Shake hands and make peace? Biden praises Musk for opening charging stations: It will have a major impact

Tesla opens its charging stations in the US

Beijing time, February 16th, U.S. President Biden and Tesla CEO Elon Musk have always had a bad relationship, but on Wednesday local time, the two made concessions to each other. Musk agreed to open up Tesla's charging network, and Biden praised him.

The Biden administration hopes to have at least 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations on U.S. roads by 2030. To achieve that goal, the White House announced a series of initiatives on Wednesday that include commitments from companies building and operating charging networks, such as Tesla, General Motors, Ford and others. Among them, the one that gets the most attention is Tesla. The White House stated that Tesla will open 7,500 charging stations by the end of 2024 for use by owners of all brands of electric vehicles. Previously, the company's charging stations in the United States were mainly used by Tesla electric vehicles.

Biden therefore greatly praised Musk, saying that this move will have a significant impact. “As we build out our electric vehicle charging network, we must ensure that as many charging points as possible serve as many owners as possible. To do this, Musk will open up a large portion of Tesla’s charging network to all owners. This is A big deal that will have a big impact,” he tweeted. Musk responded: "Thanks, Tesla is happy to support other electric vehicles through our Supercharger network."

Biden’s interaction with Musk

Since Biden took office, he has been snubbing Tesla, never mentioning Tesla on important occasions related to electric vehicles, and praising Tesla's opponents. One of the reasons is that Tesla does not have a union. Musk is no ordinary person, blasting Biden as a "puppet" of the United Auto Workers (UAW).

However, Musk seems to have made a compromise this time, because U.S. government officials have previously stated that unless Tesla opens its charging network to the outside world, the company will be excluded from the $7.5 billion in subsidies provided by the U.S. government.

In fact, Tesla has been planning to open up its charging network in the United States for years. In November 2021, the company "began offering Superchargers for non-Tesla vehicles in certain locations in support of our mission to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy," according to Tesla's most recently filed annual financial report.

White House infrastructure chief Mitch Landrieu told reporters on Tuesday that Musk was one of many auto industry CEOs who discussed charging infrastructure with the White House last year. "He was open and constructive," Landrieu said. "At the time, he said his intention was to work with us to make his network interoperable. Everyone else in the meeting agreed."

Separately, the White House praised other automakers and companies, praising another agreement between General Motors, Pilot and the charging network EVGo. The agreement will install 2,000 fast chargers at Pilot Flying J truck service stations along U.S. highways.