The Koch Brothers, dynamic duo of Texas, have appeared in a tug of war with Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors. The brothers are fighting against possible threats to their fossil fuel interests, electric cars. Tesla Motors is trying to represent itself as the pioneer in manufacturing the cars driven with alternative energy.
The oil and gas industry may have breathed a sigh of relief after demolishing the electric car manufacturing industry due to continued lower oil prices. But surprisingly, sales of the electric cars have been boosted during 2010 to 2014 followed by allocation of government subsidy. Now the energy giants are worried fearing the electric cars may come back to life, reports Huffington Post.
The war have started on Thursday with publishing the news article in Huffington Post entitling- 'The Kochs Are Plotting A Multimillion-Dollar Assault On Electric Vehicles'. The article suggests, a new group led by the Koch Brothers may spend $10 million a year, fueling the campaign against electric vehicles, according to news published in Green Car Reports.
The $10 million lobbying efforts aim to promote fossil fuels and defeat subsidies for electric vehicles. Elon Musk has responded to the news article in his usual manner through tweeting on Friday and Saturday. His tweets argue, traditional auto industry has itself been subsidized for decades, reports Fortune citing Musk's Tweets as the source. Koch Industries, is an energy and industrial conglomerate with $115 billion in annual revenues. The business is controlled by the multibillionaire brothers and prolific Conservative donors, Charles and David Koch. Musk's tweets are based on the fact that the characterization of tax programs benefits the oil and gas industry as subsidies since long. The oil and gas industry doesn't acknowledge the subsidy saying it is allowed to deduct operating expenses unlike most businesses. Both electric car industry and its buyers are getting benefits from various state and federal programs. A federal credit up to $7,500 is offered for buyers of both electric and hybrid cars. Some US states provide additional state income tax credits averaging around $2,000 to the electric vehicle (EV) buyers. There also substantial grant programs for battery and EV technology development. However, comparing subsidies against EV and fossil fuel may be referred as 'apple to orange' considering related developing vs mature markets. But it is ominous that national subsidies for EV are designed to future global dominance of the sector.
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