That got us thinking....
I am a fan of Elon Musk and Tesla. It's a great car but it's not yet a car for the masses, it's a car for the super rich, even more so in here. It may be a symbol of green in California, but here in Colombo, it's a symbol of luxury, wealth, comfort and general poshness. There may be nothing inherently wrong in that list, however, greenness or environmentalism is certainly not one belong in that category. Remember, the first R, indulgence and luxury is bit far away from that. there has been some discussions in local circles recently about the time a Tesla taking for a full charge in a normal fast charging station here in Sri Lanka.
Here is our take on the matter : if a tesla comes to a GF network station, we would may be take few pictures of it, have a nice chat with the owner and have a good look at the car too, and we would enjoy that time but at the end of it, we will simply have to ask the car to get to it's home. (may be charge it a tiny little bit so it has just enough to reach the nearest park or it's home). We wouldn't block our fast charger which is still a scarce commodity (for the masses) for hours on behalf for someone who can easily afford one at home (if one could afford a Tesla, why not a 20kw personal charger ?)
Good Elon knows this, that's why he is designing the new model 3 which is supposed to be a car for the masses.
Now that one we WILL treat as a symbol of greenness along with other EVs. We are waiting to charge one...
Your thoughts ?
Love to read your posts!
ReplyDelete[btw I've noticed that you are writing this since 2005!! that's a long time for a blogger :-); GOOD JOB DONE! ]
Thanks Thissa, yea I too just noticed. it has been more than 10 years! :-)
DeleteHi Ashoka,
ReplyDeleteNot often that my thinking differs from yours greatly, but this is one instance :-). I would say a Tesla is just as green as any other EV out there because:
1) Tesla pushed the big auto makers into EV's, so it started the EV revolution, and for that it deserves recognition and respect.
2) Reduce is mainly to reduce wastage; if you look at Tesla's factories, they look and are probably more efficient than Nissan's because Musk is crazy about efficiency. His GigaFactory making batteries will run totally on solar power.
3) Luxury and performance are not the enemy, wastefulness is. If I have a Tesla and I charge it with my solar panels, I'm just as environmentally friendly as a LEAF owner.
I would say you should welcome the Tesla owner with open arms; we shouldn't exclude him or her from the community, just because they felt investing in the top end EV in the market made more sense.
To be honest, I would probably not be happy to be behind a Tesla in the charging Queue, but then that's now. In a few years, I'm hoping to be the guy in the Tesla :-).
Keep up the good work!
Channa.
I didn't suggest of excluding Tesla owners from the community. Just that we would give the chance for normal EVs for masses rather than blocking the charging station for long hours for a Tesla. (the owner of a Tesla, could easily afford a charger like ours at his home for personal use)
DeleteWe said we would embrace the Tesla model 3 when it comes, it is supposed to be the car for masses hence has a realistic ability to save the environment.
Reducing as put by Green peace is not just about reducing waste. It is about reducing consumption. the world simply doesn't have enough resources (which are finite) to support a luxuries (not finite by definition) life style of a growing population.
Saving the environment involves a necessary attitude of using resources in a sparing and sharing manner instead of indulgence.