EV demand has absolutely nothing to do with social media demand.
If I was forced to buy another gas only car it would cost me a lot of cash...my gas was around $7 for a while, still $5.50, and my electric equivalent is $1.30 (domestic sources and actually 75% renewable if you care about those things but fuel cost and air pollution are just as important drivers).
On the flip side I quit Facebook about 8 years ago and didn't miss it at all. I quit Twitter when the new CEO instantly started promoting obvious fake news to 130 million followers on his second day. I stay on IG and LinkedIn because they are effectively work portfolios. Twitter was the only platform I actuallly enjoyed but I stopped enjoying it because of the turn to celebrate disinformation/nazism/etc, it was no big deal at all to quit. Poof. Bye bye. Who cares.
The EV choice doesn't have to be Tesla, and in my case it was not, but the overall factors driving the rise in the leader in EVs (Tesla) are nothing like driving factors for social media demand and use. About 3-4 years ago I saw Teslas go from being rare to probably the #1 most common car in my neighborhood. I'm going out to grab lunch soon and I'll see 50-100 Teslas just in my few blocks. If all the other auto makers had been as well positioned as they are right now 3-4 years ago, and the Tesla owner was celebrating Putin/Nazis and telling everyone to vote Republican on Election Day after the Jan6 insurrection...those would be electric BMW/VW/Mercedes/Hyaundai instead of Teslas. I see it every day with these models growing rapidly and more PHEV options where Tesla isn't even competing that will be critical for 5-10 years.
There's plenty of reason for measured skepticism of Tesla and if you can't see it you're about 1% as smart as you think you are. Tesla isn't highly valued because everybody in Iowa and Mississippi is buying them, a quick and crazy undisciplined marketing move turning them into MAGA Mobiles is a legitimate risk.
I have a question, how much does it cost to charge a tesla, to full charge from say 1/4 charge at a Tesla charging station?
Everyone says that EVs are so much cheaper, but then when I see people posting how much it costs to charge to even 90%, it is close to the same price as gas, then to get to 100% its more than gas and takes hours, while filling at a gas pump takes a few minutes.
Time is also worth something. Sure if you are commuting only, and only charge at home, there may be some savings, but then there has to still be some increase in cost, to electric, as its not free to charge. Does the savings from gas even in that case equal the added sticker price when purchasing, plus the added license costs added by most states for EV vehicles because there is no gas tax?
What I am asking is a) how much is a full charge at a Tesla charger, and how long that takes, vs a tank of gas. b) If you own an EV for 5 years, and it costs an extra $10K over a gas car, will you save $10K in gas over those 5 years to make up the price difference? also taking in the added license fees. etc.
