A Tesla Model S sits on display at the Tesla factory in Fremont, California on June 22, 2012.
(Paul Sakuma/AP)
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North Carolina’s Ridiculous Tesla Ban
North Carolina wants to ban Tesla. It's not going to work.
North Carolina’s legislature is being mocked for a proposed ban on Tesla's electric sportscars. Technically, it’s a ban on automakers selling cars directly to consumers without going through a licensed dealer, but because Tesla is the only automaker that does this, it’s pretty blatantly a Tesla ban. It should also come as no surprise who’s backing it: the North Carolina Car Dealers Association, which, Slate points out, gave $8,000 to state Sen. Tom Apodaca, the bill’s sponsor.
In fairness to North Carolina, they’re not the first state to try this. A similar bill just failed in the Minnesota legislature, but dealers there are still threatening to sue. The Massachusetts State Automobile Dealer’s Association already tried that, when they sued to shut down a Tesla showroom in 2012. They lost. Same story in New York. Even if North Carolina’s law goes into effect--it passed the Senate on Monday--it may not stand up to legal scrutiny. As Forbes points out, the bill would likely be ruled an unconstitutional attempt to regulate interstate commerce.
So why does North Carolina get all the ridicule if so many other states have tried to do the same thing? Well, after years of being told electric cars can’t compete in in the free market, there’s something funny about North Carolina suddenly decrying “unfair competition” from Tesla and claiming auto dealers, of all people, as a class in need of special protection. Also, North Carolina has a history of ridiculous climate-change-related legislation.
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Tesla Motors Conquers North Carolina
June 30, 2013
Tesla Motors, as a pioneer in the electric car space, has to fight numerous battles and overcome numerous hurdles that won’t be in the way of electric cars or electric car companies a few years down the road. It’s not winning every one, but it’s good to see that it has more or less won the latest in North Carolina.
Tesla Motors has won yet another legal victory in its fight to sell directly to consumers and bypass the outdated auto-dealership sales model — the North Carolina House of Representatives just scrapped a bill put forward by the North Carolina Automobile Dealers Association that would have banned Tesla from selling its universally lauded electric vehicles within the state.
For a bit of background, the North Carolina Automobile Dealers Association (NCADA) had used its political ties within the Senate to push for the passing of a bill which would have banned Tesla from selling its vehicles directly to consumers within North Carolina — the argument for them not being allowed to sell within the state simply being that it was “not fair” for them to sell directly to consumers rather than through them, the car dealerships. That’s a bit rich coming from a business so notorious for cheating people….
The North Carolina House of Representatives seems to agree. As of now, the bill is completely dead. Notably, both Governor Pat McCrory and House Speaker Thom Tillis recently went for test drives in Tesla’s vehicles — no doubt something that was quite effective. 
And with all of the positive publicity that Tesla has been receiving as of late — becoming profitable, paying back its DOE loan 9 years early, etc — why would you want to keep the business that it generates out of your state?
This is a great development, and along with Tesla’s other recent victories, bodes well for the company’s future, particularly with regards to its right to sell its vehicles directly to consumers.
About the Author
Nathan For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts; for all is vanity. - Ecclesiastes 3:19
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