As is the custom, I have thoughts... This has been percolating in my mind for several months, but the transition to an emission-free transportation future will continue unabated.
Thanks for this informative article. After I semi-retired, we went down to 1 vehicle, which is fine most of the time. But a used Leaf sounds like a great idea for trips around town, at least to look into!
I agree Elon is and perhaps always was a pretty terrible person. I just didn’t see it right away, although I began to see signs in the early days when Tesla was ramping up the model 3 and all of the shenanigans he did hands-on in the manufacturing process, with regard to how he treated people in particular. But the Twitter purchase, and its subsequent cluster hammered final nails into any remaining appreciation I ever had for him.
I have been a Tesla (Elon) fangirl for a long time, but no more (as far as Elon, since he's nuts!), and I decided when the Model 3 was announced that I wanted one. That morphed into wanting a Model Y. I was all ready mentally and had saved over $50k to purchase a Dual Motor Model Y for cash. I even put a 50amp circuit in our new garage specifically to charge it at home. However, thanks to two things, those plans were cancelled: 1) Elon kept jerking the prices all over the place, apparently arbitrarily. but perhaps for no reason other than fleecing the early adopters, and 2) Elon went batshit crazy (or just showed his true colors that had been masked all along). Fortunately, I had a perfectly fine 2003 Acura TL-S that is near mint although it has 234k miles on it, and I cannot sell it for what it's worth to me. Then, something cool happened and a dear friend, original owner of a mint 2008 BMW M5 (V10 500hp, 6 speed manual) sedan asked if I wanted to buy it since he wasn't driving it much anymore, favoring his F150 in his old age). So for $15k I bought a car that cost $100k new, is remarkable, put $15k into it to essentially zero-time the mechanicals, and it's now my garage baby and Sunday driver. And the Acura gets me to my p/t retirement job, Ace Hardware, the grocery store. etc.
Like the Marines say: Improvise, Adapt, Overcome
Screw Elon Musk.
I hope Tesla succeeds though, as I think they get a lot of points for good designs from the ground up and being first out of the gates; just just converting an ICE platform to BEV. I will eventually buy a 150-200 mile range BEV, also, but am no longer singly in love with Tesla's.
BTW: Here's our electricity production split for Arizona.
In 2023, Arizona's total in-state electricity was generated mainly from 6 sources: natural gas (46%), nuclear power (27%), coal (10%), solar energy (10%), hydroelectric power (5%), and wind (1%).
I was surprised hydro is down so much, but when you look at our lakes, you can see why. Lake Powell (Glen Canyon up near Page) and Roosevelt Lake (east of Phoenix) are scary low. We need a decade of above avg rain and snow fall to come close to any sort of recovery. Wish we had a second nuclear plant like Palo Verde out west of Phoenix.
Great comment. Yeah, TEP burned a lot of coal to generate electricity when I lived in Tucson, and you could smell it.
Tesla proved that BEV's were viable, and they had the vision to build out their charging network. The Superchargers are hands down the best experience in EV charging, bar none. But, they seem to have slowed/stalled that deployment in the latest Musk wrangling (depending on the source, between 10 and 20% of Tesla's workforce were RIFd) and opening their charging network to other EV's is a huge deal, but it also breaches one of the moats that protected the aura of Tesla.
But the real problem with Tesla isn't the charging, the layoffs, or even the insane comp package (seriously, the shareholders voted to dilute their share to grant Musk more in that one event that Tesla has ever made in profits. That is mind boggling), no, it is the fact that it isn't an infinite growth tech company, but it is in actuality a middling automaker with inconsistent quality (there are a lot of issues that honest owners will admit to), an aging fleet in bad need of a redesign (and changing things that do not show outwardly does not count) in an industry that expects a 4-5 year lifecycle for each generation of car.
The other makers also struggle, but that struggle is somewhat artificial. Yes, the investments to build out and refit existing infrastructure to accommodate EV's is costly, and that leads to some eye-popping loss per unit sales that the ICE sides of the business exploit to throw shade at the EV side, but make no mistake, the transition continues unabated, even with Tesla's stumbles.
(Honestly, I wonder if Musk's heart is still in running a messy car manufacturing company. That is a high capital, low margin business, and now that the mystique of Tesla has tarnished, it is just a slog)
As for what I see on the road here in Silicon Valley, there are tons of Tesla's. Mostly 3's and Y's, but more than a few of the performance variants of the S and X (the Plaid trim). That said, I have seen a huge increase in Ford Mustang Mach E's, and Audi E-Trons. I think the Mach E competes very well with the 3 and Y, price and performance wise. One of the complaints from even the early days about Tesla (in the Model S era) was that they were priced like mid-tier Euro luxe makers, but the accoutrements and appointments (bells, whistles, and comfort) were nowhere near on par with those makers like Mercedes, BMW and Audi. The Merc and Audi EV's are eating that segment from Tesla.
I have never been a fan. In the late 'aughts, I read about how he treated his first wife, and holy shit, he is one fucked up person. Since then I have been watching - amused - his travails. He presents as a genius engineer/scientist, but he is not that smart, he just likes the smell of his farts. By all accounts, he's a horrible boss, a shitty human being, and he has a cult-like fanbase that is on par with MAGA for their intensity and willingness to look the other way.
A colleague bought a Model 3 last year, and while at first he loved it, he quickly began to point out some of the lousiness. The Frunk is floppy and feels about as robust as a can of PBR, he gets about 2/3rds of the "rated" range, and during the "free month" of FSD, he took me out to lunch. Driving from north San Jose to Milpitas, on FSD, it required 4 interventions in 2.8 miles, half on a freeway.
Not only that, but since they removed the ultrasonic sensors that all makers use for curb finding and are relying on the webcams they use to tell when you are about to rash your rims, it just doesn't work worth a shit. Look at any modern 3 or Y and you will likely see tons of curb scrubbed rims.
And I fucking hate that oversized iPad in the center console, it looks cheap as fuck.
Oh, and look up how to open the doors on a model Y if the battery fails. You have to remove the molding to access the release lever. Imagine having to do that when the car is beginning to become a conflagration. Insane.
And he's planning on announcing the robotaxi in less than a month? That's a laugher.
Then there are what I call Deferred Emissions. You know that electric thingy from the post that people plug into their electric thingy, crank the A/C to take the kids to soccer practice and dance class then back to plug it in again? Do they ever think about where that electricity comes from? No? I didn't think so. A full 60% of America's electricity comes from fossil fuels (16% from coal!). Just over 20% comes from renewables. https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3
Do those emissions happen in wealthy areas? I know what you're thinking, and you're correct - absolutely fucking not. So yeah, wealthy areas may have better air quality as a result of BEVs. Poor folks? Enjoy your smog from your local retailer, and part of me hopes Loper Bright brings that pollution back to the wealthy folks who think they've shit on poor people, again.
We also had a RAV4, until it was stolen last year. Hey, it was a great car, I don't blame them. It was so economical, we would not have replaced it but last year we managed to squeak into solar before California let PG&E screw the middle and lower class out of the possibility, so it was logical to replace our RAV4 with a plug-in hybrid RAV4. I'm proud to say we do not have Deferred Emissions, but I do realize we're a minority -- and fortunate to be in the right place at the right time. Our retired Tesla-owning friends have indeed found distance to curtail the traveling plans they had envisioned. And this past month there is a new burnt spot on the highway where a Tesla burned up, giving our rural volunteer firefighters quite the challenge, and as you point out - no contribution to maintaining the roads they destroy.
Geoff, I have an idea you and others will be writing a lot more about the 3D mess that is BEV.
Thanks for this informative article. After I semi-retired, we went down to 1 vehicle, which is fine most of the time. But a used Leaf sounds like a great idea for trips around town, at least to look into!
My sister had a Tesla on order, but canceled it when Elmo went on one of his insane bigoted rants. She bought a Hyundai EV instead and loves it.
I agree Elon is and perhaps always was a pretty terrible person. I just didn’t see it right away, although I began to see signs in the early days when Tesla was ramping up the model 3 and all of the shenanigans he did hands-on in the manufacturing process, with regard to how he treated people in particular. But the Twitter purchase, and its subsequent cluster hammered final nails into any remaining appreciation I ever had for him.
Great topic. Thanks for writing.
I have been a Tesla (Elon) fangirl for a long time, but no more (as far as Elon, since he's nuts!), and I decided when the Model 3 was announced that I wanted one. That morphed into wanting a Model Y. I was all ready mentally and had saved over $50k to purchase a Dual Motor Model Y for cash. I even put a 50amp circuit in our new garage specifically to charge it at home. However, thanks to two things, those plans were cancelled: 1) Elon kept jerking the prices all over the place, apparently arbitrarily. but perhaps for no reason other than fleecing the early adopters, and 2) Elon went batshit crazy (or just showed his true colors that had been masked all along). Fortunately, I had a perfectly fine 2003 Acura TL-S that is near mint although it has 234k miles on it, and I cannot sell it for what it's worth to me. Then, something cool happened and a dear friend, original owner of a mint 2008 BMW M5 (V10 500hp, 6 speed manual) sedan asked if I wanted to buy it since he wasn't driving it much anymore, favoring his F150 in his old age). So for $15k I bought a car that cost $100k new, is remarkable, put $15k into it to essentially zero-time the mechanicals, and it's now my garage baby and Sunday driver. And the Acura gets me to my p/t retirement job, Ace Hardware, the grocery store. etc.
Like the Marines say: Improvise, Adapt, Overcome
Screw Elon Musk.
I hope Tesla succeeds though, as I think they get a lot of points for good designs from the ground up and being first out of the gates; just just converting an ICE platform to BEV. I will eventually buy a 150-200 mile range BEV, also, but am no longer singly in love with Tesla's.
BTW: Here's our electricity production split for Arizona.
In 2023, Arizona's total in-state electricity was generated mainly from 6 sources: natural gas (46%), nuclear power (27%), coal (10%), solar energy (10%), hydroelectric power (5%), and wind (1%).
I was surprised hydro is down so much, but when you look at our lakes, you can see why. Lake Powell (Glen Canyon up near Page) and Roosevelt Lake (east of Phoenix) are scary low. We need a decade of above avg rain and snow fall to come close to any sort of recovery. Wish we had a second nuclear plant like Palo Verde out west of Phoenix.
Great comment. Yeah, TEP burned a lot of coal to generate electricity when I lived in Tucson, and you could smell it.
Tesla proved that BEV's were viable, and they had the vision to build out their charging network. The Superchargers are hands down the best experience in EV charging, bar none. But, they seem to have slowed/stalled that deployment in the latest Musk wrangling (depending on the source, between 10 and 20% of Tesla's workforce were RIFd) and opening their charging network to other EV's is a huge deal, but it also breaches one of the moats that protected the aura of Tesla.
But the real problem with Tesla isn't the charging, the layoffs, or even the insane comp package (seriously, the shareholders voted to dilute their share to grant Musk more in that one event that Tesla has ever made in profits. That is mind boggling), no, it is the fact that it isn't an infinite growth tech company, but it is in actuality a middling automaker with inconsistent quality (there are a lot of issues that honest owners will admit to), an aging fleet in bad need of a redesign (and changing things that do not show outwardly does not count) in an industry that expects a 4-5 year lifecycle for each generation of car.
The other makers also struggle, but that struggle is somewhat artificial. Yes, the investments to build out and refit existing infrastructure to accommodate EV's is costly, and that leads to some eye-popping loss per unit sales that the ICE sides of the business exploit to throw shade at the EV side, but make no mistake, the transition continues unabated, even with Tesla's stumbles.
(Honestly, I wonder if Musk's heart is still in running a messy car manufacturing company. That is a high capital, low margin business, and now that the mystique of Tesla has tarnished, it is just a slog)
As for what I see on the road here in Silicon Valley, there are tons of Tesla's. Mostly 3's and Y's, but more than a few of the performance variants of the S and X (the Plaid trim). That said, I have seen a huge increase in Ford Mustang Mach E's, and Audi E-Trons. I think the Mach E competes very well with the 3 and Y, price and performance wise. One of the complaints from even the early days about Tesla (in the Model S era) was that they were priced like mid-tier Euro luxe makers, but the accoutrements and appointments (bells, whistles, and comfort) were nowhere near on par with those makers like Mercedes, BMW and Audi. The Merc and Audi EV's are eating that segment from Tesla.
I have never been a fan. In the late 'aughts, I read about how he treated his first wife, and holy shit, he is one fucked up person. Since then I have been watching - amused - his travails. He presents as a genius engineer/scientist, but he is not that smart, he just likes the smell of his farts. By all accounts, he's a horrible boss, a shitty human being, and he has a cult-like fanbase that is on par with MAGA for their intensity and willingness to look the other way.
A colleague bought a Model 3 last year, and while at first he loved it, he quickly began to point out some of the lousiness. The Frunk is floppy and feels about as robust as a can of PBR, he gets about 2/3rds of the "rated" range, and during the "free month" of FSD, he took me out to lunch. Driving from north San Jose to Milpitas, on FSD, it required 4 interventions in 2.8 miles, half on a freeway.
Not only that, but since they removed the ultrasonic sensors that all makers use for curb finding and are relying on the webcams they use to tell when you are about to rash your rims, it just doesn't work worth a shit. Look at any modern 3 or Y and you will likely see tons of curb scrubbed rims.
And I fucking hate that oversized iPad in the center console, it looks cheap as fuck.
Oh, and look up how to open the doors on a model Y if the battery fails. You have to remove the molding to access the release lever. Imagine having to do that when the car is beginning to become a conflagration. Insane.
And he's planning on announcing the robotaxi in less than a month? That's a laugher.
Good start Geoff.
Then there are what I call Deferred Emissions. You know that electric thingy from the post that people plug into their electric thingy, crank the A/C to take the kids to soccer practice and dance class then back to plug it in again? Do they ever think about where that electricity comes from? No? I didn't think so. A full 60% of America's electricity comes from fossil fuels (16% from coal!). Just over 20% comes from renewables. https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3
Do those emissions happen in wealthy areas? I know what you're thinking, and you're correct - absolutely fucking not. So yeah, wealthy areas may have better air quality as a result of BEVs. Poor folks? Enjoy your smog from your local retailer, and part of me hopes Loper Bright brings that pollution back to the wealthy folks who think they've shit on poor people, again.
We also had a RAV4, until it was stolen last year. Hey, it was a great car, I don't blame them. It was so economical, we would not have replaced it but last year we managed to squeak into solar before California let PG&E screw the middle and lower class out of the possibility, so it was logical to replace our RAV4 with a plug-in hybrid RAV4. I'm proud to say we do not have Deferred Emissions, but I do realize we're a minority -- and fortunate to be in the right place at the right time. Our retired Tesla-owning friends have indeed found distance to curtail the traveling plans they had envisioned. And this past month there is a new burnt spot on the highway where a Tesla burned up, giving our rural volunteer firefighters quite the challenge, and as you point out - no contribution to maintaining the roads they destroy.
Geoff, I have an idea you and others will be writing a lot more about the 3D mess that is BEV.