The Charlotte City Council in North Carolina has voted this week to remove Tesla from its approved automakers list for municipal use, according to WCNC Charlotte.
The vote was led by Councilwoman LaWana Mayfield, who had stated earlier this month, at a city council meeting, that the brand’s “instability” did not meet the city’s goals of “being a welcoming city.”
The councilwoman highlighted the protests that took place against the Elon Musk-led brand due to the CEO’s political involvement.
Mayfield thinks that the city council “can make better choices of tax dollars and identify companies that align with our city’s goals and expectations of truly being a welcoming city.”
“When we are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars and putting our employees out in these vehicles, and we are using tax dollars to do it,” the councilwoman stated, adding that the city has “the opportunity to think about the investments we are making on behalf of our citizens.”
According to the New York Post, one of the supportive members of the motion also cited alleged “safety issues.”
Local media outlet Charlotte Observer reported that the city is planning to buy 45 electric and 155 hybrid vehicles, with $2.5 million allocated in the 2025-2026 budget.
The current fleet, made up of 178 EVs, includes 15 Tesla vehicles.
A spokesperson for the city of Charlotte told the media outlet that the city does not consider vendors’ alignment with organizational goals when purchasing goods or services.
However, Charlotte’s city council board, composed of 11 members, approved the motion in favor of removing Tesla from the list of approved vendors — which includes brands like Chevrolet, Ford and Hyundai.
One of the no votes, Republican council member Ed Driggs, said that the removal of Tesla sets a dangerous precedent if the motives for excluding the products “aren’t related to the cost and the performance.”
In late April, the New York Times had reported that Elon Musk’s work with the Trump Administration has led several Democratic lawmakers to push for revoking Tesla‘s right to sell vehicles directly to consumers in the state of New York.
In 2021, Democratic lawmakers introduced legislation aimed at removing the cap on the number of licenses available to EV makers in New York.
Supporters argued that it would help New York reach the target of 850,000 EVs on the road by the end of 2025. However, it failed to pass.
As of the end of April, Tesla was the only EV manufacturer permitted to operate under a limited waiver, allowing it to maintain five direct-sale licenses.
New York Democratic legislators argue that this waiver gives Tesla an unfair market advantage and are calling for the company to relinquish its licenses by 2026.
They aim to redistribute them among EV makers like Rivian or Lucid Motors.
Earlier on Thursday, Bloomberg reported that executive Omead Afshar, one of Elon Musk’s most trusted aides, who worked for the company for over eight years, has left Tesla.
