𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗦𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗦𝗘𝗖𝗥𝗘𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗬 𝗣𝗘𝗧𝗘 𝗕𝗨𝗧𝗧𝗜𝗚𝗜𝗘𝗚 𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗘𝗙𝗨𝗟𝗟𝗬 𝗘𝗫𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗜𝗡𝗦 𝗧𝗢 𝗘𝗟𝗢𝗡 𝗠𝗨𝗦𝗞, 𝗗𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗗 𝗧𝗥𝗨𝗠𝗣, 𝗝𝗥. 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗔𝗡 𝗢𝗛𝗜𝗢 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗚𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗠𝗔𝗡 𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗘𝗩 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗚𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗞𝗦

 

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg

No one in U.S. politics responds to misinformation, criticism or outright lies more tactfully, carefully and factually than Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Recently, Congressman Michael Rulli, R, Ohio, posted an untruth on social media: "Pete Butigieg will leave his post as Transportation Secretary having spent $7.5B to build 8 EV charging stations."

Quickly, Donald Trump, Jr. reposted Rulli's statement, receiving a response from Elon Musk, agreeing with the congressman's contention.

Misinformed Rep. Rulli, Elon Musk and Donald Trump, Jr.(montage by editor)

Now, you might think that Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, would understand how the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure(NEVI) program works, but it took Pete Buttigieg to explain the program on X to stop the three Republicans from spreading misinformation.

Initially, Buttigieg, simply said on X that the statement was "false," giving Musk the opportunity to make a correction on his own social media site.

Musk turned it back to Buttigieg to "make a rebuttal."

So, Buttigieg went on to carefully explain that the $7.5B was for the "entire program" for NEVI and that each state must apply for a piece of those monies and that, contrary to the posts by Rulli, Trump, Jr. and Musk, the money has not been spent. Once the funds are granted, "the states build the EV chargers, not the federal government," stated Buttigieg.

"That is helpful to understand," wrote back Musk.

Buttigieg noted than nine states now have NEVI-funded chargers in operation, the first handful to be built, with most planned to be built in "the second half of the decade."  

The program's end game is to have fast electric charges installed coast-to-coast by 2030.  This past August, 29 states qualified for NEVI funding's second round of approximately $521M.