# Tesla Hostility **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 16, 2019, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-hostility/841829 "2019-10-16T01:42:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-hostility/841829/101 "2019-10-23T19:37:14Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I meant potlatch after all; basically the idea that you’re SO rich that you can afford to effectively burn money buying an electric car vs. the less expensive conventionally powered luxury car. Man, you don’t understand electric cars today. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-hostility/841829/102 "2019-10-23T20:03:36Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > [They still are banned from some parking lots.](https://www.google.com/maps/@42.278702,-83.4123339,3a,22.5y,289.8h,88.03t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sIzoZv8nTry9Huqz_tHZ0cg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en) Yeah, I guess the United Auto Workers would put some sort of prohibition on their parking lot. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-hostility/841829/103 "2019-10-23T21:47:45Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I meant potlatch after all; basically the idea that you’re SO rich that you can afford to effectively burn money buying an electric car vs. the less expensive conventionally powered luxury car. > [@Ravenman](#): > > Man, you don’t understand electric cars today. True and also doesn’t understand potlatch. Potlatch is not conspicuous consumption. It’s giving away excess stuff to other people. As far as EVs, when you figure the total cost of owning them, not just the sticker price, you’ll find that a more expensive EV can be about the same as a less expensive ICE car. It has to do with electricity being less expensive than gas per mile driven and generally less maintainance required for an EV. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-hostility/841829/104 "2019-10-24T14:19:42Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > True and also doesn’t understand potlatch. Potlatch is not conspicuous consumption. It’s giving away excess stuff to other people. > > As far as EVs, when you figure the total cost of owning them, not just the sticker price, you’ll find that a more expensive EV can be about the same as a less expensive ICE car. It has to do with electricity being less expensive than gas per mile driven and generally less maintainance required for an EV. I was meaning potlatch in the sense of destroying wealth to show off how wealthy you are. From [Dictionary.com](http://Dictionary.com): > [@](#): > > 1. (among American Indians of the northern Pacific coast, especially the Kwakiutl) a ceremonial festival at which gifts are bestowed on the guests and property is destroyed by its owner in a show of wealth that the guests later attempt to surpass. And it doesn’t matter really if electric cars really are cheaper in total cost of ownership; a Model S is $71k. Even if it’s cheaper than a gasoline car over its lifetime, few people can make the downpayment and monthly payments on a $71k car. And even the cheap Teslas are more expensive up front than the comparable Fords or Chevys. Why people might key a Tesla is all about perception, not reality. That’s what you’re missing here- it’s totally a case of sour grapes IMO, because someone has the cash to not only afford a nice car, but rather than buy the $55k Mercedes, they buy a $71k Tesla… presumably because they have money to burn. Some people get really torqued and bitter about that kind of thing. ---
**Author:** ![StraightTalk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/straighttalk/32/9982_2.png) [@StraightTalk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StraightTalk)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-hostility/841829/105 "2019-10-24T15:14:51Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Are you joking? He’s being sued for defamation right now and in his defense, he said “I’m a fucking idiot” for calling some random dude a pedophile. > > Of course he’s a jerk. A huge jerk. Not joking. I’m just not not up to date on everything Elon Musk. I wasn’t implying that he wasn’t a jerk. I just didn’t know why he was. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-hostility/841829/106 "2019-10-24T15:20:44Z")
> [@StraightTalk](#): > > Not joking. I’m just not not up to date on everything Elon Musk. > > I wasn’t implying that he wasn’t a jerk. I just didn’t know why he was. I should not have been presumptuous. Apologies. ---
**Author:** ![StraightTalk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/straighttalk/32/9982_2.png) [@StraightTalk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StraightTalk)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-hostility/841829/107 "2019-10-24T15:39:12Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > I should not have been presumptuous. Apologies. Accepted! \ ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2020, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-hostility/841829/108 "2020-02-08T00:30:04Z")
Updating this thread, look at this example of what Tesla did: \*\*Tesla Remotely Removes Autopilot Features From Customer’s Used Tesla Without Any Notice \*\* > [@](#): > > Let’s recap a little bit at this point: A Model S with Enhanced Autopilot (which includes the Summon feature) and FSD “capability” is sold at auction, a dealer buys it, after the sale to the dealer Tesla checks in on the car and decides that it shouldn’t have Autopilot or FSD “capability,” dealer sells car to customer based on the specifications they were aware the car had (and were shown on the window sticker, and confirmed via a screenshot from the car’s display showing the options), and later, when the customer upgrades the car’s software, Autopilot and FSD disappear. > **[Tesla Remotely Removes Autopilot Features From Customer's Used Tesla Without...](https://jalopnik.com/tesla-remotely-removes-autopilot-features-from-customer-1841472617?rev=1580941196331)** > > One of the less-considered side effects of car features moving from hardware to software is that important features and abilities of a car can now be removed without any actual contact with a given car. Where once de-contenting involved at least a... So none of you would feel hostile toward Tesla if this happened to you? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2020, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-hostility/841829/109 "2020-02-08T00:37:25Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > So none of you would feel hostile toward Tesla if this happened to you? What are you on about? The thread is about Tesla owners receiving hostility from non-Tesla owners. Plenty of Tesla owners have every right to be angry at the company for whatever reason, just as every car owner has the right to be angry at the respective automaker. There’s no automaker out there without some deeply unhappy customers. Tesla seems to be in the wrong here; not for disabling Autopilot but for mistakenly advertising to the intermediary that the car was supposed to have it. Had that not been the case, Tesla would have been in the right to disable AP, and the dealer would have been on the hook for compensating the final purchaser. It really does look like Tesla screwed up here, though I suppose it depends on the exact terms of the auction. ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2020, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-hostility/841829/110 "2020-02-08T21:03:30Z")
Just heard about this one a few days ago from a Tesla owner at work: He said he started seeing clear residue blotches on on it that, when he tried to scrape it off with his fingernail, felt like tree sap. but as there were no trees, he thought…spit? He reviewed the in-car camera records, and sure enough, another employee was seen spitting on his car over a several day period. He grabbed a police officer and they proceeded to find said spitter. They did, and he was confronted. The man’s answer as to why he spit on the car… “I don’t like Teslas”. No charges pressed. Guy never apologized but was given notice that next time will land him in dutch. We ( there were a few of us as he told us of the events ) asked who was the spitter? He just replied something like “I won’t say who, but…Angry old white guy” ---
**Author:** ![Kovitlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@Kovitlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kovitlac)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2020, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-hostility/841829/111 "2020-02-10T16:14:55Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > I have no idea what planet the people in this topic are living on but ANYTIME I see anti-Tesla stuff anywhere on the news or on the internet it’s always from left-wing people who just hate Elon Musk and his massive wealth and see him as a modern day robber baron. It’s like saying the only people who hate on Uber are Republicans angry it’s reducing pollution by taking cars off the road. But, but if I can’t blame Republicans for everything under the sun, who CAN I blame??… ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2020, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-hostility/841829/112 "2020-02-10T17:35:27Z")
There was a time when the cell phone was the hallmark of the “rich” yuppie. There was a similar hatedom for the phones and their users. That time is long gone. It will happen for Teslas (and other EVs) as well in a few years. (Priuses went through a similar evolution - remember the “Toyonda Pious” from _South Park_, emitting great clouds of Smug?) ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-hostility/841829/113 "2020-02-11T00:07:56Z")
As a diesel driver (VW Golf TDI) I think “rolling coal” is stupid, diesel is too expensive to waste on Teslas, I like Teslas, priuses? Yes I find them bloody annoying, but it’s easier just to laugh at the bloody pathetic things ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-hostility/841829/114 "2020-02-11T06:10:00Z")
> [@BrickBat](#): > > Just heard about this one a few days ago from a Tesla owner at work: That story makes me happy and sad. It really is amazing how the mere _existence_ of something can drive people to such anger. > [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > It will happen for Teslas (and other EVs) as well in a few years. Maybe in the more backwards parts of America. Elsewhere, we already passed through that phase years ago. Teslas are just normal cars now, suitable for just about anyone. They’re still a little expensive, but not outrageously so in moderately high cost-of-living areas. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-hostility/841829/115 "2020-02-11T08:18:22Z")
Tesla-hate thoughts: I’ve never seen a Tesla in this conservative county though I’m sure the two superchargers near the county seat (pop. 4500) serve visitors to the casino, wineries, and uphill resorts. None will “hate” them, because they leave money here. The most commonly-seen EVs are NEVs (fancy golf carts). Their usually gimpy owners are not despised so long as they courteously stay in their lanes. Apple hate is something else - a tradition for us since the Apple II. Tesla echoes history. Until Ford’s Model T, personal motor vehicles were rightly seen as elitist toys. Woodrow Wilson warned in 1906 that cars would provoke unrest: “Nothing has spread socialistic feeling in this country more than the use of automobiles. To the countryman they are a picture of arrogance of wealth, with all its independence and carelessness.” But I don’t see Tesla inciting socialist revolution. Should Big Oil fear Teslas and other EVs? Yes, much petrol goes to fuel personal vehicles. Yes, zero or minimal emission vehicles will be mandatory in the industrialized world soon. No, Big Oil won’t stop that. To keep fuel station pumps ringing-up sales, it’s in Big Oil’s interest to push development of cheap, quiet, minimal-emission steam cars burning any petrol product, even charcoal lighter fluid if WalMart is open and Shell isn’t. When will Tesla offer as much driver legroom (I’m 6’5") as our Kia Sorrento or Mercedes Sprinter? Wee little cars are OK for wee little folk. Prius? Ha. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-hostility/841829/116 "2020-02-11T10:43:28Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > When will Tesla offer as much driver legroom (I’m 6’5") as our Kia Sorrento or Mercedes Sprinter? Wee little cars are OK for wee little folk. You seem to be under the impression that Teslas are small cars. They aren’t. The Model 3 is only a few inches shorter than your Sorento (185" vs. 189"). It has a trunk, but no third row, so it’s likely that it has more legroom than the Sorento. Certainly my 6’4" friend does not complain. Even in the back seat he’s reasonably comfortable. If you want something larger, the Model X is 198". Sorry, nothing Sprinter-sized yet. ---
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-hostility/841829/117 "2020-02-11T14:41:29Z")
If a person wants to own a Tesla or any other odd ball car, that’s up to them, IMHO. I don’t know why anyone should be “upset” about it, it’s not hurting anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![gregorio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@gregorio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gregorio)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-hostility/841829/118 "2020-02-11T15:50:38Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > Tesla-hate thoughts: > > To keep fuel station pumps ringing-up sales, it’s in Big Oil’s interest to push development of cheap, quiet, minimal-emission steam cars burning any petrol product, even charcoal lighter fluid if WalMart is open and Shell isn’t… Or, roll out charging stations to the vast real estate holdings they already own. Seems almost forward thinking. > **[Canada's Electric Highway – EV Fast Charge car charging stations](https://www.petro-canada.ca/en/personal/fuel/canadas-electric-highway)** > > We’re building a network of EV fast charge car charging stations across Canada. Learn more about how we are there to charge your journey. ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-hostility/841829/119 "2020-02-11T21:19:10Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > That story makes me happy and sad. It really is amazing how the mere _existence_ of something can drive people to such anger. I think it’s the culmination of being so hyper-partisan that one’s own identity is shaped by what they hate. I remember a phone conversation I had with my father not too long ago. He’s a hard-right, tea party conservative living in a crimson red area. I told him my 17 year old gasoline lawn mower has reached the end of it’s usefulness, despite all the repairs I’ve done to it, and that I pulled the trigger and bought an electric mower. He groaned and scoffed in disappointment, and I knew where he was going with this. To lighten the mood ( and bust his balls a little ) I said “Easy there…it’s not as if I’ve traded my Camaro in for a Prius!” It was almost as if he needed me to reassure him I wasn’t going to dress in tie-dye and sandals, and eat granola as well. I was just using hyperbole, but I don’t think he knew that. Having a partisan filter from which to view everything seems _exhausting_, but some seem to thrive on it. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2020, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-hostility/841829/120 "2020-02-11T21:27:46Z")
They just want to be happy like everyone else. Failing that, they’re willing to settle for making as many other people as possible be just as miserable as they are, if only for a moment. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-hostility/841829.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tesla-hostility/841829.md?page=7)