Elon Musk's Alleged Drug Use Causing Concern For Tesla, SpaceX Board Members

Good morning! It’s Monday, January 8, 2024, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. Here are the important stories you need to know.

The Hype Behind Tesla Stock Success In 2023

1st Gear: Elon Musk Is Reportedly Risking Billions In Government Contracts Because Of His Drug Use

Rumors of Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s drug use have been swirling for years and not just because of that one time he smoked weed live on camera with Joe Rogan. It’s not folks who short Tesla stocks that are concerned, according to the Wall Street Journal, it’s his board members and executives who think his 52 year-old party boy lifestyle is interfering with running his mega companies:

Elon Musk and his supporters offer several explanations for his contrarian views, unfiltered speech and provocative antics. They’re an expression of his creativity. Or the result of his mental-health challenges. Or fallout from his stress, or sleep deprivation.

In recent years, some executives and board members at his companies and others close to the billionaire have developed a persistent concern that there is another component driving his behavior: his use of drugs.

and SpaceX chief executive’s drug use could have major consequences not just for his health, but also the six companies and billions in assets he oversees, according to people familiar with Musk and the companies.

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The world’s wealthiest person has used LSD, cocaine, ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms, often at private parties around the world, where attendees sign nondisclosure agreements or give up their phones to enter, according to people who have witnessed his drug use and others with knowledge of it. Musk has previously smoked marijuana in public and has said he has a prescription for the psychedelic-like ketamine.

In 2018, for example, he took multiple tabs of acid at a party he hosted in Los Angeles. The next year he partied on magic mushrooms at an event in Mexico. In 2021, he took ketamine recreationally with his brother, Kimbal Musk, in Miami at a house party during Art Basel. He has taken illegal drugs with current SpaceX and former Tesla board member Steve Jurvetson.

People close to Musk, who is now 52, said his drug use is ongoing, especially his consumption of ketamine, and that they are concerned it could cause a health crisis. Even if it doesn’t, it could damage his businesses.

Several sources WSJ spoke to denied drug use is a problem for the CEO, saying the paper had “false facts” in its reporting, but refuse to point out which facts were false. Musk has often made childish references to the number 420 in his tweets, including post that got him in trouble with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The U.S. Air Force and NASA spent $5 million on a probe into both Musk and SpaceX after the Joe Rogan weed smoking episode, but have so far refused to produce the results of that investigation to the public.

So the guy putting out unproven technology on our roads and billions of dollars worth of rockets in our skies might be regularly tripping. We’re no prudes here at Jalopnik, but it seems once again Musk is being held to a different standard than even everyone else at his own company.

2nd Gear: EPA Is Reviewing California’s Plan To End ICE Sales By 2035

California is all in when it comes to the great EV conversion, which means at least a dozen states will be following suit. The California Air Resources Board passed a plan to ax internal-combustion engines by 2035 back in 2022. Now the Environmental Protection Agency is reviewing a requested waiver to the Clean Air Act, according to Reuters:

California’s rules set yearly rising zero emission vehicle requirements starting in 2026, which have been adopted by at least 12 other states.

President Joe Biden’s administration has repeatedly refused to endorse setting a date to phase out the sale of gasoline-only vehicles.

Under a separate EPA proposal released in April to drastically cut vehicle emissions through 2032, automakers are forecast to produce 60% EVs by 2030 and 67% by 2032 to meet requirements. Automakers have urged the administration to soften its proposal, which is expected to be finalized in coming months.

California’s proposal would cut smog production from light vehicles by 25 percent in 2037. Of course, Republicans are mega outraged by this attempt at making air more breathable in a place known for epic levels of smog. House Republicans moved to ban the EPA from moving forward with emissions regulations just last month.

3rd Gear: GM’s Cruise Offers $75,000 To Regulators For Lying About Pedestrian Crash

Remember when a Cruise vehicle dragged a woman for 20 feet and General Motors tried to omit that fact from its report to California regulators last month? Well, a judge asked GM to explain why it shouldn’t be fined a negligible amount ranging from $500 to $100,000 for misleading regulators. GM hired a law firm to write up a report that will be available February 6 but has proactively offered $75,000, we can guess even the company knows it is in the wrong this time, according to the Detroit Free Press:

In the 14-page filing, Cruise requested the Feb. 6 hearing be deferred and the matter settled with Cruise’s $75,000 cash offering along with its promise to improve its data reporting to the commission of collisions, as well as of incidents where the self-driving cars are a minimum risk, but must be physically retrieved from roadways.

“Cruise is committed to rebuilding trust with our regulators, increased transparency and cooperation with the CPUC, and providing the data and information the Commission needs to ensure that AV service is safe, equitable and accessible,” Cruise spokesman Erik Moser told the Free Press in an email in response to Cruise filing the settlement offer with CPUC.

The original crash report Cruise sent to California Public Utilities Commission omitted that the crash victim was dragged 20 feet as the Cruise robotaxi pulled over to the side of the road. Since the crash, Cruise has halted testing of its self-driving taxis on public streets. As a reminder, GM ended the third quarter of 2023 with $44.1 billion in revenue. But I’m sure that $75,000 fine really smarts.

4th Gear: Senators Urge Non-Union Automakers To Allow Organizing Efforts

There are 13 automakers that build cars in the U.S. without UAW-protected workers. Thirty three senators wrote an open letter to all of them, asking that the automakers allow organizing efforts to go forward unimpeded. From the Detroit Free Press:

The letter — sent to chief executives of Tesla, Rivian, Lucid, BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Mazda, Mercedes, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo — noted reports of anti-union activity among some carmakers following the UAW’s successful strike and ratification of new agreements at General Motors, Ford and Stellantis and the union’s stated intention of organizing other manufacturers.

“We are concerned by reporting at numerous automakers that management has acted illegally to block unionization efforts,” the senators wrote. “These retaliatory actions are hostile to workers’ rights and must not be repeated if further organizing efforts are made by these companies’ workers.”

Some automakers, like Hyundai and Tesla, actually gave their workers raises based on what the UAW won for its workers at Big 3 plants.

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