November 29, 2022

"Tesla drivers interviewed by the Guardian say they have experienced anti-Tesla sentiment, but mostly from those who hate electric vehicles rather than Musk specifically."

"'Random rude drivers will swerve in my lane to yell at me, or turn on a heavy diesel exhaust that blows black smoke,' Paul Albertson, who lives in Beaverton, Oregon, told the Guardian. It never happens when he drives his two other cars, a vintage 1948 Chevy and a 2014 Traverse. The culprits are most often men driving 'larger pick-up trucks', he said. John Shevelew doesn’t notice too much road rage at home in York, Pennsylvania.... Things change when he drives through the south. 'I go to Texas a lot to see my daughter in Austin, and in Arkansas, Mississippi, those places, I run into, let’s say, less-than-friendly looks,' he said. 'You get someone in a big diesel pickup truck who likes to express their dissatisfaction with the idea of an electric car.' Laura Kennedy, who also lives in Pennsylvania, agrees. 'It’s almost always a guy in a pickup truck [who does something],' she said. 'I don’t think I’ve ever been flipped off in my life as much as I have in the past year or so.'"

From "'Rude drivers will swerve in my lane': are Tesla owners paying the price for Musk hate? US owners say they’ve been on the receiving end of road rage, but it may be more about EVs than the CEO himself" (The Guardian).

That seems unduly prejudiced against trucks. I'd like some non-anecdotal evidence.

50 comments:

Old and slow said...

It took me a little while to figure out why I kept getting smoked out by diesel pickups "rolling coal". It's because I drive a Prius most of the time. I got it used and it turned out to be an awesome car! Never happens to me when I'm driving my Jaguar or my E350 piece of shit van. The Prius has a little known superpower. You can make any big pickup drive just as fast as you want. They simply CANNOT stand to passed by a Prius. I was once demonstrating this power to my kids and the guy in the pickup got up to about 80 miles an hour before we passed a cop. The cop pulled him over even though I was in front of him going the same speed. Also, I have never been ticketed in this car even after being pulled over without my proof of insurance.

Joe Smith said...

Sell them...

Narayanan said...

just add MAGA to TESLA logo and lions and tigers and wolves can lie down with lambs

RideSpaceMountain said...

If you ever wanted a better exemplar of mental infancy, just look at the contortions people online have been going through after Musk bought Twitter vis-a-vis their Veblen Tesla EVs (Veblen...as in 'Veblen Good').

These people do not have personalities and they have zero taste, they are the Non-Player Character NPC definition in a nutshell. Their entire lives revolve around their ingroup and outgroup affinities and their visibility and reinforcement within their clique.

99% of the people who bought a Tesla did not buy it for their fake love of sustainable energy and concern over climate change, and their womanly screeching now that they feel they've been defrauded into giving someone who is clearly outside their status group reveals this to be 100% true.

Michael K said...

I was driving a Prius rental car on a trip a few years ago. We pulled out on a frontage road ahead of a big semi and I thought he was going to run over us. The Prius had the crappiest acceleration I had ever experienced.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

Yeah, natives in the Austin area who have watched their home go to complete trash over the last couple of decades are going to not be so friendly to a guy in a Tesla with Pennsylvania plates. This should not be rocket science to you, my poor wounded friend.

However, half of Travis County now drives Teslas, many with California plates, who are hated even more by actual Texans, so it could be worse.

Big Mike said...

Do they experience anti-Tesla sentiment? Or are their Teslas a marker for limousine liberal Democrat? Particularly with what’s been happening to the price and availability of diesel fuel due to the Biden administration’s insane energy policies, I can see where limousine liberals might engender disdain in certain parts of the country.

Old and slow said...

Most of the people I know who drive Teslas drive them because they are cool and fast. It's a nifty toy if you live in the city. Wouldn't work for me and I'm way too cheap to even think about it.

PM said...

If this trends in California, Tesla drivers will be swerving into Tesla drivers.

chuck said...

I'd like some non-anecdotal evidence.

I'd like some evidence from planet Earth. The Guardian lives in some galaxy I've never heard of, they moved there after Bush was elected.

Interested Bystander said...

Guys in big diesel pickup trucks can be rude or drive like immature jerks. I feel like it's mainly young guys feeling thier oats, feeling big and powerful up above the rest of us. Maybe I'm projecting because I drive a low-slung sports car. It's like they either don't see me or don't think a little car matters much if they cut him off in traffic. I try to watch out for them in my little car and give them a wide berth.

Interested Bystander said...

Oh, I forgot to mention, I live in N. California where every third car is a Tesla. I honestly don't think anyone cares about them here one way or the other. It's just a car.

Robert Marshall said...

I keep it to myself (most of the time, anyway), but my first thought when seeing someone driving a Tesla is, 'Someone took MY money to help pay for YOUR car, a-hole!'

hombre said...

I've never seen or heard of this nonsense and I live in a conservative agricultural community. It seems like 2/3s of the vehicles here are pickups.

Maybe these crybabies are seeing a reaction to Pennsylvania plates. After all, Pennsylvania is becoming one of the electoral graveyards of the Republic.

Wa St Blogger said...

Electric car drivers hate truck drivers, truck drivers hate EV drivers. Some sort of tribalism.

Aggie said...

Poor babies. Not that I sympathize at all with the rednecks 'rollin' coal'. But it must be a bitch to be all virtuous and morally superior and made to feel inferior enough to complain, all at the same time.

Electric cars might make sense for some urban dwellers that never leave their locale. Probably just about everybody doesn't care what the other people drive, until the Sparkys start demanding to know 'why you need that big truck'

JRoberts said...

I was living in SoCal when Honda released their first hybrid Civic. It was supposedly a great car, but it didn't sell well because it didn't "look like a hybrid" like a Prius and the owners were not able to virtue signal as easily as Prius owners could.

But this is a different story and a different type of virtue signaling. My brother-in-law ordered two Teslas (one for his snowbelt estate and the other for when he visits his beachfront condo in Florida) before Musk purchased Twitter. He's a serious climate cultist, so he'll probably take delivery of both cars. Not sure where he stands on the Musk/Twitter issue.

JRoberts said...

I was living in SoCal when Honda released their first hybrid Civic. It was supposedly a great car, but it didn't sell well because it didn't "look like a hybrid" like a Prius and the owners were not able to virtue signal as easily as Prius owners could.

But this is a different story and a different type of virtue signaling. My brother-in-law ordered two Teslas (one for his snowbelt estate and the other for when he visits his beachfront condo in Florida) before Musk purchased Twitter. He's a serious climate cultist, so he'll probably take delivery of both cars. Not sure where he stands on the Musk/Twitter issue.

FullMoon said...

Experts say Give us a list of Tesla owners and in an hour we will find a hundred examples of the drivers getting thumbs up or (racist) OK signs from other drivers.

Genuine hate for cars with Trump stickers.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Your interest in Musk is inscrutable from my POV. Does the media suddenly seem obsessed with him like never before or is it the shift in tone that makes the coverage seem wider and deeper?

Enigma said...

Now do a story on the 19th anniversary of the environmental nutcases who burned down a Hummer dealership and destroyed 20 new cars back in 2003.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/arrest-in-suvs-firebombing/

Nutcases are gonna be nutcases. Green or anti-green...

tim maguire said...

Dirtbagging on the US is a cottage industry at The Grauniad.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Thank you Old and Slow. Interesting newsy bits there. I detected a similar BMW jealousy that made certain drivers crazy, although one friend categorized my experience under Blue Car Syndrome because the tendency of others to pull out in front of me did happen way more times to my Cirrus BMW (factory color) and my metallic blue Subaru than my other cars (red, yellow and champagne). He insisted this was mostly a blue car thing not a BMW thing, although he had no explanation for why it should be so.

Fun fact: I've never seen a blue Tesla. But Prius did offer one in a pale silvery ice blue that was pretty cool.

iowan2 said...

I call BS

I just have never talked to a person that is virulently anti EV. Most sane people are just curious about EV or have already decided, without examination, the idea is stupid. But I haven't heard about anyone threatening or harassing EV drivers.

EV just doesn't work here in the hinterlands I can take off for the day and end up driving 300 miles. I cant stop and take an hour or two,(if I can find a charger, I dont run the interstates)
to top off my batteries. Even as a commuter vehicle there are problems. Most houses do not have a panel big enough to put in a high speed charger, so even overnight you cant recharge fully.

I have not seen the math for California. They know exactly how many personal cars are in the state and how many gallons of gas are pumped daily to fuel them. The conversion of what that energy (gasoline, diesel) converts to in Joules of electricity.
The math is there.

I did the math. a 20 gallon fill up cost me $60 this weekend. That same 20gal of gas equals 720 KWH @$0.17 = $122.40

This is not acceptable

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Only two Tesla owners I know personally are right wing and libertarian respectively, and both bought long before Musk went purposefully anti-woke.

Howard said...

It's not prejudice against trucks, just bigoted against the short fat overcompensating limpdick betacuck Trumpsters at the wheel of a too clean too big pickup.

Sebastian said...

"unduly prejudiced against trucks"

Why? Not sure truck owners would view this as "prejudice" but rather acknowledging the reality of near-universal resentment against Tesla drivers--the subsidized rich who don't pay gas taxes to maintain the roads. What could be more inequitable? It justifies a little uncouthness by deplorables.

Rabel said...

"turn on a heavy diesel exhaust that blows black smoke"

I don't have a pick-up truck but if I get one it will definitely have the "black smoke blower" option. Those come standard on the F-250's and on anything Mr. Bond drives.

Complete horseshit article that hits all the stereotypes.

L Day said...

"Rolling Coal" is a disgusting infantile behavior, for sure. You can't make a modern emission controlled diesel truck in a factory state of tune even do it. At the very least you have to take your truck to a "tuner" and get different software installed. If you're really serious about making lots of smoke you get bigger fuel injectors and other modifications done as well. Don't ask me how I know, but I do live where big pickup trucks are known as a "Montana Cadillacs". Anyway, future plans for an all electric fleet pretty much eliminates big powerful pickup trucks. Why? Because an electric F350 dually towing a loaded stock trailer or a city block long camper on a cold winter day in Montana might have a range of 50 miles or so between hours long charges, if you're lucky. I suspect people who actually need big pickup trucks realize this and it really pisses them off. They're lashing out. I suspect we ain't seen nothin' yet.

Curious George said...

"Even as a commuter vehicle there are problems. Most houses do not have a panel big enough to put in a high speed charger, so even overnight you cant recharge fully."

I sell EV chargers, and this is bs. Not sure of "most", but even if you don't have extra capacity in your main panel at home, you can add to it. I put in an additional 200A service (not for EV) in my home for about a $1,000. You don't need a high speed charger...a level two charger running off a 40A 240VAC circuit will provide 25 miles of range per hour of charge. At an average of 10 hours of dwell time, that's 250 miles of range, more than enough to handle daily commutes, which average less than 30 miles.

Aggie said...

I said: " Probably just about everybody doesn't care what the other people drive, until the Sparkys start demanding to know 'why you need that big truck'"


Then a few minutes later Howard said: "It's not prejudice against trucks, just bigoted against the short fat overcompensating limpdick betacuck Trumpsters at the wheel of a too clean too big pickup."

...and there you have your underlying storyline, ladies & gents. I wonder if he drives an electric vehicle with a Beto sticker on it, but a reasonable person wouldn't assume anything.

Patrick Henry said...

Just a reminder that do not have enough raw materials for all the windmills, solar panels, and EV batteries that we're going to need to stop using fossil fuels.

(The link is to a long video - watch at 1.5 speed - about someone sympathetic to the climate change side who's crunched the numbers. It's worth the watch and then broadly sharing.)

Old and slow said...

Just to be clear about this: I don't get offended or give a shit about the "rolling coal" thing. I think it's funny. Then again, I'm not that bothered by what I or anyone else chooses to drive. It's just a car, you know?

Leland said...

Rude drivers swerve into my lane and I don't drive a Tesla.

Only two Tesla owners I know personally are right wing and libertarian respectively, and both bought long before Musk went purposefully anti-woke.

I know more than two, but all are right wing or libertarian in nature. Almost all of them also work in the oil and gas business, where they can earn the money to afford a Tesla. It is the folks in the GM, Nissan, and Toyota EVs that pepper their bumpers with woke slogans.

boatbuilder said...

Heard on a morning radio show about a decade ago:

Host to fake ISIS spokesman: “Why is it that you ISIS people always drive Toyota pickups?”

“Well, we had a deal to get BMW’s, but we didn’t want people to think we were assholes.”

Temujin said...

Yeah. Go for the truck drivers in the South. That'll convince their readers. Nothing says 'it's true' like serving up some preconceived notions.

There's this: Trucks and SUVs account for over 70% of sales of motor vehicles in the US over the last 3 years. I have a running hate for trucks, mainly because, driving a sports sedan, I feel like my life is spent staring at the backside of a Ford F-150 while sitting in traffic, unable to see what's ahead. So I may give a nasty look here and there to truck drivers. But I don't mean it personally. Just generally.

I suspect the truckers giving 'bad looks' to the Tesla drivers have a similar irritating feeling about Teslas. Who cares? In either case, it's all nonsense. That the Guardian would infer it's another show of force against Tesla and Musk is not remarkable. It's The Guardian. It's The New York Times. It's The Washington Post. There's a world full of crazy going on and they're all busy making shit up.

TheOne Who Is Not Obeyed said...

"I sell EV chargers, and this is bs.

"Not sure of "most", but even if you don't have extra capacity in your main panel at home, you can add to it. I put in an additional 200A service (not for EV) in my home for about a $1,000."
In other words, most existing homes don't have capacity but you can add it. Which doesn't refute the original statement. (BTW - one doesn't have to shell out an extra $1k when one buys a non-electric vehicle. Point against EVS.)

"You don't need a high speed charger...a level two charger running off a 40A 240VAC circuit will provide 25 miles of range per hour of charge. At an average of 10 hours of dwell time, that's 250 miles of range, more than enough to handle daily commutes, which average less than 30 miles."

So if you are a normal family with kids, you commute home from work, eat dinner, run the kids off to some activity, run a couple errands, come home, run back out to the gym, come home - you might get 8 hours of dwell time. So you get 80 miles of range. Half of commuters' average commute is > 30 miles, so you got some space but not much. If you need to do something other than just your commute, there's a good chance you need more than the 80 miles of range you got from sucking electrons while everyone slept. In which case you may very well not have enough charge (like when I have to run to another small city 150 miles to my east for work).

So, you see, EVs are not for normal people who need to do normal things outside of dense urban environments. Unless said people are rich and can afford one of their cars to be unable to perform at the same level of utility that regular ol' gas cars can. Until EVs can outperform gas IC engines, they will be a rich person's toy primarily used for virtue signaling. And keeping food on the table of erstwhile charger salesmen who can thank the government for their livelihood.

n.n said...

Hate an electric vehicle? A phobic reaction? It's like the people calling to ban guns based on their belief that guns commit homicides, where, in fact, most homicides are committed with a blade instrument (e.g. scalpel). Guns do not discharge of their own free will (i.e. absent Democrat "heros"), and bladedd instruments do not scalp viable lives until wielded by an extremist's hand. #HateLovesAbortion

Curious George said...

"In other words, most existing homes don't have capacity but you can add it. Which doesn't refute the original statement. (BTW - one doesn't have to shell out an extra $1k when one buys a non-electric vehicle. Point against EVS.)"

First, I'm not an EV fan but that doesn't mean they don't have their place. Nothing in that statement supports "most". Nothing. And the cost of a home charger is quickly covered by operating cost savings.

"So if you are a normal family with kids, you commute home from work, eat dinner, run the kids off to some activity, run a couple errands, come home, run back out to the gym, come home - you might get 8 hours of dwell time. So you get 80 miles of range."

LOL this is the worse case, but 8 hours of dwell time at 25 miles of range /hour of charge is not 80 miles, but 200 miles.

"So, you see, EVs are not for normal people who need to do normal things outside of dense urban environments. Unless said people are rich and can afford one of their cars to be unable to perform at the same level of utility that regular ol' gas cars can. Until EVs can outperform gas IC engines, they will be a rich person's toy primarily used for virtue signaling. And keeping food on the table of erstwhile charger salesmen who can thank the government for their livelihood."

No, I don't see, but EV's are best suited for denser urban metro areas. But guess what, that's where most people live! Normal people aren't like I O WAY pig farmers and corn growers...who also get subsidized by the Federal government. And EV's outperform ICE vehicles in actual performance and cost to operate and maintain, except range. But many people don't need that range.

Kevin said...

That seems unduly prejudiced against trucks.

They forgot to mention the Confederate Flag bumper stickers.

Butkus51 said...

"those who drive pick up trucks"

code words

Freeman Hunt said...

I live in the hated area, the dark part of coastal maps. I have yet to hear anyone make negative comments about Teslas.

iowan2 said...

"Not sure of "most", but even if you don't have extra capacity in your main panel at home, you can add to it. I put in an additional 200A service (not for EV) in my home for about a $1,000."

My house has never needed an additional 200A capacity. But you are focusing on the inconsequential process of charging the EV, Ignoring that every single house on the grid is charging an EV or 3. Even that pales to problem of exactly where all this energy is coming from, and the infrastructure needed to transport such a massive amount of energy to every single house every single night. Plus generation fuel, but not nuclear.

What I am trying to get across, 100% EV passenger vehicles are a fantasy. I'm closer to marrying Brady's cast off than EV being a reality,

Do all the math, and get back to me.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Can't speak to Teslas but I drove a 2 door Mercedes for a while and noticed a distinct shift in other driver's attitudes towards me (even as I went out of my way to be polite and considerate in order to counter any stereotypes!); people would refuse to let me over after I signaled, would jump their turn at stop signs, etc, and I never experienced more dings and dents in the parking lot than when I drove that one despite intentionally parking farther away.

Kay said...

Every day of my life, someone gives me shit for not driving and electric car. Every goddamn day of my life and I AM SICK OF IT.

Kay said...

Just kidding, but my SO is persistent.

Daniel12 said...

For empirical evidence, just read every thread for every post you've ever done related to EVs. There's a lot of hostility.

As for other side of the coin -- I know why people need trucks. I dont know why they need every full size pickup and SUV to have a five foot tall vertical front grill that cut into both visibility and pedestrians' chests (adult) or invisible heads (children). Manly men (and women), I suppose.

Daniel12 said...

It's off thread, but this -- "in fact, most homicides are committed with a blade instrument (e.g. scalpel)" -- is not a fact.

"Nearly eight-in-ten (79%) U.S. murders in 2020 – 19,384 out of 24,576 – involved a firearm. That marked the highest percentage since at least 1968, the earliest year for which the CDC has online records. A little over half (53%) of all suicides in 2020 – 24,292 out of 45,979 – involved a gun, a percentage that has generally remained stable in recent years."

Source is Pew

Marcus Bressler said...

So all those nasty bitches who claim that men who drive big trucks have small penises seem to be in the same lane as these drivers that dislike EVs -- there's only one way those thots would know if they were immature in that area of the body. Splooge stooges on the cock carousel. But these so-called nasty lookers at EVs people are SO bad. I give nasty looks to people who don't use turn signals, to drivers who drive slow in the passing lane and I would wish death on the rack to those who refuse to merge nicely with others and insist on taking that one lane up until they force someone to let them in. I see someone in an EV and I regard them as I would someone with a PETA bumper sticker. I think they are fools and I ignore them.
"If looks could kill" seems to be the theme here.

Marcus B. THEOLDMAN

mikee said...

If it helps soothe feelings any, truckers "burning coal" at other drivers is not limited to electric vehicle owners.