Charlotte City Council in North Carolina voted Monday to remove Tesla from its list of approved vehicle manufacturers for municipal use, with one supportive member citing alleged “safety issues.”
Councilwoman LaWana Mayfield, who led the effort, has favored such a move for weeks, according to WCNC.
The 11-member board with nine Democrats voted 6-3 in favor of removing the Elon Musk-owned company from the list of more than a dozen approved vendors as the city seeks to purchase 45 electric vehicles.
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“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, we also have the opportunity to think about the investments we are making on behalf of our citizens,” Mayfield said, according to the outlet.
“So, it is not just the particular owner of this product. It is the fact that this product has been in multiple lawsuits because of safety issues, and there are multiple concerns.”
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However, one of the no votes, Republican Ed Driggs, told WFAE the removal of Tesla in the current environment sets a dangerous precedent “if we have reasons that aren’t related to the cost and the performance of purchased items for excluding them.”
“We already have Teslas in the fleet,” Driggs said, and consumer data shows Teslas to be largely safer than other vehicles when it comes to safety recalls, according to multiple reports.
Other vendors remaining on the list include local Chevrolet and Ford dealers, Alamo Rent-A-Car and Hyundai’s construction implementation sector.
Democrat Dimple Ajmera joined Driggs and Republican Edwin Peacock in opposing the move. Democrats Dante Anderson, Malcolm Gaham, Victoria Watlington, Tiawana Brown and Renee Johnson sided with Mayfield.
Fox Business reached out to Tesla for comment but did not receive a response by press time.
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