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All I can say is I’m thankful for Elon Musk. The electric car revolution would not have happened without him.

by surfmike 5y ago

beebmam 5y ago
Didn't he buy Tesla?
- darknavi 5y ago
  Yes. Not to praise him too much but the Tesla he bought and the Tesla that exists today are 99.9% different. You have to have some major chops to take a small start up poking around with the Tesla Roadster concept and make it to factories on three continents producing 1,000,000 cars a year. I think Musk is a huge ass but also that Tesla really proved that EVs work and mainstream* people want them.
- xibalba 5y ago
  No. He was Tesla's primary funder at founding and then stepped into the CEO role when he determined the founder wasn't getting it done. 99% of the amazing engineering, design, and, most importantly, sales, occurred after Elon took over as CEO.
Bayart 5y ago
That's patently false. Musk can have credit for accelerating the transition.
- kshacker 5y ago
  Sometimes revolution == acceleration For example if French just guillitoned one bad guy per year, it probably would not be called French Revolution
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- marcosdumay 5y ago
  Every car manufacturer was fighting it for decades. They did things like lobbying against electric cars, and pushing vaporware to stop change every time. When they gave-up to demand and created some electric car, they would always make it flawed in every possible way so it doesn't compete with the money-makers of the day. Car manufacturing is a highly oligopolistic market, with almost impossible barriers to entry. If somebody irrational enough to push it didn't appear, those manufacturers would have their way for as long as they wanted.
smt88 5y ago
Nissan was outselling Tesla in the electric car market until pretty recently. It was already happening. Tesla actually released an affordable electric car quite a while after other companies like Nissan, GM, and Chevy. I would credit the "revolution" to tax credits and affordable cars, not to Tesla.

All I can say is I’m thankful for Elon Musk. The electric car revolution would not have happened without him.

beebmam 5y ago

Didn't he buy Tesla?

darknavi 5y ago
Yes. Not to praise him too much but the Tesla he bought and the Tesla that exists today are 99.9% different. You have to have some major chops to take a small start up poking around with the Tesla Roadster concept and make it to factories on three continents producing 1,000,000 cars a year. I think Musk is a huge ass but also that Tesla really proved that EVs work and mainstream* people want them.
xibalba 5y ago
No. He was Tesla's primary funder at founding and then stepped into the CEO role when he determined the founder wasn't getting it done. 99% of the amazing engineering, design, and, most importantly, sales, occurred after Elon took over as CEO.

Bayart 5y ago

That's patently false. Musk can have credit for accelerating the transition.

kshacker 5y ago
Sometimes revolution == acceleration For example if French just guillitoned one bad guy per year, it probably would not be called French Revolution
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
marcosdumay 5y ago
Every car manufacturer was fighting it for decades. They did things like lobbying against electric cars, and pushing vaporware to stop change every time. When they gave-up to demand and created some electric car, they would always make it flawed in every possible way so it doesn't compete with the money-makers of the day. Car manufacturing is a highly oligopolistic market, with almost impossible barriers to entry. If somebody irrational enough to push it didn't appear, those manufacturers would have their way for as long as they wanted.

smt88 5y ago

Nissan was outselling Tesla in the electric car market until pretty recently. It was already happening. Tesla actually released an affordable electric car quite a while after other companies like Nissan, GM, and Chevy. I would credit the "revolution" to tax credits and affordable cars, not to Tesla.