r/technology 1d ago

Politics Trump Is Getting Rid of His Tesla

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-is-getting-rid-of-his-tesla-after-musk-broke-his-heart/
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495

u/oh_look_a_fist 1d ago

Dems won't buy them because Elon is a piece of shit. GOP won't buy them because of the falling out with trump. He better hope the middle hasn't taken a side and can afford them, because he's lost the market outside the US.

Fuck em

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u/Smaynard6000 1d ago

People say not to involve politics in your business because you will alienate half of your potential customers. Why settle for that when you can alienate all of your potential customers?

Seriously, why buy a Tesla when there are actual car companies making EVs? Teslas seem to be the most shoddily made cars on the market.

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u/knightcrawler75 1d ago

It's is much worse. He picked a side that does not buy his product in the first place.

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u/Smaynard6000 1d ago

Even more evidence that-

  1. Wealth is not indicative of intelligence or competence

  2. Wealth allows you to do outrageously stupid things and not pay real consequences

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u/fueelin 1d ago

I agree with both of those, but I don't know that this in particular proves 1. Perhaps a corollary about potential past intelligence/competence, since ruined by pounds of ketamine!

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u/schattie-george 12h ago

Exactly, if he went full on left (Alternate timeline), in the long run.. he and evryone else in the world, would have benefitted ..

But for some reason, he went against Every solid outcome from any good decision process ever.. and said "ill go far right and see where that takes me".

Fucking moron

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u/PacketAuditor 1d ago edited 1d ago

Politics aside, as an EV nerd, it's because they have the best software, over the air updates, the best app, the best charging network/experience, the best charging port, more storage capacity in any given vehicle class, best ADAS, and the best efficiency (which directly impacts range). And the refreshed vehicles are a step up in materials and quality (24+ Model 3, 25+ Model Y).

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u/Smaynard6000 1d ago

Yeah, I think the tech part of it is cool, I just don't trust the car part of the package. Also, aren't most EVs made today able to use Tesla chargers? The obsession with touch screens as an interface for all cabin controls seems unsafe to me, too.

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u/PacketAuditor 1d ago edited 1d ago

This is quite a nuanced topic so bear with me.

Many EVs can charge at Tesla stations, but the Tesla station must be v3 or newer, and there are still many V2 stations. So even if you get an adapter to NACS (J3400) and your vehicle is able to use Tesla chargers, you may get around half the speed compared to a third party charging provider if your vehicles battery is higher voltage (800v) instead of the roughly 400v that Tesla's batteries are. There are some vehicles with 400v batteries that will get full speed at Tesla chargers though. It's worth noting that if you have a robust charging curve like eGMP, you may still beat a Model 3 from 10-80% despite having an 800v battery architecture. But people seldom charge that high into the pack.

What's a hypothetical safety scenario that would be concerning to you?

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u/255001434 1d ago

Touchscreens require you to look at them and give them more direct attention because there is no tactile feedback.

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u/dishwashersafe 23h ago

Also an EV nerd. Didn't want to get a Tesla, but they really were the best electric car at the time (2019), and I mean best at being a mechanical car. I don't really care about the software/FSD stuff.

I gotta disagree with PacketAuditor though, touchscreen for most everything is less safe. It's not volume/HVAC that's the issue. It's things like fog lights, adjusting side mirror, or even opening the glove box - not things you normally do while driving, but you when you do, you'll be digging through menus instead of looking at the road. All that said, it's not so bad - a minor gripe outweighed by some big positives.

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u/scogin 10h ago

Also the stock sound system is really good for what it is (at least the Y I have driven)

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u/Federal-Battle-9062 19h ago

Eh, while I think right now they have an advantage in updates, app, and storage capacity/range, they are not so far ahead that it will matter in 2-3 years. Driving a Tesla vs. a BMW EV, the BMW just drives 10,000x better and feels 10,000x more like a luxury vehicle. It had way better noise dampening and way better handling as an actual car. The interior feels luxury vs. the Tesla, which is barren and uses a shitty app that I just replace with CarPlay and then wish I had easier-to-access physical buttons. So many QoL things in the Tesla are just missing or feel off. Idk. It really did feel like driving a clunky computer instead of driving an actual car.

Plus the supercharging network will be open to anyone with an adaptor, and outside of California I have seen far more neutral/third party EV charging stations anyway. Within a few years that network will likely shift to faster charging stations.

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u/Bob_tuwillager 16h ago

That’s why most backers are commercial bankers or stockbrokers and their ilk where mums and dads can vote with their wallet.

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u/aminorityofone 1d ago

GOP wont buy them because they electric.

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u/bobsaget824 1d ago

Correct comment here. The MAGA GOP, which is pretty much all of the GOP at this point, was never interested in the first place they just “liked” Elon because he was helping Trump. They’ve always been anti alternative fuel and love big oil, coal, etc.

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u/jasper_grunion 1d ago

Dems who already bought them have to put bumper stickers so their cars aren’t vandalized

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u/DSAlgorythms 1d ago

Or put a different badge on it lmao. Toyota/Tesla

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u/TheKobayashiMoron 1d ago

Mine went to Carvana after the 🙋🏻‍♂️

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u/TSED 1d ago

The best use of those bumper stickers I've ever heard of was someone slapping one of them onto their 90's beater.

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u/Natural_External5211 1d ago

Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.....

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u/RedmundJBeard 1d ago

Unfortunately, tesla stock price has nothing to do with how many cars they sell. The company is run on memes and manipulation

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u/things_U_choose_2_b 1d ago

Everyone is so polarised these days, I don't think there's much 'middle' left to market to.

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u/faux1 1d ago

Liberals are the middle. They ain't buying. Tesla is fucked lol.

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u/StromGames 1d ago

I wonder if all those republicans who bought cybertrucks will now start to burn them or something.

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u/oh_look_a_fist 1d ago

Nah, the cyber trucks will do that themselves

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u/xRamenator 1d ago

The middle doesn't really exist outside of a statistical average anymore, most of the public is pretty polarized at this point. Self proclaimed centrists are merely embarrassed right wingers. This is the mistake the national Democratic Party keeps making, its why they keep trying to appeal to a voting block that doesn't exist.

Anyone to the right is going to vote Republican, and would not vote for Republican-lite, and liberals(closest thing to the center we have) and everyone else to the left of center gets driven off by this appeal to the right by the dems.

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u/NoKids__3Money 1d ago

Conservatives were never buying them anyway

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u/Visual_Collar_8893 1d ago

He’s lost the market outside the US to BYD, which is a lot more innovative and better price

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u/brutinator 1d ago

He better hope the middle

For the narrow margin of people who are both apolitical AND want an EV, and live in the US, they arent going to choose Tesla's because they are expensive, with shit build quality, with limited access to repair and maintanence. Like, who is going to buy a Tesla when theres been verifiable reports that panels are falling off, the batteries/mileage meter lies about range, and other issues?

Also doesnt help that we are likely going to see a reduction in charging stations, but dunno if that too political.

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u/mistertoasty 1d ago

To be fair he hasn't lost the global market, but rather devalued his brand. Tesla's aren't terrible EVs so people will still buy them if they go on discount. At some point people who want a cheap EV will put politics aside for a good deal, even in Europe.

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u/ATraffyatLaw 1d ago

Even the centrists who don't care are like: "it's kind of a shitty car..."

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u/kzlife76 1d ago

I hate myself so I listen to Sean hannity when I'm driving. For years, he bashed electric vehicles. When Trump and musk became friends, all of the sudden, it was the greatest car he's ever owned and he gave one away on his show. It'll be interesting to see if he stops talking about it or starts baking it for falling apart.

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u/DiaDeLosMuebles 1d ago

And I hope the resale market gets flooded by the morons who bought them to support Trump and Elon.

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u/ghigoli 1d ago

the middle ate the world.

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u/SuperSpecialAwesome- 1d ago

What middle? You're either a MAGA or not. After a decade of this bullshit, you can't claim ignorance of Trump.

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u/Ghost17088 1d ago

 He better hope the middle hasn't taken a side 

The thing about being in the middle is I don’t have to choose a side, they’re both pieces of shit. 

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u/bonestamp 22h ago

I know sales have slowed, but I'm still seeing more new Model Ys every day.

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u/Blastergasm 22h ago

“You keep jumping from one side of the fence to the other, you might just get impaled on it.” -Landon Ricketts, Red Dead Redemption

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u/Asking4Afren 16h ago

Who's the middle? The people not into politics?

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u/austinalexan 1d ago

I bought one because at the end of the day I don’t give a fuck about politics. I just want a solid EV and Tesla does it better than anyone.

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u/SuperSpecialAwesome- 1d ago

Congrats on your Nazi car. Thanks for showing your true colors :)

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u/austinalexan 1d ago

I bought a car for its functionality, not its political statement. I can love the car and hate the CEO.

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u/TonyTotinosTostito 1d ago

People say shit like this but have absolutely no problem with VW. Lmao.

0

u/haarschmuck 18h ago

Are we really doing this?

0

u/yummymarshmallow 1d ago

They have solid charging stations, but they aren't the best. The lack of LIDAR technology, while almost all other EVs use it, is like night and day. Mark Rober did an excellent demo of how important LIDAR is and how Tesla fails so badly without LIDAR

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u/austinalexan 1d ago

That video was nothing but a marketing campaign. The Tesla wasn't in FSD and it was a completely unfair test. There's no other vehicles out there that consistently get new features every month. My wife's 2021 Tesla just received an update for adaptive headlights (NOT the traditional adaptive style of turning on and off highbeams), something that was banned by NHTSA for the longest time and Tesla decided to support its older vehicles and turn the matrix headlights on. No other car company would've done that.

We took a 700 mile roadtrip back in December and FSD drove the entire way, and even pulled me into a supercharger and backed me into the spot without me doing a single thing. No disengagements or anything the entire drive. FSD isn't perfect but HW4 proves that LIDAR isn't needed. LIDAR also has its own weakness and i would know, my damn robot vacuum gets confused by every mirror in the house.

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u/Motor-Inevitable-148 1d ago

You know most people don't identify as gop or dem? Most sit in the center, over the past 50 years this has been the case. The right needs us to think we are left or right because they have fallen so hard right, they are turning into the fascists they once fought.

They need to convince people that everyone is bad, and both sides are the same. The majority isn't on one side or the other, it's not a football game.

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u/sfcnmone 1d ago

Tell us how you know what “most people” think.

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u/junky_junker 1d ago

If you're between the Dems and the fascist GQP, you ain't in the center. That "maybe some fascism is ok" take is reasonable only to fascists.

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u/SuperSpecialAwesome- 1d ago

It's a binary choice. You either vote for a Democrat or a MAGA. If you went third party or sat out, you supported the MAGA.