cliff harris
Member
This is so true. I had lunch with some relatives recently. I am clearly the only person they know who has an EV. They were convinced that there was no resale value in an old EV (despite me telling them I literally just sold my 7 year old S), that the batteries likely only last 2 years (See previous commentI'd wager over half of America is still clueless about EV's in general, Tesla included.
Pretty much all of my right leaning friends totally believe the following:
- The US government is trying to force us all into EV's.
- Tesla has only survived this long due to government hand outs.
- Tesla cars are junk.
- If EV's sell a lot they will crash our power grid and doom us all.
- EV's are less green than ICE due to coal and oil powering the grid.
- EV's are a left wing fad and we'll all be back to ICE soon enough.
I will say this though, a few of my right leaning friends who have dared to look at my Model Y and go for rides in it have started to question the FUD feed they regularly hear about EV's and Tesla. So there is some hope yet for the clueless.
Every time I do a road trip in my Tesla I get questions from strangers about my car, and I'm always shocked how many of them know nothing at all about EV's. Some of the questions I get are hilarious.
A few months ago I was at the local grocery store and I was putting bags in the frunk when a stranger two cars over asked me if I needed help. I told him I was fine as I put another bag in the frunk. He looked puzzled and asked my why I was putting groceries under the hood? I told him that's where I always put my groceries, then I closed the frunk, got in the MY and drove away. A few minutes later I realized that the stranger probably thought I was having engine trouble, that's why he asked me if I "needed help"!!!!
There are still a lot of clueless people about...
) and that the batteries are dangerous and explosive.One of the issues I think is related to cost. The people I spoke to have never bought a car new, let alone a relatively expensive EV. Right now we have a lot of wealthy people cruising around in amazing EVs. I think minds will change quite rapidly once there is a cheaper tesla (bare-bones model 3, or a new model 2). People tend not to believe anything has changed until they see it. Once EVERYOEN knows someone with an EV, the FUD will likely collapse.
I take heart in the belief that right now the FUD is only working on people who are *not in the market for an EV anyway*.
With any luck, 2023 is the year of the big Texas/Berlin ramp, and the huge uptick in peoples exposure to the reality of what tesla make. We are very early in this process now.
