4 MIN READ
There is no evidence that billionaire Elon Musk or his electric vehicle company Tesla is selling an energy-saving device called “WattSaver” that saves 90% of appliances’ electricity use, contrary to a Facebook post associating him and the company with the product.
A Facebook post with more than 7,700 reactions (here) reads, “Under the pressure of the united electric power giants, EIon has signed a production halt agreement, and this energy-saving device that can save 90% of electricity is about to be discontinued. There are only 10,000 units left. The factory will be closed next month.”
The post includes two Fox News screenshots.
The screenshot at the top of the image shows host Sean Hannity with a text that reads, “AN EFFECTIVE WAY TO SAVE MONEY ON YOUR ELECTRICITY BILL.” The screenshot may be from a May 2018 Fox News segment (here) where Hannity can be seen wearing the same tie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlicJO3IKes
The screenshot below that includes a chyron that reads, “ELON MUSK’S FACTORY IS ABOUT TO BE CLOSED” and shows a horizontally flipped image of Musk (here) from September 2020 where he spoke to the press at the construction site of a new Tesla Gigafactory in Germany. The backdrop has been edited to show a warehouse with the words “wattsaver intelligent” on it.
A Fox News spokesperson said in an email to Reuters that the screenshots are fake. No such news stories exist on the Fox News website (here).
The posts include a link to an article (archive.li/HQ972) that says that an electricity-saving product is called “WattSaver,” created by Musk following the death of a 64-year-old Tesla employee. The article includes a photo of the alleged employee with her husband, but the photo actually shows a Wisconsin couple with different names and ages who died after being struck by lightning near the White House in August 2022 (here).
The article links to a website for a product called “WattSaver” (archive.li/MI89m), (here), which does not mention Musk.
WattSaver did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
There are no credible reports that Tesla or Musk created the “WattSaver” product visible in the article shared on social media (www.tesla.com/elon-musk), (here), (here), (here).
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
VERDICT
There is no evidence Elon Musk created an energy-saving device called Wattsaver that claims to save 90% electricity.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here .
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
