What's going on?

Leading electric carmaker Tesla held talks with Swiss mining giant Glencore about taking ownership in the company, according to details out on Monday.

What does this mean?

Tesla�s already cemented a deal to buy cobalt � a key ingredient in EV batteries � from Glencore, but it looks like the OG electric carmaker was recently angling for a direct stake. That could�ve been a savvy move: a lot of the materials used to make EV batteries are found in less stable parts of the world, and this year�s war in Ukraine has shown us how quickly supply chains can be disrupted by geopolitical instability. Tesla, then, might have been looking to one of the world�s biggest mineral producers in a bid to further shore up supply. But it seems like Glencore�s coal mining activities � a blow against Tesla�s decarbonization goals � stopped any deal from getting over the line: Musk might be many things, but a hypocrite isn’t one.

Why should I care?

Zooming in: Focus, Elon.
Tesla�s always been a bit of a one-man show, and shareholders are getting worried that the one man in question is more focused elsewhere: Twitter. So the news that Tesla was lining up a stake in Glencore will do little to calm those nerves. After all, Musk does nothing by halves, and a minority stake might have just been the beginning.

Zooming out: Two birds, one stone.
Extracting materials for EV batteries is dirty business, so buddying up to mining firms might seem like a seedy slant for Tesla�s image. But if Musk uses any potential involvement to push the ugly business in a less ugly direction, he could fix an ongoing supply chain problem and try to tidy up the industry�s image in one fell swoop.