Tesla made more money last quarter than the entire US oil industry made last year  

Electrek has a post comparing the job creation potential of Tesla to that of shrinking oil and gas companies - Tesla made more money last quarter than the entire US oil industry made last year.

While there are nuances to the claim made in this headline, it is technically true since Tesla announced that it turned a profit of $22 million last quarter while the US oil industry managed to lose $67 billion last year due to its inability to stomach lower gas prices, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

I think it’s something to consider in this new political climate following the election of Donald Trump.

Notwithstanding any potential ulterior motives to favor fossil fuels or the fact that Trump doesn’t believe in man-made climate change, it’s important for the upcoming new Trump administration and GOP-controlled Washington to start looking at Tesla and other upcoming cleantech ventures as important middle-class American job creators and sustainable businesses. ...

When the US oil industry lost $67 billion in 2015, it also slashed close to 100,000 jobs during the same period. All the while, more Americans now work in the solar industry than the extraction of oil, gas, or coal. ...

On the other hand, Tesla has been adding jobs with now over 18,000 employees worldwide and the majority are in the US. At the Fremont factory alone, Tesla employs over 6,000 people and it plans to bring that number up to 9,000 to support its latest expansion plans. The electric automaker is also investing in the Gigafactory in Nevada, where it plans to employ over 6,000 workers.