Vivek Ramaswamy signals DOGE will crush Elon Musk’s EV rivals

Dubious tech billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy promised to use his new, nongovernmental position with the Department of Government Efficiency to “carefully scrutinize” federal loans made to Elon Musk’s electric vehicle rivals.

In a post on X, Ramaswamy promised to investigate federal loans made to electric vehicle manufacturers not named Tesla under the Inflation Reduction Act. 

Ramaswamy’s tirade came the same day the U.S. Department of Energy announced a $7 billion federal loan to two Indiana-based electric battery plants. The two plants, in Kokomo, Indiana, would supply batteries to car manufacturer Stellantis, who owns Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram. 

The loan to create the battery plants in Indiana is expected to create 3,200 construction jobs, and then 2,800 manufacturing jobs when the plants are fully operating. The Rivian project in Georgia is expected to create 7,500 jobs through 2030.

The tech bro’s threats also called into question the Biden administration’s decision to commit $6 billion to support electric vehicle-maker Rivian to produce batteries at a plant in Georgia, last week. 

“DOGE will carefully scrutinize every one of these questionable 11th-hour transactions, starting on Jan. 20,” Ramaswamy wrote.