In mid-2022, when BYD executive Lian Yubo was asked to compare Chinese manufacturing with Tesla’s technology, he remarked that Elon Musk was an example that all Chinese carmakers could learn from.

“Tesla is a very successful company no matter what. BYD respects Tesla and we admire Tesla,” he said in an interview on Chinese state media.

Yet just three years later, Tesla’s technological lead over its Chinese rivals has narrowed dramatically. It is fighting to stay ahead in the world’s largest car market, its sales are falling in many other countries and its efforts to develop fully self-driving vehicles are running into regulatory roadblocks.

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If you’re an electric vehicle enthusiast, President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) is anything but. The legislation, signed by the president last weekend, cuts all sorts of US government support for emission-light vehicles. The whole thing creates a measure of uncertainty for an American auto industry that’s already struggling to stay afloat during a sea change.

Still, nearly one in four US vehicle shoppers say they’re still “very likely” to consider buying an EV, and 35 percent say they’re “somewhat likely,” according to a May survey by JD Power—figures unchanged since last year. On those EV-curious folks’ behalf, WIRED asked experts for their tips for navigating this weird time in cars.

Go electric … soon? Now?

First things first: The new bill nixed the electric vehicle tax credit of up to $7,500, bringing to an end years of federal support for EVs. This program was supposed to last until 2032 but is now set to expire on September 30. This extra oomph from the feds helped some of the “cheapest” electrics—like the $43,000 Tesla Model 3, the $37,000 Chevy Equinox EV, and the $61,000 Hyundai Ioniq 9—feel more accessible to people with smaller (but not small) budgets.

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• Grok is coming to Tesla vehicles.
• Elon Musk said on Thursday that the chatbot would be available on Tesla's EVs by "next week at the latest."
• It comes after the AI model went on an antisemitic rant and praised Adolf Hitler in a series of posts on X.

Tesla owners could be about to get a controversial backseat driver.

Elon Musk said Thursday that Grok, the chatbot built by his company xAI, would soon be available on Tesla's vehicles, after a chaotic week in which the AI model posted a series of inflammatory and antisemitic responses on X.

"Grok is coming to Tesla vehicles very soon. Next week at the latest," the billionaire wrote in a post on X.

It came hours after xAI debuted Grok 4, the latest version of the AI model. The Tesla CEO said that the new update would allow Grok to solve "difficult, real-world engineering questions" it had never seen before.

The launch followed a tumultuous few days for the "truth-seeking" AI system.

On Tuesday, xAI removed numerous posts made by Grok on Musk's social media site X, after the chatbot praised Adolf Hitler, linked Ashkenazi Jewish surnames to "anti-white hate," and made antisemitic jokes.

To better understand Grok and the recent controversy, read our explainer.

The arrival of Grok on Tesla's vehicles comes as Musk faces renewed pressure over his leadership of the EV giant.

Tesla's share price fell on Monday after the world's richest man announced he would form a new political party and intensified his feud with President Donald Trump over the weekend, with investors expressing concern over Musk diving back into politics.

On Thursday, Tesla said it would host the annual meeting of shareholders on 6 November.

The day before, a group of major Tesla shareholders, including several US state treasurers and institutional investors, sent a letter to Tesla's board raising concerns about the company's failure to schedule its annual general meeting, as required by Texas law.

The EV maker has reported underwhelming sales so far this year, faced protests, and suffered brand damage over Musk's previous role in the Trump administration and his interventions into politics.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment sent outside normal working hours.

• Cadillac said it's seeing a rise in Tesla owners switching to its Lyriq EV models.
• Cadillac has expanded its EV lineup, and California registrations have increased by 60% year over year.
• The automaker's growth comes as Tesla had a tough first quarter and experienced declining registrations in multiple markets.

Cadillac appears to be eating into Tesla's customer base.

The automaker told Business Insider it's seen a rise in Tesla owners switching to its EV brand. The company said its EVs have a conquest rate of about 75% — or the percentage of sales coming from customers switching brands — with 10% being former Tesla owners.

Cadillac told BI its first EV model, the Lyriq, launched in 2022 and is seeing a roughly 80% conquest rate, with 25% of buyers coming over from Tesla.

At a recent event showcasing its Vistiq model, Cadillac's director of global marketing, Brad Franz, told CNBC the company has seen "a good jump" in the rate and that General Motors' luxury vehicle division has "always had good interaction with Tesla customers," with the Lyriq conquest rate of Tesla owners ranging from 10% to 15%.

Franz told CNBC that the figure is now on the rise as the car brand expanded its luxury EV lineup, and it sees potential for even greater growth. Cadillac has added three additional EVs to its portfolio in the past 6 months, including the Escalade IQ, Optiq, and Vistiq.

Cadillac told BI it's not targeting any brand specifically and its mission is to "build great Cadillacs" that capture buyers based on the quality of its products and delivery on brand promise. The luxury brand reported a 21% increase in retail sales, with its EV segment up 37% in the first quarter of the year.

In California, a crucial market for EVs that's often seen as a bellwether state for the broader market, industry data shows Cadillac registrations jumped about 60% year over year, rising from 1,000 to 1,609 in the first quarter of 2025.

Tesla, which remains the EV market leader in the US by a large margin, has seen its sales decline recently in several countries.

The same data shows that Tesla registrations decreased 15% year-over-year in California, although its Model Y and Model 3 remain the top two selling EVs in the state, and the Model Y continues to be the best-selling car overall. Tesla did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

The rise in Cadillac EV ownership comes as Tesla faces a rocky start to the year. The EV giant fell short of revenue expectations in the first quarter, reporting a 9% year-over-year decline. Tesla's automotive revenue dropped 20% year over year, and the company backed away from its 2025 "return to growth" forecast for its auto business.

Tesla reported first-quarter deliveries numbers below analyst expectations and 13% lower than the same period last year. Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja said in the company's earnings call last month that the assembly line changeover for the refreshed Model Y impacted delivery numbers. Anti-Tesla hostility also "had an impact in certain markets," he added.

Following months of boycott efforts aimed at Tesla, the automaker and SpaceX both saw declines in brand reputation, according to the Axios Harris Poll 100. Tesla dropped to 95th place, a decrease from its ranking in 63rd place last year and eighth place in 2021. Other automakers scored higher on the list compared to Tesla, with Ford landing at 60th and Volkswagen Group at 53rd.

Amid continued political backlash against Elon Musk and a challenging EV landscape, Cox Automotive data from April reveals Tesla's used-car sales volume rose 27% month-over-month, meaning that more Tesla owners are trying to sell their vehicles. The surge boosted its share of the used EV market to 47%, according to Cox Automotive's data.

Musk said in a recent interview at the Qatar Economic Forum that while the company has "lost some sales, perhaps on the left," Tesla also gained sales from the right.

"The sales numbers at this point are strong, and we see no problem with demand," Musk said, adding that the stock price is the best indicator of where the company stands.

Despite Tesla stock plummeting over 50% in March and being down 10% year-to-date, the automaker's share price is up 43% this month as the billionaire has taken a step back from his DOGE involvement.

While Tesla sales continue to drop in Europe, which Musk described in the forum as its weakest market, the automaker has seen some positive momentum. Cox Automotive data shows that Tesla was among the few manufacturers reporting month-over-month growth in EV sales. Tesla's market share increased by over 3% in April, according to the data, driven by 25,231 sales of the Model Y.

• Tesla sales fell by up to 81% in some key European EV markets in April, signaling a major downturn.
• Growing competition from rivals like China's BYD have affected Tesla sales.
• Demand may have also been hurt by a backlash over Elon Musk's politics.

Tesla has seen a sharp decline in sales in key European markets, with electric vehicle registrations dropping by up to 81% in six major markets in April, compared to the same month last year.

Car registration figures for France, Sweden, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Portugal, and Denmark, revealed double-digit declines for Tesla sales, Reuters reported.

Many of these are high-income countries with robust charging infrastructure — typically fertile ground for Tesla.

Sales fell by 59% year-on-year in France, 81% in Sweden, 74% in the Netherlands, 50% in Switzerland, 33% in Portugal, and 67% in Denmark.

The main exceptions were Norway and Italy, which respectively saw a 12% and 29% increase in Tesla sales compared to April 2024, registration data from the Norwegian Road Federation and Italian Transport Ministry showed.

However, Italian sales were still down an overall 4% in the first four months of 2025, per the Transport Ministry.

Why the two countries didn't follow a similar pattern of decline was unclear, and the overall trend suggests a significant drop-off in crucial markets.

This could partly be attributed to political tensions tied to Elon Musk's divisive role in the Trump administration and advocacy for right-wing European parties.

The "Tesla Takedown" movement arose earlier this year after Musk voiced support for parties including Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany.

So far this year, two Tesla sites, including the vehicles there, were defaced with orange paint in the Swedish cities of Stockholm and Malmö, as well as the Tesla branch in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Demonstrations against Musk and Tesla were held across cities in the Netherlands, and protestors also gathered outside Tesla showrooms in Portugal and Denmark. A further 12 Teslas were set on fire in Toulouse, France.

Alongside resistance to Musk and his politics, the Tesla drop-off in Europe could linked to growing competition in the EV market, notably from Chinese firms.

Tesla's aging model lineup has struggled to match newer EVs from rivals like China's BYD, whose models feature cutting-edge charging speeds and lower prices.

Professor Peter Wells, director of Cardiff University's Centre for Automotive Industry Research, told the BBC News in March: "We've not seen the level of innovation in terms of the product range that perhaps Elon Musk should have been looking for. I think that is a big part of their problem."

In a 2011 interview with Bloomberg, Musk rejected the possibility of BYD becoming a viable competitor.

But last year, BYD reported $107 billion in revenue, compared to Tesla's $98 billion. It also reported its first-quarter earnings increased 100% compared to the same period last year.

BYD has rolled out 1,000 kW chargers that are four times more powerful than Tesla's current chargers. These chargers, it says, can add 200 miles of range in just 15 minutes of charging.

The Tesla rival has also aggressively expanded outside China in recent years.

Tesla's dominance in Europe is waning — and reversing the trend may be Musk's toughest challenge yet.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.