Couple days ago I drove to the supermarket, about 5 miles from my home. I counted 9 Tesla’s during that short drive - more than ever before. I began noticing them a couple years ago after Tesla opened a “showroom” near me at the local mall. (Formerly a Sears Auto Center.)
Also yesterday I drove about 90 minutes each way to buy a 50 amp cable for my solar system, the price was super cheap and I didn’t have anything else to do so it was a nice day for a drive.
During the 3 hours on the road, I counted exactly 1 Tesla, and that was within a few miles of my house. The rest of the trip was through rural Tennessee, Appalachian cabins, falling down houses, and nice but isolated neighborhoods; multiple Dollar Trees, not a mall or superstore anywhere in sight.
It made me realize that even with the White House Lawn advertisement, Tesla (and other electrics) are going to have a devilishly hard time penetrating the ex-burbs. There’s no infrastructure there, there’s no particular “want” there, and the culture is seemingly against it.
Now maybe the exhortations of Dear Leader and his henchmen (now appearing regularly on Fox) imploring the Right to embrace the new-fangled cars will have some effect, but I’m willing to predict it is going to be a VERY long road before they gain any kind of acceptance out there.
“Range anxiety” is a real thing; I had it before I bought my Ioniq, I’m used to it now, but then I don’t live miles and miles from nowhere and I have multiple options for charging (in addition to my own garage, obviously.)
Musk has absolutely crushed 1/3 off the population’s desire to own his car, and arguably they (the Left) are the ones most likely to be his customers. The 1/3 on the Right who they are now appealing to won’t find them, uh, appealing for a variety of reasons, and that’s a market that’s a non-starter. That leaves the 1/3 in the middle who don’t much care one way or the other, and who will be motivated mostly on price and features, and Tesla is now being challenged on both fronts by lots of others. I’m short Tesla, and glad of it. Hard to see how it gets any better, even with tariffs hurting other makers going forward.
