A Tesla Cybertruck with a Maryland GOP sign in Milwaukee. Tesla chief executive officer Elon Musk launched into a Republican-friendly pitch on Monday to wean off fossil fuels and switch to electric vehicles to save the environment.

(Aug 13): Tesla Inc’s Elon Musk made a case for his company’s electric cars to Donald Trump and his supporters, neither of whom have been keen to give up gas-guzzlers.

After the former president minimised the threat of global warming and emphasised his support for oil and gas drilling late on Monday during a livestream on X, the Tesla chief executive officer launched into a Republican-friendly pitch for weaning the world off fossil fuels.

Vilifying oil and gas is wrong because the economy would collapse without the industry, Musk said on the social media service formerly known as Twitter. At the same time, fossil fuel supply is finite and global warming does pose some risk, he said. That’s where Tesla comes in.

“When you look at our cars, we don’t believe that environmentalism, that caring about the environment, should mean that you have to suffer,” Musk said of Tesla. “So we make sure that our cars are beautiful, that they drive well, that they’re fast, they’re sexy, they’re cool.”

Musk’s pitch to Trump and his devotees comes as Tesla’s sales have been slumping in recent quarters, and as some of the US company’s peers have decried the politicisation of plug-in cars. Ford Motor Co’s executive chair Bill Ford, for example, has said that states where voters tend to vote Republican view EVs much like they do vaccines: as products the government is forcing on people.

Trump has routinely been critical of EVs while campaigning for president, saying they’re too expensive, can’t be driven far enough on a charge and will cost auto workers their jobs. He brought up electric cars minutes into an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek in late June, when asked a broad question about whether President Joe Biden had done anything right with respect to the economy.

The Inflation Reduction Act that Biden signed into law in August 2022 made Tesla and other car companies eligible for billions of dollars worth of battery manufacturing tax credits, and lined up billions more in EV purchase subsidies for consumers.

The Biden administration also toughened fuel-economy standards that were eased under Trump. Stricter efficiency targets are a boon to Tesla, which has generated more than US$10 billion (RM44.45 billion) in revenue from selling regulatory credits to car companies that have needed help complying with emissions rules.

While Trump has remained an EV skeptic, he’s begun mixing in some praise of Tesla and Musk along with his criticism of electric cars since the billionaire endorsed him last month.

“You know, Elon, remember, I love electric cars, I think your car is great, I love it, but it’s not for everybody,” Trump said last month at an event in Florida. “Some people love them and some people want them. But I think if you’re going to go long distances, it’s a little bit — you’re challenged. You’re challenged.”

While Musk seemed to be making a play on Monday for Republicans to get on board with Tesla’s mission to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy, he also downplayed the urgency of the undertaking.

“I think we want to just move over and if, I don’t know, 50 to 100 years from now we’re mostly sustainable, I think that’ll probably be OK,” he said. “It’s not like the house is on fire immediately.”

“People can still have a steak and they can still drive gasoline cars,” Musk added. “It’s OK.”

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