Disgust at the CEO’s rightwing activism is casting a pall but conservatives are no more likely to buy EVs
US liberals have become so disgusted with Tesla since Elon Musk’s rightward turn that they are now not only far less likely to purchase the car brand but also less willing to buy any type of electric car, new research has found.
The popularity of Tesla among liberal-minded Americans has plummeted since Musk, Tesla’s chief executive and the world’s richest person, allied himself with Donald Trump and helped propel the president to election victory last year.
While liberals reported mostly positive intentions around buying an electric car in August 2023, their overall support for EVs eroded in the wake of a collapse in their opinion of Teslas, according to the new study, which polled Americans on an array of environmental actions.
Or they finally realized electric cars only fix one minor problem cars create and reinforce?
Whenever I get on the road I’m reminded that car emissions are not just one minor problem. Should there be more mass transit and remote work ? Yes. Is that ever going to happen in my area? Almost certainly not.
I feel like this is closer to the real answer. A lot of the criticism of Tesla applies to other EVs as well. Elon tanking his credibility opened up a dialogue about how EVs in general are super inconvenient, destroy roads, and aren’t nearly as “green” as they seem. This coupled with the US automakers focusing on behemoths instead cheap commuters only amplified this.
If EVs were predominantly the size of a Fiat 500e or Toyota Prius or Model 3, it’d be great. But in the US, “consumer sentiment” strongly prefers fuck-off huge SUVs (which I absolutely goddamn hate).
I say that as a unitedstatesian: The problem lies with US consumers and their stupid fucking preferences in this domain. You do not need a full-size pickup truck as your daily. Nor do you need a Suburban, or ford explorer, or Rivian, or whatever else enormous electrified (or not) SUV. But people here have come to love their gigantic cars.
OK guy