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.
Yeah, we got a PHEV in 2022 and we love it. I do wish it had a bit more EV range, I end up with range anxiety driving to my in-laws’ in the next city over, but otherwise it’s fantastic.
Why would you have any range anxiety? A plug in hybrid eliminates that.
It’s not real range anxiety. It’s “can we make it without using gas” range anxiety. When we first got the car, and hadn’t yet taken it on any long trips, we were anal about trying to maximize our “lifetime” gas mileage for the vehicle. We had it up over 200mpg at one point! But that meant trying to find chargers everywhere.
(After a few long trips tanked that value down to something more reasonable, we don’t care as much. I still try to charge whenever I can though.)
I get 34 electric miles on a full charge and mostly have short trips with no gas miles. But of course even on trips longer than 34 miles, I only use gas for miles above that amount. Last time I filled my fuel tank was after a long trip late March. I still have over 1/2 of a tank left.
Yeah, in the summer we get around 40 EV miles, if we avoid freeways. I do love the car.
I don’t know about your car, but one problem with my car (Kia Sportage) is that using the heater will always require gas.
Not an issue for us (Ford Escape), the heat and AC can both run off the battery, but the heat does cost a bit of range (along with chemical inefficiency at cold temperature), so range is significantly better in the summer than the winter.
I love that I can take unlimited short trips without being concerned about the battery. And if I want I can just chill in my car for 10 minutes with AC and music going, knowing I’m not burning gas, just electricity that I can easily recharge. And I love rarely having to fill up my fuel tank.