for the clarification. Yes I remember now that Trump redirected funds from elsewhere for the wall.

Still, surely there’s billions in existing appropriations that would not be Mr. Biden’s choice of destination that he could redirect. But as per my OP, I think his natural inclination will be to work with the senate to implement his agenda rather than inflame the partisan divide more.

 

[Big Dog]

So removal of the manufacturer cap on the $7500 EV tax credit, and providing the tax credit permanently for US-made electric vehicles won’t help Tesla?

That's not a given. While nearly all progressives strongly support EV's, many of them reject tax breaks that favor the top half of the income brackets....

For example, AOC will happily support taxpayers building a national charging network -- which Tesla built on their own -- but I haven' seen her sign onto a bill to remove the manufacturer caps. (but perhaps I missed it)

 

[SmokeGlider]

Hahaha... Good one! Senator For Life Biden will do whatever his campaign donors tell him to do. He has no free will. He's been indentured to his handlers for 47 years.

Let's look at the EV Capitol of the World, California. It is completely controlled by Biden's handlers. They cut the EV rebates dramatically, cut the rates they pay for solar, started taxing cars for being EVs, and spent all their EV money on Hydrogen Fueling Stations.

Why? Hydrogen fuel is supported by Toyota and the petroleum industry. They are big campaign donors in California.

The only green Biden wants to see is kickbacks. Since Tesla doesn't bribe him, don't expect them to get anything from him.

Now this here is what I would call a snarky post. That said, there are a bunch of us here in the states who are as hopeful as our friends in Australia.

 

[Wol747]

TBone: >>Actually the first couple of sentences in your post say it all. I work in the Solar field and people saying that climate change is an emergency is just weird to me as the earth has been cooling and heating since its creation<<

So "earth has been cooling and heating since its creation". Yes, and for many of the periods of heating and cooling human life would have been impossible.
Science doesn't always get it right, but when the vast majority OF THOSE WHOSE EXPERTISE IS IN THE RELEVANT FIELDS largely agree I think the wise thing is to go with it.
The capitals are necessary - far too many bloggers constantly show their ignorance of even basic physics, let alone meteorology, climatology, chemistry and the rest.

 

[1windy]

I'll add a little snarky, because why not.....only the EXPERTS THAT YOU DEEM ACCEPTABLE. I thought it appropriate to use caps, my experts felt necessary.

 

[SSedan]

This is the kind of hatred that really needs to cease

Are you serious?
Biden said "the most extensive and inclusive voter fraud organization in the history of American politics"
So if he has all his mental faculties we should take him at his word right?

The one co-worker I know who voted for Biden was a Bernie supporter and believes just as strongly as I do that Biden suffers age related cognitive decline. The campaign basically admits it too with the constant references to a "Harris administration" or "Harris Biden administration" the look on Jill's face when Joe said he was running against

This is the kind of hatred that really needs to cease

No what needs to cease is the blanket accusations that any disagreement equals "hate".

 

[1windy]

Are you serious?
Biden said "the most extensive and inclusive voter fraud organization in the history of American politics"
So if he has all his mental faculties we should take him at his word right?

The one co-worker I know who voted for Biden was a Bernie supporter and believes just as strongly as I do that Biden suffers age related cognitive decline. The campaign basically admits it too with the constant references to a "Harris administration" or "Harris Biden administration" the look on Jill's face when Joe said he was running against

No what needs to cease is the blanket accusations that any disagreement equals "hate".

Or it equals RACISM. Notice the caps again.

 

[SSedan]

Or it equals RACISM. Notice the caps again.

One political comentator I listen to says

"They see us as bad people with ideas, we see them as people with bad ideas."

 

[malc01]

Ugh this thread got ugly quickly, I am out of here.

 

[paulp]

Are you serious?
Biden said "the most extensive and inclusive voter fraud organization in the history of American politics"
So if he has all his mental faculties we should take him at his word right?

The one co-worker I know who voted for Biden was a Bernie supporter and believes just as strongly as I do that Biden suffers age related cognitive decline. The campaign basically admits it too with the constant references to a "Harris administration" or "Harris Biden administration" the look on Jill's face when Joe said he was running against

No what needs to cease is the blanket accusations that any disagreement equals "hate".

You probably need to have a good hard look at yourself if you think your first post calling your president elect a ‘senile old man’ didnt demonstrate hate characteristics on your part. As for your justification, who cares. There is no justification.

 

[PC__LoadLetter]

You probably need to have a good hard look at yourself if you think your first post calling your president elect a ‘senile old man’ didnt demonstrate hate characteristics on your part. As for your justification, who cares. There is no justification.

There's plenty of justification for calling Biden a senile old man. It's indisputably true. Nobody without cognitive decline would campaign with his wife at his side prompting him with basic facts that she knows he'd muddle otherwise. It'd be undignified. The only reason the Democrats got away with it is that their allies in the media whipped their supporters up into four straight years of fake rage.

 

[Wol747]

>>There's plenty of justification for calling Biden a senile old man. It's indisputably true. Nobody without cognitive decline would campaign with his wife at his side prompting him with basic facts that she knows he'd muddle otherwise. It'd be undignified. The only reason the Democrats got away with it is that their allies in the media whipped their supporters up into four straight years of fake rage. <<

This is probably the wrong forum for posts on the American presidency, but I suggest you do some reading on #45, his business dealings and bankruptcies, his golf cheating, the opinions of most of his erstwhile senior cabinet and colleagues etc etc.