I really love my new car. But please don’t tell the trolls. Last summer, the bottom was falling out of my 2007 petrol Ford, in its most literal sense. So for the first time I finally decided, and was privileged enough to be able, to buy a new car.
But, in life’s way of keeping me from getting too big for my boots, that car was a Tesla.
Test-driving last July I only had two concerns: first, will this work given Ireland’s poor charging network? Second was that inner voice whispering, “is this just a bit too fancy for me?”
Sitting into the test car, I felt like that 1980s child who landed in an episode of BBC’s Tomorrow’s World. The minimalistic dashboard with touchscreen controls and buttons instead of indicator stalks: it was unlike anything I’ve ever driven. A sleek car with excellent battery life and the clear conscience of being electric. What’s not to like?
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At the time the news stories about Tesla chief executive Elon Musk were standard richest-man-in-the-world fare: how much was his pay-packet, his changes to X’s algorithm and investor concerns. But July is a different planet in Musk’s story and his transformation into the world’s bogeyman.
By the time my car finally arrived in to Ireland last November, the world felt a lot darker. Donald Trump had won the election. Musk had gone full-on Maga. And when he was appointed head of Doge, we began to get a glimpse of his future role dismantling the foundations of the US state.
I did pause for a moment on the day I had to complete my Tesla’s purchase. I wondered aloud if I should cut my losses. Like most of us I have watched from the spaces between my fingers the unfolding events in the US. The daily output from the Donald and Elon show compel me to look for the “what line will they cross next” shock and make me turn away with the deep sadness at that society’s undoing.
But then there is the real world. As a journalist, I spend far too much of my time on social media. The Musk and Trump pairing is perfect social media fodder. The key ingredients that algorithms want are engagement, commenting and shares: something that will make you stop and look, that will make people either love it or hate it, and will get you to share with your friends in disbelief. Sound familiar?
Tesla’s rise as a non-legacy EV company has always garnered interest. But add to the mix a genius CEO turned villain-like almost-president – that is media and social media gold. And so the stories have piled up in their thousands: “Tesla sales almost halve in Europe as Musk faces criticism over Trump ties.” (Car sales statistics are rarely big reader traffic generators. But this is different.)
“Protesters target Tesla showrooms in US over Elon Musk’s government cost-cutting.” (Had the protests held in many cities across the US been about another topic they would have remained local news. These stories went global.)
[ ‘Don’t buy a Swasticar’: Elon Musk is wrecking Tesla’s brandOpens in new window ]
“‘I felt nothing but disgust’: Tesla owners vent their anger at Elon Musk,” read a headline in the Guardian last week.
What do we know about the ethics of other car companies on the market, or indeed all the other many consumer purchases we make? Volkswagen was the top EV brand in Ireland last year, as consumers put their faith in the brand, which in 2015 admitted cheating diesel emissions tests.
Owning a car is a very visible consumer purchase. Only your neighbour sees your Amazon parcels arrive. Its chief Jeff Bezos last week changed the Washington Post opinion section to align it more closely with the political right.
So what is the reality? Three months into my Tesla ownership, I have noticed a self-consciousness about my car. I’m extra-vigilant at letting other motorists out in front of me, screeching the brakes to let pedestrians cross the road (just in case they think badly of me). And I have found myself at times holding back on offering lifts, so as not to reveal what I drive (I know, that ship has sailed now that I’ve written this).
I put this down to Musk-shame. Driving a Tesla felt like the equivalent of me wearing a red Maga hat. But this feeling is not based in any real reaction to my car. That conclusion came from my skewed social media bubble.
On reflection, any feeling is more about good old Irish shame. That great fear that someone might think you are getting notions.
Comedian Jarlath Regan sums it up in a sketch warning against a danger lurking for us culchies in Dublin.
“A person can disappear up their own arse,” he says. “One day you’re you. The next day, you’re in a Tesla, on your way to Avoca, to talk to the girls about how expensive Center Parcs was.
“How do we protect them? We rip the piss out of them,” he concludes.
And that’s what I’ve had. Some gentle ribbing and Tesla memes. This I can tolerate.
As I write this I am about to drive 300km from Dublin to the wilds of Co Clare. This saves about 21,000g of CO2 being released into our warming atmosphere compared to my old petrol car.
And that is the bigger picture. How could I possibly think that people driving petrol cars, wearing fast fashion, or eating red meat could conclude that driving a Tesla is an unethical choice. Climate change is the most pressing problem of our time. It will still be as urgent when Trump’s ego gets fed-up of sharing the Oval Office mic with Elon. This social media-driven noise over people driving efficient electric cars will be but a blip. And the planet will still be warming at an alarming rate.
Do you own a Tesla?
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