NY Democrats to overturn dealership requirement for EVs
Specifically, the bill would eliminate a waiver that allows Tesla to sell cars directly to customers in New York, which is an exception for automobile manufacturers, who normally have to go through a franchised dealership network. The ruling was set up in 2014, and has seen Tesla as the only manufacturer granted an exception, which let the company set up five of its stores in the state.
The logic behind the law was to ensure fair competition for automobile dealers, who would have a disadvantage in sales. For companies that have not made deals with dealerships, such as Tesla and Rivian, this makes for a difficult roadblock. The amended bill would take away Tesla’s advantage, and would see the five licences redistributed to rival electric-vehicle manufacturers like Rivian, Lucid and the Volkswagen affiliate Scout Motors, who also employ a direct-to-customer sales approach.
The chances for the bill going through are considered favourable, since the Democratic party controls both the legislative and executive branches of the New York state government.
Next to the sales licence bill, the NY state Democrats also plan to audit a deal that allowed Tesa to run a plant near Buffalo on a $1 per year lease and receive almost $1 billion in benefits. The senators say they want the subsidies returned and for those managing the state and city pension funds to get rid of any investments in Tesla.
Senator Fahy, who had previously campaigned for Tesla to receive this exemption due to environmental concerns, said in an interview with the New York Times: “Maybe I’m making amends,” Ms. Fahy replied when asked about her previous support for Tesla. Mr. Musk, she said, is “part of an administration that is killing all the grant funding for electric vehicle infrastructure, killing wind energy, killing anything that might address climate change. Why should we give them a monopoly?”
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