I appreciate that Teslas helped normalize electric cars, but yeah, I don’t trust him enough to drop that kind of money on a product from one of his companies.
What’s to say he wouldn’t do something recklessly impulsive the moment I buy one that makes it harder to get parts, removes software features, or gets my car keyed by someone who hates his guts?
Said it many times but I still think musk’s tesla had a negative impact on EV cars overall.
When the cars were first hitting mainstream markets (rather than being the car your weird uncle buys), automakers were already selling hybrids. I forget if they were plug-ins or not, but stuff like the Prius were ubiquitous to the point it was a joke on The Office.
Then the story became you need a full pure electric vehicle. And the way they marketed the distinction was that the most important thing in the world was a long battery range because coverage of charging grids was shit.
Which gets us to, funny enough, the cybertruck where the range is “okay” without hauling anything, dogshit if you actually USE your truck, and being marketed with a really expensive add-on to get an even bigger battery (and even less cargo space) because RANGE IS GOD!!!
And… that is the problem we see facing all EVs (moreso in the US, but also in Europe and Asia). The idea that you need an EV that will last you all day for a long roadtrip just to buy some groceries. Rather than a focus on improving charging grid infrastructure (which, we are actually seeing even in the land of the free ar-15 with a 12 piece mcnuggets) and fast charging of smaller batteries.
If we had stuck to the hybrid model we would have a lot less emissions over the years AND people would be more understanding of what they actually need to go “full electric”. I am a generally strong supporter of electric vehicles (who lives in the ass end of nowhere…) and even I was amazed at the mileage I was getting with some toyota hybrid rental a few months back.
Just because it deeply bothers me. If you think an EV can’t be used for a roadtrip, go watch the Technology Connections video where he talks about doing exactly that. The short and skinny of it is that you DO need to put a bit more effort into route planning (and there are great sites for that), but it mostly boils down to stopping for 20-40 minutes to charge up most of the way once or twice a day.
Which sounds bad until you remember you aren’t in your early 20s anymore and that sitting in a car for a 36 hour drive is a miserable experience. Stop at a rest stop for some food or a target/walmart for some snacks and a piss break. When you get done, your car is mostly charged up.
And if you ARE in your early 20s and considering an EV: Kid, go spend more money on avocado toast.
Plugins weren’t a thing yet iirc, at least not from the large mainstream brands. Prius was just normal hybrid without charging.
Imo it’s impossible to say what would have been, in a what if scenario like this. Without Tesla, large battery tech would probably/maybe/possibly be a lot less developed than it is now and we might not have seen plugin hybrids become mainstream just yet. Personally, I do think that Tesla deserves credit for accelerating the development of these technologies, and I drive a hybrid and generally loath Elon Musk :)
That is just it. If we are saying we can’t make educated guesses based on situations and trends then we also cannot make any claims that musk’s tesla was a net good.
But once we look at the past decade or so: We see hybrids pretty much universally get shit on for “not being worth it” and “a step in the wrong direction”. Which… there are merits to those arguments. But they are still better than pure ICE vehicles.
I did not see hybrids universally get shit on. I do know one person with that opinion, but I wouldn’t call him universal and I don’t put much stock in his opinions anyhow, he had had more weird takes before he spouted that one.
I take a lot of motorcycle trips. I have a 4.5 gallon tank and get around 40-50 MPG depending on how I’m driving. I’m stopping every 3 hours whether I like it or not anyway.
I think that’s totally reasonable. I’m just ready for the infrastructure to be there in the places I want to go.
After those safety issues around 2019, I was getting really uncomfortable and lost interest in buying a Tesla. When he went pro-covid, I watched friends getting nervous. When he went anti-union, I watched my tech-bro friends sell their Teslas.
I think if you slap a Trump sticker on there, you’re likely to get a pass from the sorts of people who key cars. All it costs is integrity and self-respect.
I appreciate that Teslas helped normalize electric cars, but yeah, I don’t trust him enough to drop that kind of money on a product from one of his companies.
What’s to say he wouldn’t do something recklessly impulsive the moment I buy one that makes it harder to get parts, removes software features, or gets my car keyed by someone who hates his guts?
Said it many times but I still think musk’s tesla had a negative impact on EV cars overall.
When the cars were first hitting mainstream markets (rather than being the car your weird uncle buys), automakers were already selling hybrids. I forget if they were plug-ins or not, but stuff like the Prius were ubiquitous to the point it was a joke on The Office.
Then the story became you need a full pure electric vehicle. And the way they marketed the distinction was that the most important thing in the world was a long battery range because coverage of charging grids was shit.
Which gets us to, funny enough, the cybertruck where the range is “okay” without hauling anything, dogshit if you actually USE your truck, and being marketed with a really expensive add-on to get an even bigger battery (and even less cargo space) because RANGE IS GOD!!!
And… that is the problem we see facing all EVs (moreso in the US, but also in Europe and Asia). The idea that you need an EV that will last you all day for a long roadtrip just to buy some groceries. Rather than a focus on improving charging grid infrastructure (which, we are actually seeing even in the land of the free ar-15 with a 12 piece mcnuggets) and fast charging of smaller batteries.
If we had stuck to the hybrid model we would have a lot less emissions over the years AND people would be more understanding of what they actually need to go “full electric”. I am a generally strong supporter of electric vehicles (who lives in the ass end of nowhere…) and even I was amazed at the mileage I was getting with some toyota hybrid rental a few months back.
Just because it deeply bothers me. If you think an EV can’t be used for a roadtrip, go watch the Technology Connections video where he talks about doing exactly that. The short and skinny of it is that you DO need to put a bit more effort into route planning (and there are great sites for that), but it mostly boils down to stopping for 20-40 minutes to charge up most of the way once or twice a day.
Which sounds bad until you remember you aren’t in your early 20s anymore and that sitting in a car for a 36 hour drive is a miserable experience. Stop at a rest stop for some food or a target/walmart for some snacks and a piss break. When you get done, your car is mostly charged up.
And if you ARE in your early 20s and considering an EV: Kid, go spend more money on avocado toast.
Plugins weren’t a thing yet iirc, at least not from the large mainstream brands. Prius was just normal hybrid without charging.
Imo it’s impossible to say what would have been, in a what if scenario like this. Without Tesla, large battery tech would probably/maybe/possibly be a lot less developed than it is now and we might not have seen plugin hybrids become mainstream just yet. Personally, I do think that Tesla deserves credit for accelerating the development of these technologies, and I drive a hybrid and generally loath Elon Musk :)
That is just it. If we are saying we can’t make educated guesses based on situations and trends then we also cannot make any claims that musk’s tesla was a net good.
But once we look at the past decade or so: We see hybrids pretty much universally get shit on for “not being worth it” and “a step in the wrong direction”. Which… there are merits to those arguments. But they are still better than pure ICE vehicles.
I did not see hybrids universally get shit on. I do know one person with that opinion, but I wouldn’t call him universal and I don’t put much stock in his opinions anyhow, he had had more weird takes before he spouted that one.
I take a lot of motorcycle trips. I have a 4.5 gallon tank and get around 40-50 MPG depending on how I’m driving. I’m stopping every 3 hours whether I like it or not anyway.
I think that’s totally reasonable. I’m just ready for the infrastructure to be there in the places I want to go.
After those safety issues around 2019, I was getting really uncomfortable and lost interest in buying a Tesla. When he went pro-covid, I watched friends getting nervous. When he went anti-union, I watched my tech-bro friends sell their Teslas.
I think if you slap a Trump sticker on there, you’re likely to get a pass from the sorts of people who key cars. All it costs is integrity and self-respect.