Tesla’s Musk joins Laschet laugh-in with chuckle at German candidate

GRÜNHEIDE, Germany — In his bid to become Germany’s next chancellor, Armin Laschet is disproving the old saying that laughter is the best medicine.

It’s certainly not helping the conservative candidate’s ailing campaign.

Laschet, who landed in hot water last month for chuckling at an inopportune moment during a visit to a town devastated by flooding, found himself on the receiving end on Friday on live television. Even more awkward, the man laughing at him was Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

“What is the future of cars, hydrogen or electric?” Laschet asked Musk after touring Tesla’s new factory outside Berlin.

“Definitely electric, hydrogen is a waste of time, obviously,” Musk responded before breaking out into a long, high-pitched, this-guy-is-clueless laugh, as Laschet tried to explain in German that there was a “scientific debate” over what technology would prevail in the long term.

Like many German politicians, Laschet, the premier of Nord Rhine-Westphalia, believes Germany could be a pioneer in hydrogen-powered vehicles. Musk has called the idea of using such fuel cells to power cars on a large scale “silly” because of the difficulties surrounding the production, delivery and storage of hydrogen.

For Laschet, Friday’s encounter with Musk was meant to help rejuvenate his flagging campaign, placing him alongside one of the world’s foremost entrepreneurs. Instead, it was just the latest in a string of photo ops gone bad.

With just over six weeks until Germany’s general election, Laschet can ill afford any more missteps. A string of polls in recent days has shown support for both his candidacy and his Christian Democrats in sharp decline.

Some observers are even predicting that he might have to step aside to make way for his rival for the candidacy, Bavarian premier Markus Söder, who enjoys much stronger support. While that outcome still looks unlikely, the speculation alone is damaging.

Production of electric cars in the town of Grünheide, outside Berlin, was supposed to start in July this year, but lawsuits from environmental groups led to a longer approval process, forcing Tesla to postpone the start of production to the end of the year. The company still has not received final approval from authorities for the so-called Gigafactory in which batteries will also be manufactured.

On Friday, Laschet took up Tesla’s cause, calling for a change in Germany’s regulatory framework to make such investments easier.

Laschet said Tesla was taking a huge risk with its billion-dollar investment, adding: “If they don’t get approval, they’ll have to dismantle everything here.” He said he wanted to make sure other companies could build innovative industrial plants in the future without having to take such a huge gamble.