Even if we pretended Seth Rogen's wealth and influence are in the same league as Bezos and Zuckerberg, why would you ignore the discourse between the people who pull the strings?
It's really not. You don't have to like everything someone does to support them or accept their support. Purity tests are toxic, and it is a large problem on the left side of the aisle.
it's amazing/funny (not surprising) because it demonstrates that they are more interested in culture wars than science or technology, which i think is embarrassing for them
Isn't it the opposite? If they had flipped their views of electric cars based on the politics of who made them that would demonstrate they were more interested in culture wars than science or technology, but they didn't: their views on the merits of EVs remained the same.
The article on the other hand is about that exact inversion happening in (parts of) Hollywood, showing that they care more about Elon's tweets than the environment. This indicates they care more about culture wars than science and technology.
no, it's not the opposite. they should have flipped their views to be in line with reality. they are celebrating the culture war while ignoring science.
the people in the article likely care more about elon's tweets and the environment than they do about buying tesla cars. i suspect they will prefer other electric vehicles.
People ditching Teslas because they don't like Elon is political though. If you want to nut-pick between the two sides, we are going to be here a long time.
Marijuana and alcohol differ significantly when taken in large quantities. Alcohol will make a person pass out without exception. Marijuana does not specifically make a person pass out at high doses. You would need to take a low dose of marijuana to use it as a sleep aid.
I don't think that's what is holding ev back. They need to put more into battery research. They are too heavy, charge too slow, and lose capacity in cold temps. In addition, I can't find a charger within 15 or 20 min of my house, but there's probably 20 gas stations in that radius. I'll buy electric once it's not a pain in the ass.
I think most of what's holding EV back is people having bad or outdated information. You don't need to drive to a charger, you use the same one you use to charge your phone: your house. Plug it in to your normal wall outlet when you get home and you'll have 100% charge every day. You only need a fancy charger for road trips. That's why there aren't a bunch near your house: you mostly don't need one at all.
A lot of people in urban areas don't own their own home. My brother lives in Brighton, MA. He would need to drive 15 minutes to charge at quickly a poorly rated EVGo station at a nearby mall or another 10 minutes to charge at a Level 2 which would take hours. This is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston and the options are still terrible.
so that's what I was responding to. For people who have consistent access to an outlet in their dwelling, and don't drive their car for hundreds of miles every day (very few people do this), EV charging is a solved problem with zero changes to their home. Just plug it in.
I agree multi-family dwellings are an unsolved problem. I'm not sure what the current situation there is, I do see some newer local apartment buildings in my area with EV chargers in the lots, but I'm not sure if the etiquette around that has been well-established yet. That may well be a situation where hybrids are still the best option.
I expect this will be a solved problem within a decade, so for people who actively want an EV and are willing to put up with a little hassle, the situation will only improve. But I wouldn't blame someone for choosing otherwise in that situation right now today.
Batteries are important, yes, but the average American drives less than 30 miles per day. You can charge that at home without a special charger. At the very least, that’s a second car alternative with much lower maintenance and no need to drive to a gas station.
Batteries can be improved but are workable. The real hold back is the charging situation. It's why ICE cars are even possible - the petroleum infrastructure needed to fuel millions of cars every day.
Most EVs are charged at home (great!) but any extended trip does require charger access and the situation in the US is quite patchwork except for Superchargers. Also chargers are needed for taxi/rental services and for apartment/condo dwellers who likely won't be able to plug in at home.
China and Europe (to a lesser extent) have made much bigger inroads than the US. I wonder why.
I feel like electric vehicles are great for homeowners to drive around town, but there are some hurdles to conveniently use them for cross-country trips.
Anyone that says they won't buy a Tesla due to Elon's antics but will buy a Chinese EV is a hypocrite. China is a fascist state and no company does anything without party involvement.
I don't say I agree, but there are degrees of personification. A faceless Chinese car company is harder to personally hate than an edgelord parroting points about the great replacement theory on his own social network.
It's not just the opinions he holds, it's the activist effort to implement those opinions in society. His access to capital assists those efforts, so buying a Tesla is seen as directly complicit. People then choose a substitute EV which may or may not be a Chinese brand.
But it's not some attempt to punish him. It's because I don't trust him to be a stable long term owner of the company that is building and servicing my car.
I agree that sounds hypocritical but I don't see a lot of people saying that. I don't even know if I can buy cheap Chinese EVs in the US, or when I'll be able to. It's not really an option that's on the table as far as I can tell.
I think the bottom line for many people is EVs are still not as cheap as ICE options and definitely not as convenient, yet. When that situation changes I don't know why most consumers would stick to ICE.
You can go to Alibaba and buy a $5,000 EV and then spend a similar amount to import it. It's a lot of hassle, but makes for an entertaining Youtube video.
For the mainstream, likely about 18-24 months after BYD breaks ground on their Mexican factory, which could happen any day now.
And it depends on your definition of "cheap". BYD is obviously going to start with American sized vehicles. The Internet might want the subcompact $10,000 Seagull, but we're much more likely to get something like the $35,000 Atto 3 as the cheapest model to start.
> I don't even know if I can buy cheap Chinese EVs in the US
The only one you can is the EX30, but even that's more pricy than a Tesla Model 3.
The truly cheap EVs you see in Asia (eg. The lower end BYD, Zeekr, MGs) are aimed at developing markets, not developed.
And yes, plenty of Eastern European members of the EU (the ones where the cheaper end EV makers are targeting) are still developing/emerging markets - Romania, Hungary, Poland, and Bulgaria still are developing (though might not be in 10-15 years).
Higher end Chinese EVs like Polestar and Volvo (Volvo has been Geely for almost 2 decades now) are aimed at developed countries, in order to manage the brand perception.
Chinese EV brands and models are available all over Europe and the rest of the free world. US is an exception.
Many western brands are manufacturing in China and exporting globally (Tesla, Geely/Volvo/Polestar, BMW Mini, Mercedes smart, Renault etc. Hell even the Dacia EV is actually a Chinese car). Some of those are entering the US (Volvo, Polestar, Mini)
Not all of them. Most Chinese EVs in Europe are SAIC (MG Group) or Geely (Volvo, Polestar).
BYD hasn't entered the market yet, let alone the upcoming brands like Xiaomi, but is largely targeting Eastern Europe as their initial phase.
Also, Smart was only recently resurrected as a German-Chinese JV.
> even the Dacia EV is actually a Chinese car
It uses the CMF-A, which is a French-Japanese joint platform.
German automotive players tend to have JVs with China and targeted the Chinese and (before the war) Russian market. French automotive players tend to have JVs with Japanese players and targeted Europe, South America, Korea, and India.
> US is an exception
They are available in the US as well under the "Volvo" and "Polestar" logo, as both are subsidiaries of Geely.
> Many western brands are manufacturing in China and exporting globally
Absolutely! But for now they don't have significant marketshare YET. It's still Tesla, BMW Group, VW Group, and Daimler-Benz Group (which is going to start using a Chinese platform as they fell significantly behind).
In the US EV platforms need to be domestic in order to be cost competitive, but in the German automotive industry, they're going to start importing Chinese EV platforms (as German automotive brands were almost entirely dependent on China - the VW Jetta was China's Honda Civic).
In the next year, that kind of importation will most likely be banned and retroactive tariffs will be in place by June-July [0]
Plenty of Chinese brands are sold in Europe. Nio, BYD, Xpeng, Zeekr, GWM (Ora) etc etc they're all there. Xiaomi isn't outside of China yet as they have launched literally a week ago only.
Oh, you can find many people saying the first part on this comments page. Up to now, nobody is saying the second part, but I guess a lot of people will practice it mostly because of the price.
But then, I don't expect the people thinking about (and rejecting) buying a Tesla to be the same ones that buy a Chinese car because of the price.
The ethical concerns go both ways. Elon has disregarded safety and ethics by selling what amount to prototypes on the street.
I’d rather drive a reliable EV from China (a country that manufactures every “American” tech staple such as iPhones) than drive a Cybertruck for example.
If your stand-ups are a waste of time, consider making it less status-y and more collaborative. We lengthed ours a bit and encouraged more dialog rather than just focusing on the traditional 3 questions (what did you work on since last standup, what are you doing before next standup, and where are you blocked) and it's been much more productive.
You have an extremely inaccurate and flawed understanding of conservativism. It's like you have concocted a view based on stereotypes and MSNBC editorials. Or are you deliberately misrepresenting?
