Biden government holds electric vehicle meeting with Tesla's Musk and GM's Barra

The Joe Biden administration held a meeting with major automotive leaders to discuss electric vehicles and charging infrastructure. The meeting was attended by Tesla CEO Elon Musk and General Motors CEO Mary Barra. There was a broad consensus in the meeting that the charging stations and vehicles need to be interoperable and provide a seamless user experience, no matter what car you drive.

Notably, Musk has often been at odds with the White House, and has often fired off harsh tweets directed at President Biden. In February, however, Biden finally publicly acknowledged the role of Tesla in the US electric vehicle manufacturing, after Musk repeatedly complained about being ignored.

Other auto leaders who attended the meeting included Ford Motor CEO Jim Farley, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares, Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson and Nissan Americas chair Jeremie Papin. The meeting discussed US funding to create a national network of 500,000 EV chargers.

Executives from Hyundai Motor America, Subaru of America, Mazda North America, Toyota Motor North America Mercedes-Benz USA and Kia Motors America also took part in the meeting on the future of electric mobility in the country.

Last week, US tightened its fuel economy requirements, reversing the Trump-era roll back. Automakers backed the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) new tougher vehicle emissions regulations in a court challenge brought by some states and ethanol groups. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, representing nearly all major automakers, said the EPA rule "will challenge the industry" but it wants to ensure "critical regulatory provisions supporting electric vehicle technology are maintained."

(with inputs from Reuters)

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