Musk May Swing Right, But Tesla’s Profit Leans Left
The sale of greenhouse gas credits, championed mostly by Democrats, accounted for almost a fifth of the EV maker’s gross second-quarter profit.
Selling the dream.
Photographer: Christian Marquardt - Pool/Getty Images
Tesla Inc.’s latest results, released Tuesday evening, seem almost humdrum now that Chief Executive Elon Musk has finally unveiled the least surprising endorsement of a presidential candidate ever. They do remind us, though, that while he may swing with the right, he relies on the left.
Tesla typically generates a few hundred million dollars of revenue per quarter from the sale of greenhouse gas credits. These are the product of state and federal programs to encourage the uptake of electric vehicles, as championed mostly by the left and as denounced mostly by the right. Essentially, other automakers who are struggling to meet regulatory requirements on fleet emissions buy offsetting credits from Tesla which, with its all electric lineup, accumulates a lot of them.