'800Sla' Tesla Faces Crisis as Electric Vehicle Subsidies Stall

Electric Vehicle Company Stocks Plunge
Solar Power Related Firms Also Fall Sharply

[Asia Economy New York=Special Correspondent Baek Jong-min] As the social infrastructure investment bill (BBB) promoted by U.S. President Joe Biden faces the risk of collapse, the stock prices of leading American electric vehicle companies have plunged.

As of 2:42 p.m. local time on the 21st, Tesla's stock price was down 3.57% at $899. The intraday low was $893. On this day, trading battles continued to maintain '900-sla' for Tesla's stock price.

Tesla had recently risen to $1,200 but has been falling continuously due to CEO Elon Musk's stock sales, and on this day, it dropped to '800-sla'.

Rivian, which had emerged as a rival to Tesla, also fell by 7-8%, entering the $80 range during the day. Lucid Motors is showing a significant decline of about 6%.

Regarding the stock price decline on this day, the investment media Barron's interpreted that the social infrastructure budget bill, the Build Back Better Act, which was on the verge of collapse due to Senator Joe Manchin's opposition the day before, included an expansion of electric vehicle subsidies.

The Biden administration has been pushing to provide an additional $4,500 deduction benefit for electric vehicles produced in U.S. factories with unions.

Barron's noted that investors have long desired an expansion of government electric vehicle subsidies, and with the delay of the BBB bill, it has become uncertain when the subsidy expansion will be realized.

The prevailing view was that the subsidy payments would go to existing automakers. CEO Musk has strongly opposed this, arguing that Tesla is not eligible for subsidies because it does not have a union.

GM and Ford, which were targets for the electric vehicle subsidy expansion, are also weak but their declines are more limited compared to major electric vehicle companies. GM is down 3% and 2%.

Companies benefiting from the solar power expansion promoted by President Biden also could not avoid declines. The BESCO Solar Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) fell 5.2%, and Sunrun dropped 8%. SunPower, Sunnova, and others also plunged more than 7%.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced on this day that the BBB bill would be put to a Senate vote in January next year. Progressive Senator Bernie Sanders argued that time was wasted trying to appease Senator Manchin's opposition and insisted that the vote should proceed as scheduled.

The BBB bill is virtually impossible to pass if Senator Manchin opposes it, given the Senate is split evenly with 50 seats each for Democrats and Republicans.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.