As an outsider, it really is difficult to understand why these practices are supported/allowed by the public. Is this information even available to people outside of the tech community? What in the hell is wrong with US politics* that allows for this to happen so blatantly, and so regularly, without any repercussions at all? * I'm aware that it's not (in general) a US-only problem, but for Tesla and the car dealershi…
To a first approximation, 0% of voters care if they can buy a Tesla. Some large portion of people also wouldn't see the problem with requiring a dealership (or would prefer it, because of whatever concerns about service (I'm not endorsing that argument, just pointing it out)).
I live in a very cold place with weather comparable to Norway. There are lots of problems when it comes to dealing with cars in the winter. I have no doubt that Tesla could be a decent choice for a car, but it makes perfect sense to be a bit wary about electric vehicles manufactured in California sunshine, especially if you don't have a garage to store the car in. In addition to battery life and cabin heating issues,…
> "it makes perfect sense to be a bit wary about electric vehicles manufactured in California sunshine" It makes no more sense than a Florida driver being wary of overheating a car made in Detroit. There may actually be some winter weather technical problems that Tesla has yet to resolve, I honestly don't know. But everything in your post is either speculation or a fallacy called argumentum ad populum [1]. If I were…
Even still, it's probably much less controversial to say that most drivers in cold-weather climates will have less certainty of how the car will perform and hold-up. Maybe it will be a better cold-weather car, maybe worse, maybe the same. I'm of the mindset that I were buying a car in a cold weather climate, I'd prefer to let everyone else learn those lessons first while I stick with something more predictable.
Using a procedure that prevented legislators and the public at large from knowing what was happening or allowing debate, Senator Joe Hune added new language in an attempt to lock Tesla out of the State. Unsurprisingly, Senator Hune counts the Michigan Automobile Dealers Association as one of his top financial contributors, and his wife’s firm lobbies for the dealers. In the Netherlands, we call this corruption. (It h…
That's not a scandal. A scandal is, that guy gets caught screwing his secretary, or propositioning other men in a bathroom.
My retired father-in-law who lives in a suburb of Detroit got a car that was not manufactured by the by the Big Three a couple years ago. He felt so much social pressure that he quickly returned it and got one that was. He told me that some "foreign" cars would be egged in his neighborhood. I put foreign in quotes, as big three cars are not always manufactured in the US and sometimes other cars are manufactured here.…
There is a big difference between the big 3 and dealers. In fact, wiping the requirements for this middlescum would help the big 3 as well.
But does the Average Michigan Joe understand that?
You missed the point. Norway's average temperature is way colder than Michigan's. http://www.weather-and-climate.com/uploads/average-temperatu... Oslo, Norway is one of the southern cities... Norway's geography extends all the way up to the arctic circle. Its latitude is more similar to Alaska . Tromsø, Norway is very far above the arctic circle, and my understanding is that the Tesla has been performing quite well e…
Detroit also got 95 inches of snow last year. The average temperature in Norway is NOT way colder than Michigan. In fact, they look quite similar. http://www.usclimatedata.com/climate/detroit/michigan/united... Detroit is also one of the Southern cities in Michigan. Average temperatures in tromso ( https://weatherspark.com/averages/28894/Troms-Norway ) are actually warmer than in Marquette. ( http://www.weather.com/w…
You misunderstand (as do others...).
Tromsø got 95 inches of snow from a single month in 1997. All 95 inches were during the month of December IIRC. On the average, Tromsø gets a ton more snow than that across its year.
Tromsø is one of the snowiest locations in the world.
You missed the point. Norway's average temperature is way colder than Michigan's. http://www.weather-and-climate.com/uploads/average-temperatu... Oslo, Norway is one of the southern cities... Norway's geography extends all the way up to the arctic circle. Its latitude is more similar to Alaska . Tromsø, Norway is very far above the arctic circle, and my understanding is that the Tesla has been performing quite well e…
No, I think I understood your point, and the point of the second article. (Thanks for that, by the way, I wasn't aware that Tesla had improved battery performance by keeping them warm. A neat idea.) I just didn't write my response very well, and for that I apologize. What I was referring to was mostly the amount of energy the climate control system uses. Heating the cabin is going to suck some juice. I've talked to C…
Fair enough. You do have a point there.
I'm just making sure that the "Tesla Warm Battery" thing gets some attention.
Tesla wants to have its cake and eat it too. You can't take a 500 million loan from taxpayers ( the vast majority of whom DON'T benefit from and can't afford your product ) and then on the other hand claim unfair treatment by local governments.
You can't paint all lobbying with the same brush. There are beneficial lobbying groups out there helping to bring a voice to issues in an arena where they would otherwise normally be drowned out. We just focus on the bad ones because they tend to have greater influence. Absolutist positions such as this are rarely true and sensible.
Lobbying in the form of "We think this is a good idea, and here's why you should vote for it" is fine, regardless of the issue. Lobbying in the form of "We think this is a good idea, and a million dollars says you should vote for it" is bad, regardless of the issue, even if the position they advocate is a good one.
I disagree. It's blatant corruption and it's not dramatic to call it out.
So do you expect, now that Tesla's made people aware of this, that the politician will be prosecuted for corruption? Or do you think what's happening here is legal but it just makes you feel uncomfortable? And if it's the latter how do you think you'd feel about Tesla if you were privy to all the discussions and offers and horse trading that would have occurred over the location of their battery plant?
I can't speak for him, but I'm sure he won't be prosecuted, I don't refer to prosecutions to decide what qualifies as "corruption", and I'm sure I'd be fairly aghast at the crap Tesla did for their battery plant.
Your last question puzzles me. Are you under the impression that one can't complain about this guy unless one thinks everything Tesla does is wonderful?
As an outsider, it really is difficult to understand why these practices are supported/allowed by the public. Is this information even available to people outside of the tech community? What in the hell is wrong with US politics* that allows for this to happen so blatantly, and so regularly, without any repercussions at all? * I'm aware that it's not (in general) a US-only problem, but for Tesla and the car dealershi…
It's because US politics (and no implication is intended about how similar or different it is in other countries) is basically a team sport. The real-world consequences of politics matters much less than "our side" winning. Sides are often defined by political parties, but can also be defined by geography or industry.
The elected officials here are members of the right party or cater to the right industry or are from the right region, so they'll continue to get elected. What they do in office matters comparatively little.