Because of the recent revelation of Elon Musk’s political views — all of which I abhor — I’m starting to worry about what sort of political statement the car is making. Will people see me as a symbol of right-wing environmentalism, a living oxymoron?
….
It’s a beautifully designed car with no carbon emission, and initially, I was proud of owning it and being seen driving a vehicle that displayed my concern for the environment. But I’m a liberal, and if Musk’s politics don’t change radically for the better, driving a Tesla will become, at least for me, as hypocritical and untenable as driving a gas guzzler was.
Source: Op-Ed: Elon Musk is making me want to sell my Tesla – Los Angeles Times
First world problems, eh? EVs are themselves, at this point, virtue signaling.
(Including total life cycle energy and emissions, at 200,000 miles of driving, one estimate says an EV will have just -28% total lifetime emissions less than a compare ICE vehicle, on average-the actual decrease can vary widely depending the type of EV, type of local energy production, whether your charge during the day when solar PV/wind generation peaks (if available), and other factors. In some scenarios, the break-even point may be reached in a few tens of thousands of miles – the main point is that an EV is not a 100% reduction in emissions – not even close at this point in time.)
But owning the wrong name on an EV is now virtue signaling or not virtue signaling. This writer doesn’t like Elon Musk, so thinks he’d be better going back to driving an ICE vehicle – because disagreeing with someone’s opinions (Musk’s) is worse than saving the earth.
In other words, his primary purpose in buying a Tesla was virtue signaling. Now that he doesn’t like Musk, he feels he must signal that publicly – even if it means going back to his gas vehicle. His interest in an EV was about signaling, not saving the earth.
Sorry, my brain injured idiot head is spinning.
Rough life for these poor people who can afford buying – and then possibly selling at a lower price – high end Teslas for the purpose of virtue signaling. Kinda sorry I wasted 3 minutes reading that LA Times column!
Update:
Yep. It was always about virtue signaling versus doing something useful:
While the left thought Musk was left-ish, they embraced Teslas. Now they think Musk is non-left-ish so they will dump Musk, under the proclamation that “politics is bad for a brand”. But that is only if the politics is “not approved by us” politics, though 🙂 Probably best for most businesses if most companies did not engage in politics.
