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A friend if mine who is a huge Tesla fan became furious when I pointed out that his car is essentially coal powered, since he charges it at home, and the electr

A friend if mine who is a huge Tesla fan became furious when I pointed out that his car is essentially coal powered, since he charges it at home, and the electricity in our area is primarily derived from coal as of currently. Note that he did not become curious or refuted the facts. He simply became furious that I pointed this out. I’ve found a lot of Tesla people are like that. Rather than being comfortable with some of the facts, it seems like they don’t like it when facts don’t match the narrative.

nexuist 5y ago
Own a Tesla in a high-nonrenewable-mix area. Yes, you could claim my car is coal or natural gas powered, but I've also been curious about this and I found that it's still better than a regular gas car because the production source is centralized. A 1% efficiency gain for a power plant in my area translates to 1% cleaner power for every EV powered by that power plant. Likewise, if a new solar or wind farm comes online and starts powering my area, my car automatically becomes cleaner, and I didn't have to do anything. An ICE car will never gain MPG over time. Engines produced decades ago, like my last car from 2005, will never become more efficient or produce less pollutants than they did off the assembly line. Trying to make a fleet of ICE cars cleaner is like trying to overhaul one million tiny power plants at once; it is a much, much easier job to do when there's only a handful of power plants to operate on. Anyways, sorry about your friend, unfortunately not everyone can control their emotions when they buy expensive toys and get told off for it. I imagine he would've had the same reaction if he bought a Lamborghini and you asked him if it carried the same amount of groceries as a Rav4 or something. Regardless, am happy to have a productive debate with you if you want to discuss EV ownership in more detail. One thing I will put out there: I don't care if you buy a Tesla, and I hate Tesla owners who consistently put down EVs from other manufacturers without even watching a review or reading the spec sheet. I just want more people to buy EVs, it doesn't matter what badge they carry.
- TedShiller 5y ago
  > I imagine he would've had the same reaction if he bought a Lamborghini and you asked him if it carried the same amount of groceries as a Rav4 or something. In that case most people would say yes or no. There would be no reason to get angry unless they were insecure about their purchase.
- kylehotchkiss 5y ago
  While you can’t gain MPG over time with an older car, you may see improvement to declined from original MPG with some fuel detergent (seafoam, etc) and new tires made for highway driving.
serverholic 5y ago
So a gas car is better? At least electric cars CAN be powered by renewables.
- TedShiller 5y ago
  Nobody claimed that a gas car is better, at least I didn't.

nexuist 5y ago

Own a Tesla in a high-nonrenewable-mix area. Yes, you could claim my car is coal or natural gas powered, but I've also been curious about this and I found that it's still better than a regular gas car because the production source is centralized. A 1% efficiency gain for a power plant in my area translates to 1% cleaner power for every EV powered by that power plant. Likewise, if a new solar or wind farm comes online and starts powering my area, my car automatically becomes cleaner, and I didn't have to do anything. An ICE car will never gain MPG over time. Engines produced decades ago, like my last car from 2005, will never become more efficient or produce less pollutants than they did off the assembly line. Trying to make a fleet of ICE cars cleaner is like trying to overhaul one million tiny power plants at once; it is a much, much easier job to do when there's only a handful of power plants to operate on. Anyways, sorry about your friend, unfortunately not everyone can control their emotions when they buy expensive toys and get told off for it. I imagine he would've had the same reaction if he bought a Lamborghini and you asked him if it carried the same amount of groceries as a Rav4 or something. Regardless, am happy to have a productive debate with you if you want to discuss EV ownership in more detail. One thing I will put out there: I don't care if you buy a Tesla, and I hate Tesla owners who consistently put down EVs from other manufacturers without even watching a review or reading the spec sheet. I just want more people to buy EVs, it doesn't matter what badge they carry.

TedShiller 5y ago
> I imagine he would've had the same reaction if he bought a Lamborghini and you asked him if it carried the same amount of groceries as a Rav4 or something. In that case most people would say yes or no. There would be no reason to get angry unless they were insecure about their purchase.
kylehotchkiss 5y ago
While you can’t gain MPG over time with an older car, you may see improvement to declined from original MPG with some fuel detergent (seafoam, etc) and new tires made for highway driving.

serverholic 5y ago

So a gas car is better? At least electric cars CAN be powered by renewables.

TedShiller 5y ago
Nobody claimed that a gas car is better, at least I didn't.