The thing to note about EVs is that car manufacturers fought tooth and nail to avoid having to sell them[0]. Ergo, for a while Tesla was the only option. Other

The thing to note about EVs is that car manufacturers fought tooth and nail to avoid having to sell them[0]. Ergo, for a while Tesla was the only option. Other car manufacturers were selling EVs either because Tesla successfully embarrassed them into looking old, or because California literally mandated they sell a certain number of EVs. Hell, for some car brands they were literally paying Tesla money because they didn't have a compliance car to sell. And then Musk goes and completely trashes his own reputation. First by calling rescue divers in Thailand pedos, then by lying about FSD, wasting a bunch of money buying Twitter[1], and most crucially, surrounding himself with a bunch of far-right nutjobs. The thing is, the far-right doesn't buy EVs, they want cars that command respect by frightening everyone else. The kinds of people actually buying EVs live in or near a city, in suburban housing that can support a dedicated overnight charging circuit. Which makes them far more likely to be progressive or left-leaning. In other words, Musk sunk his own company so he could go play Twitter culture warrior against his own customers. While not all of the culture war nonsense in the US transposes 1:1 to Europe, it's analogous enough that I suspect a lot of European Tesla buyers are feeling just as shy about their car purchase as American ones. [0] My personal conspiracy theory was that they were too durable to sell. Everyone but Tesla sells through dealers - in some cases, they HAVE TO - and dealers only make money when you take the car in for service. And EVs simply have fewer things to break, so moving to EVs means less maintenance money. The way Tesla gets around this is with parts pairing. [1] It is always moral and ethical to deadname corporations.