My personal experience
I first saw a Tesla (the Roadster) at the 2013 Toronto Auto Show (top left pic) and later that year in a parking garage (the Model S to the right of the Roadster pic) when I was in LA with my eldest son when he was starting graduate school there. I remember being so impressed that Tesla was leading with design when all other cars and anything else for that matter that was leaning into environmentalism was incredibly ugly.
I was fascinated by the company and the person of Elon Musk and I read everything I could about him (most notably the book shown at right in the pic). I was intrigued. I first experienced riding in a Tesla Model S (pic below the Roadster) in an Uber while in Madrid with IBM colleagues running a large design activation session with our top European sales leaders there. Then in 2019 I actually drove a Model 3 and was hooked and when they made it all vegan (pic below the Model S), I bought one (bottom left pic).
maintenance
I’ve absolutely loved the car and have never had a problem with it. Oh wait, there was a little piece of rubber on the passenger seat adjustment that I needed to replace. But, that was it. Four years of no visits to the dealer or anywhere else for maintenance. Because I live in Canada, all I do is have my summer wheels replaced by winters around now and then the opposite in the late Spring. That’s absolutely it! I’ve never owned a vehicle that was this reliable and maintenance free. I also haven’t had to buy gas for four years. All I do is plug the car into the charger in my garage, a financial savings of 86% compared with paying for gas for my previous BMW 5 Series. And that’s just financial savings. The Tesla Model 3 also provides carbon savings compared with my BMW 5 Series, 97% carbon savings in fact!
unlocking and starting
I used to have to carry a key to unlock my BMW. With my Tesla, I just have to walk up to the car and it unlocks the doors automatically and turns on sufficient lights to see what I’m doing to get in the car. I also don’t need to carry a key, in fact, there isn’t one. There’s only a credit car piece of plastic that I keep permanently in my wallet in case my iPhone is stolen because my phone is the key. You can buy a fob but I don’t see why you would.
I used to have to push a button to start my BMW but I don’t have to in order to start the Tesla. I just need to indicate by moving a stalk on the steering column whether i want to go forward or backward and the motors are engaged automatically.
power
Of course, there was a massive difference in the two vehicles when comes to power and acceleration. The BMW had a pretty powerful engine but because it was an internal combustion engine, there was a delay in using its full power. And even then, the power paled in comparison to the Tesla.
Self-Driving
It probably goes without saying but let me mention it nonetheless that I often don’t actually have to drive the Tesla. It drives itself and does a pretty good job of it, about 98% of the time. With the latest software update, I also don’t need to hold onto the steering wheel. As long as I’m attentive and looking at the road, the car drives itself. I particularly appreciate it in rush hour traffic, driving boring repetitive routes, and long highway trips. The car is so fun to drive though that despite its self-driving prowess, I often prefer to drive myself especially given its acceleration and handling.
Locking & Walking Away
When I get to my destination with the Tesla, I just stop the car and get out and walk away. When I’m in another country and driving a rental car, I often forget that I have to turn the car off and lock it when I get out. Its not uncommon for someone to point out to me that my rental car is still running when I’m walking into a building.
frustrations
The car isn’t without its frustrations though mostly caused by frivolous and gratuitous design changes on the screen. It’s one thing when designers at Meta move the buttons around on the Instagram mobile app to try to trick you into using a part of the product or one of their other products. I think that’s company-driven design that I’ve talked about previously. Those design changes aren’t dangerous. When designers make frivolous and gratuitous changes to a car interface, it can be dangerous.
Tesla is impressive
As you’ve probably gathered by now, I’ve been pretty impressed with my Tesla Model 3, the fact that I get a new car of sorts too when regular over the air operating system updates, and my dealings with the company itself.
what happened to elon
I was impressed with the car, the company, and the amazing charging infrastructure they put in place that is the envy of every other car company going electric. So much so that they’re now partnering with Tesla. I’m impressed too by SpaceX revolutionizing travel to space and the amazing reusable rocket technology, SolarCity like the Tesla, making solar roofs and electric storage beautiful.
I initially viewed Musk as an visionary leading groundbreaking companies like Tesla and SpaceX. However, his image has been irreversibly tarnished the last few years in my mind and also I think in most people’s minds. Things like the following sadly took him down and continue to do so:
A post calling a British cave diver involved in the Thai cave rescue mission in 2018 a "pedo guy”.
The circumstances of his acquisition of Twitter which he renamed to X, his bizarre management actions involving mass layoffs including getting rid of the community standards assessment team, and his own erratic posts on the platform.
His increasing involvement in politics and use of his platform irresponsibly including his engagement in culture wars and inappropriate public statements about his own children online.
His handling of labor relations, safety issues, and dismissive attitude regarding his staff and shareholders.
I could go on but his promises off the top of his head about when certain technologies would be available and his over ambitious timelines for Mars colonization have made him unbelievable, unreliable, and even laughable.
I don’t know if he experienced some psychological trauma, whether all those billions of dollars just got to his head, or that he was always a jerk but he now has a larger platform to share his every bizarre thought, but I now find him annoying and embarrassing rather than being an admired visionary. That doesn’t take away what he’s accomplished. It just takes away my respect for him as a person.