Tesla Terrorism?

A misplacing of Anger

Among all the chaos of the start of the Trump/Musk regime a peculiar trend of demonizing Tesla has emerged. Musk/Trump are calling it “Domestic Terrorism”, which may be a stretch since no one has been injured or died (in contrast to Jan. 6 when several died and Trump called the perpetrators “Patriots full of love”.)

On the one hand, the lashing out at Tesla is understandable since Elon is so identified with the brand. But on the other hand, Tesla and their cars are not responsible for his going to the dark side. So why are they being vandalized? I can understand boycotting Tesla and refusing to buy their cars, but to destroy or deface one seems misplaced. The harm goes to the owner or the dealership, only indirectly to Musk in terms of falling stock price. The irony is that for the last decade until just this last year, Tesla was the darling of liberal car buyers demonstrating their concern for global warming and the need to decrease fossil fuel use.

Ok, it’s time for full disclosure: the picture above is the back of my Model 3 Tesla. I didn’t want to say it in the introduction of this post, as I wanted you to hear me out😂. As you can see, I’ve stated my opposition to what Elon stands for with window stickers.... I’m running out of room on the back window for more😜. I read an article that some enterprising fellow has made over $100,000 selling these anti-Elon stickers.

But I continue to appreciate the technology and refinement of the automobile, and I am a fan of EV’s in general, let me explain why. Truth is, the Model 3 is the best vehicle of any kind my wife and I have ever owned. I’m not a fan of the full self-driving software as it has a way to go before I would trust it with my life. I think the software admirably enhances safety for a good driver but it’s not yet autonomous. The fact that Elon has been touting it for years speaks more to his narcissism than its reality. However, on all other aspects of the car, I would give it a “10”. EV’s in general are the way to go in my opinion; they require next to no maintenance, they are much more efficient than a comparable ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicle, and they are a partial answer to global warming (yes, MAGA, it’s real).

Range anxiety is a thing, but Tesla has its own supercharger network that allow one to go almost anywhere without fear of running out of juice. The vision that Musk and Tesla had to risk the investment in all those Supercharger stations when it was still unclear what the future held for EV’s is truly remarkable. So I guess in fairness we have to give him some credit. Seems a far stretch from that vision to his “hacksawing” of government agencies, but I digress.

Think of all the systems that ICE cars require that EV’s don’t: exhaust systems, catalytic converters, cooling systems, transmissions, and a large engine compartment. None of those are needed in my Model 3, in fact, the “hood” which you would think would house the engine is another storage area, the “Frunk”. The dual electric motors are quite smaller and lighter than a typical gasoline engine and they virtually never break down or need servicing. Oil Change? Nope. Regenerative braking is another plus. Taking your foot off the gas allows recharging as the car slows and usually means you don’t need to use the brake. And if you like performance, the acceleration of my standard Model 3 rivals or exceeds most sports cars.

To be fair, I think there are some legitimate arguments about the downside of the rare mineral mining, including the energy needed, to make the batteries. But ultimately, if we are to really take this global warming seriously, we need to electrify everything and allow technologic development to get us both better batteries and clean energy.

So, bottom line, I intend to keep my Tesla and I urge others to consider EV’s of all types. Besides, vandalism is something more associated with Republicans than us Democrats. Remember Jan. 6!