The withering dream of a cheap American electric car

Half of America doesn't want to support the incoming administration either, and Musk has decided to closely and personally align himself with it. I wonder if that will affect Tesla sales.

I kinda think the whole thing is just Elon tricking republicans into buying electric cars.

Masterful move right there. Maybe he can trick them all into going to Mars next? They don't call it the Red Planet for nuthin.

Is that why the EV subsidy is getting repealed?

> As evidence look at all of the quickly disproven posts on a wide range of topics that Elon has posted. He did no research at all before posting those things (despite a large following, and thus large responsibility). He "felt" that the post was good/right, so he went with it.

Or, more likely, he knows exactly what he is doing.

Which is good, we don't want electric cars to become a culture war issue

There's also the closing of his factory by the lady that didn't like him during covid, the Biden administration's decision to never mention Tesla, instead proclaiming that manufacturers like GM were making America Electric (Tesla sold way more electric cars, and they are much more American).

I think there are a lot of little reasons all combined, and that is definitely one of them.

- Heavy criticism over the past 6 years from traditional news sources (even tech sources like Ars Technica)... basically ever since the Tham Luang cave rescue*

- Thick hate from people in the comments sections

- Government agencies interfering with SpaceX and Tesla

- Biden administration ignoring his carbon tax suggestion

- Biden administration snubbing Tesla at the EV Summit

- His family transgender drama

- COVID mandates shutting down his manufacturing for a period of time

- Conservatives not buying EVs

If you look at all his points of friction in recent years it's not much of a surprise to see the transformation.

*The cave rescue was a sad turning point for Musk. He endured excessive ridicule for pushing for a technological solution, then really stepped in it with his bitter accusations against that rescue diver.

> we don't want electric cars to become a culture war issue

Too late. I'm happy to be proven wrong at some point.

The incoming administration has shown contempt for programs created by the "other side". They're strongly against renewable energy in general, and their patrons are oil and gas people.

He wants the tax credit snuffed out to eliminate US competition and tarrifs against imports to eliminate foreign competition.

No tax credit, no Rivian. I can see why he wants that. Their build quality and manufacturing ability trounce the Tesla when they were at that stage. Rivian has full EV vans in production and on the road daily. Impressive as hell.

Have you ever gotten behind a diesel truck with emissions deleted? I have...a lot. The roll coal crowd doesn't have EV on their radar whatsoever.

Nah...

He also had kind of a meltdown during the initial period of COVID isolation when his factories were closed too.

I think it was that double-whammy: both his trans daughter and the threat of COVID shutdowns destroying Tesla happened pretty close to each other. Those combined drove him not just to traditional fiscal conservatism but to the modern populist identity-driven Trump politics.

That and he's visibly obsessed with validation and popularity and going hard-right has given him that in spades. He wants to be cheered-for at rallies the way Trump is... remember the time that Dave Chappelle brought him out on stage in SF and he was greeted with a wave of boos?

I don't know what will publicly get the blame, but I, and I don't think I'm unique in this regard, am not buying a Tesla because of the documented issues the cars keep having: getting bricked, catching fire, being needlessly difficult to escape in an emergency, tons of unfulfilled promises about new features, etc. On top of this, everyone who I knew who had a Tesla never bought a 2nd.

that's the first thing about politics that made me smile in months i think.

> the Biden administration's decision to never mention Tesla, instead proclaiming that manufacturers like GM were making America Electric (Tesla sold way more electric cars, and they are much more American).

This always bugged me.

Look, I'm no fan of Elon Musk, but Tesla has been the most influential car manufacturer in the EV space. To blatantly ignore them when talking about the electrification of cars in America is simply madness.

I'd like to see some real numbers. All to often something gets in the news and so you think there is a real issue while in reality it is no worse than anything else. Statistics are important, otherwise we get lost in our own biases.

It is very common for people to change brands every time they get a new car.

That isn't quite true. They are aware of EV trucks - they won't buy one of course, but they are aware. They spread stories about those trucks not having any useful range (which is true - when pulling a trailer or driving well over the speed limit the EVs lose range) Those diesel trucks they drive get 600 miles unloaded.

I recently saw a bumper sticker on a Tesla that said "We bought it before we knew how awful he was." Because of Musk, my wife and I will never buy a Tesla even if they do release a basic, low-cost model here in the US to compete with Japanese and Korean economy cars.

On the other hand, as the other comment said about him "tricking Republicans," I think he's also gained a new segment of buyers with his political play, so this might be a wash.

I get the point, but also he's a much more competent salesman (and, I'm assured, rocket scientist) than he is at basically all the other things he's inadvisably gotten involved with.

So, while I'd bet against Twitter (if I such a thing were possible), I wouldn't bet against Tesla being a good fit for the US market.

European sales may well collapse, and he may be very confused about this, but I'd still expect his approach to do well in the USA.

> Half of America doesn't want to support the incoming administration

Hasn't that been true for every US presidential election?

I don't remember the 90s being this polarizing. Sure, people made fun of blowjobs in the White House, but it didn't feel like we were always on the precipice of civil war and societal collapse. Even Bush and Obama weren't so divisive. Yeah, people always had their political preferences, but there used to be such a thing as a shared American identity to some degree, especially in the post-9/11 years. Not these days.

As an independent, it's especially discouraging. I don't see many level-headed voters or politicians anymore, and a lot of the basic governmental services and protections seem to be collapsing while we focus on culture wars. We can't even work together as a country to discuss something as boring yet important as energy policy. Who knew battery-powered cars could be so divisive. Everything is weaponized now.

Which is fine. Deleted trucks are already illegal, and soon enough you won’t be able to buy a new ICE vehicle. They will be gone in my lifetime.

I think the Cybertruck has a lot of crossover appeal.

Aside from being useless? That truck is a toy, nothing more. You better have a backup vehicle.

America just overwhelmingly voted to go back in time.