Musk's Tesla lobbied UK to charge petrol drivers more

Elon Musk's electric car firm Tesla pushed the government to make petrol car drivers "pay more" in the days after Labour won the general election.

Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, has waded into British politics openly on social media, predicting "civil war" and criticising prime minister Sir Keir Starmer.

But behind the scenes his firm was trying to persuade the new government to extend a policy that would boost his firm's profits.

The company called for the mandate to boost electric car sales to be extended to lorries, and said electric vehicle (EV) subsidies could come from charging people buying petrol and diesel cars.

The UK government is currently consulting on changes to a key measure, meant to encourage sale of electric cars, the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate.

The ZEV mandate requires carmakers to sell a set number of EVs per year, and if they cannot meet their targets, they have to purchase credits from other EV makers who have sold more of the lower polluting vehicles.

UK carmakers are pushing for the policy to be diluted, arguing customers are not yet buying EVs in high enough numbers.

The letter from Tesla lobbied for the opposite policy, saying the ZEV mandate "must be protected and strengthened".

Tesla stands to become a major beneficiary of the ZEV mandate as it can sell surplus credits from its imports of its own EVs, made in China.

Tesla also lobbied the new government for the UK to lead on the "scale up of autonomous vehicles", and offered a demonstration of the companies' vision.