Paul KrugmanWhat my friend Invictus is talking about is the fact that Tesla buyers are overwhelmingly in Dem districts, which he documented recently 1/ https://twitter.com/TBPInvictus/status/1607852684601704448
Here's his original evidence, with further stuff from the inimitable Charles Gaba 2/ https://ritholtz.com/2022/12/owning-the-libs/
Thoughts On Owning the Libs - The Big Picture
@TBPInvictus here. (Also on Post and Mastodon). Happy holidays to all, and the best for 2023. It’s been a hot minute since my last post, hope I remember how this thing works. I’ve been a huge fan of Twitter for well over a decade. It’s a fire hose of invaluable information from countless reliable…Read More
How I think about it: many people make a statement with the car they drive, maybe more than with any consumer good 3/
A Tesla is an expensive luxury car, but zero-emission, and until the other day Elon Musk seemed like a cool guy who does space travel while hanging out with singers and Westworld actresses 4/
So owning a Tesla was, to be crude but I think accurate, a way to say "I'm rich but I'm woke". Lots to criticize and ridicule there, but it was the marketing strategy 5/
Apparently, however, Musk didn't get his own memo. Instead he's gone full MAGA, turning off exactly the people who might buy his cars. Stupid? Unable to control his impulses? Probably both 6/
Sasha Fox@pkrugman Also his cars suck and keep trying to murder their owners.
Eight-car Thanksgiving pileup blamed on Tesla “Full Self-Driving” software
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2022/12/eight-car-thanksgiving-pileup-blamed-on-tesla-full-self-driving-software/
A Tesla driver watched in horror as another Tesla burst into flames after hitting a barrier
https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-driver-watched-in-horror-tesla-crashed-burst-into-flames-2022-12
NumbCat9 💜s trans folx 🏳️⚧️Truth: EVs are *much much* safer than gasoline cars when it comes to fires. Beta testing FSD on real streets is dumb, tho where are state legs on that?
Musk is an evil fuck, but claiming EVs set themselves on fire at anywhere even approaching the rate that fossil fueled vehicles do is just Big Oil propaganda.
Don’t let that evil fuck destroy your judgment and perspective.
EVs: *great*
Musk: Terrible
Source: https://www.kbb.com/car-news/study-electric-vehicles-involved-in-fewest-car-fires.
Orcyou are stating something as fact that the available evidence does not support.
Teslas: ~5 per billion miles driven
All vehicles: ~56 per billion miles driven
I mean I guess Tesla could’ve misstated by a factor of 10 but then they’d only be average.
You’re not speaking from a position of facts. That doesn’t help anyone.
Musk is a fucking dick, don’t let him make you take leave of your senses!
@numbcat9 @orc @pkrugman I don't think anyone is saying that electric vehicles are the problem. It's that Teslas are bad. They're poorly put together. They are actively dangerous because they will do things like turn into oncoming traffic and not brake for children.
Teslas do things like automatically lock all the doors and windows during a fire and turn off manual control for the locks so the driver is trapped inside. After the car took control and drove into a wall.
That's why people are saying they're not safe.
Everyone here thinks electric cars are better than gas powered cars.
@numbcat9 @orc @pkrugman Like, it's a common complaint that Teslas are put together poorly on top of all the other issues.
Using slave labor to construct your expensive computer cars isn't really a smart idea.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/tesla-gm-among-car-makers-facing-senate-inquiry-into-possible-links-to-uyghur-forced-labor-11671722563?mod=Searchresults_pos1&page=1
Again, all issues specifically with Elon Musk and his failures at running a company, not evidence of electric cars being bad.
@numbcat9 @orc @pkrugman You can see reports about how Elon Musk, specifically, was putting out cars with serious manufacturing problems going back years.
He's the problem.
Tesla employees say automaker is churning out a high volume of flawed parts
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/14/tesla-manufacturing-high-volume-of-flawed-parts-employees.html
An expert dismantled a Tesla Model 3. He found poor design and manufacturing
https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-model-3-design-profits-20181017-story.html
Tesla Model Y’s Serious Production Problems
https://www.motortrend.com/news/tesla-model-y-ev-safety-quality-issues-problems/
Tesla was ranked lowest in the 2020 J.D. Power Initial Quality Survey, thanks largely to build quality issues reported by owners.
https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1128625_tesla-ranks-last-in-initial-quality-build-issues
@sashafox @orc @pkrugman you don’t have to convince me Musk is a problem, even at Tesla. He’s a horrible boss.
Also here’s the 2022 rankings. Tesla is bad, but better than VW, Audi, Volvo, and Chrysler.
I keep trying to point out the whole line of argument makes EVs look bad, not just Tesla. You keep insisting otherwise. We are at impasse.
@numbcat9 @orc @pkrugman I'm saying that the problems with Teslas are entirely Musk created, and that it's important to point out that other electric vehicles aren't like Teslas.
Like, they don't have buggy software that doesn't break when children try to cross the road, and they weren't put together using plastic screws and large gaps where parts don't fit together. Teslas do.
Electric cars are much safer than gas cars.
Teslas aren't representative of all electric cars, and so you shouldn't use their numbers as a stand in for electric cars. Use the numbers for Chevy Bolts.
Chevy Bolts which set themselves on fire so frequently they had to recall literally every single Bolt and cannot actually do the recall because manufacturing hundreds of thousands of *safe replacement* packs is super difficult and they cannot keep up. they’re only at half. Chevy recommends you park them outside and don’t charge them all the way.
https://insideevs.com/news/621377/two-years-after-chevy-bolt-recall/
