I’ll have to be honest and admit back when I was in high school or so, I was enthusiastic about electric cars and his seemed like some of the best. He was also opening up the charging standards so that there could be a mixed playing field. Back then, I was likely ready to dismiss small critiques as the retaliation of the fossil fuel industry.
God I hate old me.
All your reasons were valid though. Teslas were the best electric cars for a long time, probably not so anymore. Tesla as a brand has done good things, like you say opening up their charging standard which is superior to all the other competitors.
Personally, I wouldn’t get a Tesla because they are sort of like the apple of car companies, e.g. anti-consumer and anti-repair. Plus, Musk owning it is another big negative.
You’re always supposed to hate or be embarrassed by the old you; that means you learned. It means growth. It’s a good thing.
Take it from an old man, at a certain point you will grow beyond having to feel “embarassed” by your former self, because your ego won’t be tied to it.
Old man here as well. I follow the doctrine of non-repudiation: I did a lot of stupid things when I was young. But I own them and don’t hate my former self for doing them. Mind you, I didn’t hurt anyone (except emotionally, and not intentionally) and wasn’t a criminal. If that were different, maybe I’d have to process it differently.
Tesla was a long way ahead of the competition for a very long time, to the point where they were the only option for a vehicle that was genuinely a replacement for a combustion vehicle.
Without them, I very much doubt EV market share would be anywhere near what it is today.
I’m not sure how it even managed to get so big when the EV1 was so beloved but supposedly killed by the automotive industry.
The EV1 was too far ahead of its time. The tech wasn’t there and to even accomplish what they did cost far more than they could hope to sell it for. An estimate that each EV1 cost GM around $100k to make in the early 90’s (so around $200k in today’s dollars).
Battery tech has progressed massively since then and makes all of this possible now (even if it’s still expensive).
Even now, the Leaf only goes 200 miles. Less than a 2018 Model 3. Not good enough.
I agree, Tesla was the viable option fora long time. The charging network is part of that even still.
The NACS connector is a big deal.
It has been, but the leaf was very much a “second car” for a very long time. They had relatively short range, an air cooled battery, and as a result couldn’t be charged particularly fast. The battery would also overheat if you tried to charge it multiple times.
Tesla, on the water, had a water cooled battery pack, and could be fast charged multiple times per day, and much faster than other vehicles, meaning a road trip was actually possible.
