Former Tesla executive talks EVs, Musk’s politics, and more

A former Tesla executive went in-depth about his time at the company over the weekend, including discussions on electric vehicles (EVs), the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Elon Musk’s politics, China’s EV market, and more.

Former Tesla Vice President of Public Policy Rohan Patel was hosted on the Farzad Mesbahi podcast in an episode on Saturday, featuring discussions about the company with both Farzad and co-host Hans Nelson.

The discussion runs nearly an hour and a half long, and the former Tesla VP provides several insights in it, including what it was like working at the hyper-fast-paced company, debates on the federal $7,500 EV tax credit established by the IRA, and working with Musk from his insights on the global automotive industry to his political ideas.

At around 53 minutes into the video, Farzad asks Patel about Musk’s transition away from the Democratic party, which introduced the IRA and has traditionally been more supportive of EV and clean energy policies, to endorsing Republican candidate and former President Donald Trump.

Farzad notes Patel’s intersection of experience in government and public policy, as well as his time working at Tesla and direct experience working with Musk, as major qualifiers to talk about the topic.

While Patel doesn’t share some of Musk’s more far-right political ideas, including his support for Trump, he says that there are a lot of things that they do agree on.

In response to the video, longtime Tesla enthusiast and Full Self-Driving Supervised tester Chuck Cook highlighted the conversation’s “honest and genuine” approach, offering his thanks for the podcast episode. In response, Patel said it was Cook to whom was owed the thanks:

I owe you the thanks – some very cool videos and posts from you over the years.

— Rohan Patel (@rohanspatel) September 28, 2024

Patel left Tesla in April after working for the company for eight years, and he played an increasingly significant role in the company’s public-facing educational efforts on social media platforms like X. Especially in the past few years, Patel and other executives began being more vocal on X, interacting directly with fans and offering quick, public answers to questions.

His departure came as a surprise to many, though it was also accompanied by the departures of a few other executives around the same time, including former Senior Vice President of Powertrain and Energy Engineering Drew Baglino, who had been with the company for 18 years.

Upon his departure, Patel shared thanks to Musk himself for “giving him the chance and empowering him to lead big initiatives at the company.”

You can watch the full Rohan Patel episode from the Farzad Mesbahi podcast below.

What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

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