PHOENIX—Electrify Expo drew thousands of visitors to Phoenix’s State Farm Stadium on April 12–13, with many being interested because of Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s raised profile within the Trump administration.
Many attendees said Teslas were the key attraction at the electric vehicle (EV) and technology expo.
Expo organizers said they anticipate more than 250,000 attendees throughout the tour.
While no specific attendance figures for the Phoenix event or the Tesla demonstration were provided, organizers said that Tesla was one of the most popular brands at the Phoenix expo, judging from the high level of interest in the show’s Tesla demonstration.
Attendees said they remained intrigued by the Tesla product line, and, according to one EV enthusiast, J.R. Stratton, from Mesa, perhaps “even more” so than in the past.
“Elon aside, the technology and these cars are 10 years ahead of everything. They’ve made their style. Now, it’s the coolest car out there,” Stratton said after examining a Tesla Model Y on display at the festival.
Although Stratton doesn’t own a Tesla yet, his mother does, and so do some of his friends.
He believes the company will rebound and could even thrive under the new U.S. tariffs on auto imports.
“I think we should stop buying from China 100 percent,” Stratton told The Epoch Times. “I don’t care if it costs more.”
A Changing Demographic
BJ Birtwell, CEO and founder of Electrify Expo, which launched in 2021, said that “Electrify Expo is mainly just to provide a million square feet of experiences so that people have an opportunity to explore and shop nearly everything imaginable that’s electric.”Birtwell said that despite the recent political backlash against Tesla and Musk due to his involvement in the U.S. government’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the company attracted strong interest at the festival.
“There’s a lot of people warming up to choosing a Tesla because they’re actually from an ideological side better matched with what they’re hearing,” he said.
“For every person that comes in here and says, ‘Hey, I’m looking for something else besides a Tesla because I don’t like what I’m hearing,’ another individual is saying, ‘Tesla is why I’m here because I like what I’m hearing.’”
“It’s no surprise to anybody that EVs have been politicized for the most part from the very beginning,” Birtwell told The Epoch Times. “Although that should have never happened, it did happen.”
EV buyers used to come mainly from environmentally conscious circles, but “early last year, we felt the demographic really started to change,” he said.
“People were no longer coming to our festival mainly for that reason.
“They were actually coming to our festival because they felt like EVs might be a more practical form of transportation for them. But they didn’t know a lot about the technology—and these people were of a different demographic and political leaning as well.”
Guilt by Association
Tesla’s stock skyrocketed immediately after the presidential election last November, before which Musk had endorsed then-former President Donald Trump and appeared at some of his rallies. However, political backlash over Musk’s affiliation with DOGE and the department’s cost-slashing agenda led to protests and widespread vandalism of Tesla products and saw the company’s stock plummet by more than 40 percent in early April.There were weeks of anti-Musk protests, vandalism, and reported assaults surrounding Teslas in the Grand Canyon State.
In late March, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) said he'd sell his longtime ride, a Tesla, after Musk publicly rebuked him for visiting Ukraine.
Attendees Weigh In
“I want to buy one [but] it’s just too pricey,” Maz Khaled, an accountant from Buckeye, Arizona, told The Epoch Times at the festival.“I'd love to have one for a secondary car to go to work, but I can’t bring myself to pay $40,000 for a car. They’re about to go up even more.”
Khaled attended the expo with Anas El Tuhami, a tech worker from Gilbert, Arizona. El Tuhami owns a 2024 Tesla Model Y and praised its technology and design.
“If you haven’t bought by now, it’s definitely something to consider if you’re looking for a commuter [vehicle] overall,” El Tuhami told The Epoch Times.
“I think the car itself is pretty solid compared to all the other competitors.”
El Tuhami shared Khaled’s view that the political backlash against Musk and Tesla is merely a “bump in the road” and said he believes it’s manageable.
Attendee Dave Moore sat in a Tesla Model Y display model and admired its digital dashboard.
Nonetheless, he said he is still not ready to buy an electric vehicle.
“I am not interested [in buying] at all,” Moore told The Epoch Times. “I don’t want an electric car. I work in auto insurance, and there’s no way I would buy an electric vehicle.”
Moore said it can be complicated to get repairs to a Tesla covered through insurance.
“Good luck finding a shop that’s going to get your car repaired anytime soon,” he said.
Pete Famighetti, a “snowbird” from South Dakota, told The Epoch Times he doesn’t own a Tesla yet but has a friend who logged 250,000 miles on a Model S and now owns a second one.
He said Musk’s efforts with DOGE are commendable, particularly the fact that the Tesla CEO is working pro bono.
“The country should appreciate him for giving up what he does. The guy makes millions of dollars a minute [and he’s] working for us—for free,” Famighetti said.
