Saturday, May 21, 2022

Elon Musk Is A Troll

QED. But it's also apparent why he wants to use Tesla to lawyer up: Musk can align with the authoritarian right all he wants. What's his endorsement worth, is my question. How many Teslabrahs vote, period? Just an excuse to remind you that Teslas suck. I consider it a civic duty. Suckers!

My car has a remote, not a key.  It opens the doors, for one thing.  This is not a safety feature story, but I just found out (because I had to replace the battery in the remote) that it has a physical key in it, and there is a place for the key under the door handle (outside) on the driver's door.  (It's to be used if you've let the battery on the remote run down and you need to get in the car.) I'd been opening that door for 2 years and never noticed the lock there.  So driving a car with a power door release and not knowing there's a manual one?  Yeah, makes sense to me.

I will add that Tesla had to notify Texas Tesla owners not to recharge their cars during certain hours this past weekend due to 6 downed power plants.  Tesla is now headquartered in Austin, so this is a real good look.  Nobody seriously expects the power generation problems to get better in the summer.  There's no good way around this, despite this advice:

According to research conducted by AAA, EVs can experience up to a 17 percent drop in range with the air conditioning on in 95-degree weather. Tesla has previously disputed this figure, according to The Verge, as have owners. However, there is one clear way to ensure that a vehicle is spending less time plugged in: don't take frequent, short trips that allow the cabin to become hot between drives. Maintaining a set temperature consumes less energy than cooling a sun-heated cabin, so reducing the number of short trips may prevent the need to plug in as frequently during a time when the power infrastructure is in high demand.

I used to tell people in Chicago about draping a towel over the steering wheel in Texas summers, while the car was parked.  Put towels on the seats, too.  Had too, if the car sat parked too long.  Needed 'em anyway, even with the A/C going.  (People in Chicago were convinced I grew up in the suburbs of hell.) Never doubt the heat of a Texas summer.  "Hot between drives"?  Hell, hot period, unless it's parked in a garage of some kind.
I thought that almost went without saying, but let's say it anyway. He'll find somebody; Trump did. He's just likely to find people of the same competence as Trump found.

Meanwhile, Tesla stock is down 6.42% as of Friday.  And as long as we're on the Elon Watch:
at

1 comment:

  1. The Thought Criminal9:06 AM

    That's the first thing I've read from Ralph worth reading since the 1980s.
    LEVEL BILLIONAIRES OUT OF EXISTENCE.

    ReplyDelete