The district attorney of Philadelphia filed a lawsuit Monday to halt Elon Musk 's $1 million giveaways as part of his political organization's effort boosting Donald Trump 's presidential campaign.
The suit by Democratic District Attorney Larry Krasner is the first legal action to be brought over the America PAC's sweepstakes offering $1 million every day until Nov. 5 to a person in a battleground state who has signed a petition supporting the Constitution.
Krasner's office said the lawsuit, coming just over a week before Election Day, doesn't preclude potential criminal action.
“The Philadelphia District Attorney is charged with protecting the public from public nuisances and unfair trade practices, including illegal lotteries. The DA is also charged with protecting the public from interference with the integrity of elections,” Krasner's office said in a statement published on its website.
A spokesperson for the billionaire tech mogul's America PAC, emailed for comment on the lawsuit and asked if the cash awards would continue, responded with a link to an X post, which showed the latest $1 million winner holding an oversize check.
Before the lawsuit, election law experts raised questions that it violates federal law barring anyone from paying a person to vote or register to vote. The issue, they say, is that winning the award requires contestants to be registered to vote in one of a handful of battleground states. Musk has cast the money as both a prize as well as earnings for work as a spokesperson for the group.
But the lawsuit makes clear that it's not about vote-buying. Instead, the DA says, the case centers on running a lottery.
“This case is very simple because America PAC and Musk are indisputably violating Pennsylvania’s statutory prohibitions against illegal lotteries and deceiving consumers,” the suit says.
It said examples of deception include not providing a complete set of contest rules including odds of winning and details on how winners are selected.
Reflecting the state's importance in the election, both Harris and Trump have made numerous recent visits to Pennsylvania, including Trump’s photo op at a suburban Philadelphia McDonald’s and Harris’ Sunday visit in the city that included stops at a church and a barbershop.
Speaking in Delaware after casting his ballot Monday, President Joe Biden called the giveaway “totally inappropriate.”
Some attending Musk's events have a different view.
Michele Costantino, 64, a retired health care administrator from Elverson, Pennsylvania, said she thought the giveaway was a “good idea.”
“I think he’s playing the same game as the other side,” said Costantino, standing outside Musk’s rally Saturday in Lancaster. “If you need to flash some big money to get people’s attention, I think it’s a good idea.”
Musk's giveaway requires entrants to sign a petition backing the First and Second Amendments of the Constitution and calls for them to serve as spokespeople for the organization as a condition of winning.
The woman awarded the $1 million check that was presented by Musk on stage Saturday in Lancaster declined to comment about it afterward to a reporter, saying she was directed to leave the town hall event before it was over.
Musk, who founded SpaceX and Tesla and owns X, has gone all in on Trump this election, saying he thinks civilization is at stake if he loses. He is undertaking much of the get-out-the-vote effort for Trump through his super PAC, which can raise and spend unlimited sums of money. He has committed more than $70 million to the super PAC to help Trump and other Republicans win in November.
Associated Press writers Colleen Long in Washington and Mark Scolforo in Lancaster, Pa., contributed to this report.
Elon Musk speaks before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Elon Musk speaks before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Elon Musk speaks a campaign rally for Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
DETROIT (AP) — The reliability of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids has dramatically improved, narrowing a wide gap with gas-powered automobiles, according to the latest survey by Consumer Reports.
But vehicles with internal combustion engines and gas-electric hybrids are still far more dependable, the survey found.
Consumer Reports subscribers, who filled out surveys during much of 2024, reported that electric vehicles had 42% more problems than gas autos on average. But that was down from 79% more in the 2023 survey. The survey released Thursday measured reliability of vehicles mainly from the 2022, 2023 and 2024 model years.
Plug-ins, which travel a short distance on battery power before a hybrid powertrain kicks in, had 70% more problems than gas vehicles, but that was less than half the difference found in last year's survey.
The reason for the improvement? EV and plug-in technology are maturing, said Jake Fisher, head of Consumer Reports' automobile test center.
“As the automakers get more experience with the new technologies and new platforms, they will improve,” Fisher said.
He said he expects plug-in and electric vehicles to keep getting better, further closing the gap with gas vehicles. But one thing may stand in the way: Automakers often test new automation and other features on EVs, and the new stuff is prone to glitches.
“Until we get to where an EV is just a car that does practical things with their own powertrain, I'm not sure they'll ever catch up totally” to gas vehicles, Fisher said.
The new technology may offer more than the next wave of EV buyers would like, as EVs move from early adopters to more practical mainstream buyers, Fisher said. “There are people who just want a car that’s easy to maintain,” he said. “I don’t use gas. I don’t need this automation feature and electric door handles or whatever the heck they are putting out.”
Consumer Reports has noted that concerns about EV and plug-in quality add to issues that may have buyers hesitating before switching from gasoline engines, including concerns about higher up-front costs, too few charging stations and long charging times.
Gas-electric hybrids, which switch from internal combustion to electric power to get better mileage, were about as reliable as cars with combustion engines. While the technology is pretty technical, it has been refined for a quarter century, mainly by pioneer Toyota, Fisher said. “CR's tests have shown that they are often quieter, quicker and more pleasant to drive than their gasoline-only counterparts,” he said.
Through September of this year, the last month for which all automakers have reported results, electric vehicle sales are up 7.2%, plug-in sales rose 11.6%, but hybrids led with a 32.6% increase, according to Motorintelligence.com.
Consumer Reports said its 2024 survey of subscribers representing about 300,000 vehicle owners found that Subaru was the most reliable brand for the first time, followed by perennial top finishers Lexus and Toyota. Rounding out the top five were Honda and its Acura luxury brand. It was the first time since 2020 that neither Toyota nor its Lexus luxury brand were in the top spot, Fisher said.
The highest-ranked brand from a U.S.-based automaker was General Motors' Buick at No. 11.
The five lowest of 22 brands that were ranked were electric upstart Rivian, followed by GM's Cadillac luxury brand, GMC, Jeep and Volkswagen, Consumer Reports said.
The magazine and website didn't get enough data this year to rank Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Infiniti, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln, Lucid, Maserati, Mercedes, Mitsubishi, Porsche and Ram.
Electric vehicle sales leader Tesla finished 17th, down three spots from last year's survey.
Subaru took first place in the survey by following the same formula that Toyota uses to get high reliability scores: It doesn't make huge changes when updating or unveiling new vehicles, Fisher said. Instead of going with new engines or transmissions, Subaru carries parts over from the prior generation.
“They don't fix what's not broken,” he said. “They continue to refine their products, and because the products perform quite well, they don't have to have big changes.”
Rivian, Fisher said, is a new company with new electric models that have more glitches. Since the company is a startup, it can't use proven powertrains from prior generations yet. “It's expected that you're going to have issues when you have nothing to carry over” from previous model years, he said.
The survey found that the gas-powered Toyota RAV4 small SUV was the most reliable vehicle, followed by the Toyota Corolla compact car. The RAV4 Prime plug-in hybrid was third, followed by the RAV4 gas-electric hybrid, Fisher said.
Consumer Reports' survey of its subscriber base does not represent all vehicle purchasers in the U.S. or the population that bought specific vehicle types. The survey results were released at a meeting of the Automotive Press Association of Detroit.
FILE - A Toyota RAV4 Prime is displayed at the Pittsburgh International Auto Show in Pittsburgh, Feb. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
