Tesla fanatic

Sounds normal to me. I'm exactly the same way. With the exception that I've made an effort to not "annoy" folks that don't care about it. If they ask I let them have it. If they don't I talk about other things. It HAS been an effort though.

It's a problem when you are passionate about something, when others aren't. Whether you are collecting stamps, building model railway sets in your basement or obsessed with watching birds (aren't we all!), then it's hard to share the enthusiasm with people who just cannot see the point.

There are petrol-heads who will find interest in nothing but talking about coal power plants and vehicle fires, although we all know that those are not an issue at all.

Then there are people who just don't care, they just want transport from A to B the cheapest way, or the safest or as long as the car has a nice color.

I usually just mention the car lightly. If people start ask questions, or even lighten up with a "wow!" then I am happy to tell them about it. If there is no specific response, I talk about anything else (if anything at all).

I am obsessed with solar energy (mainly thermal, not as much PV), and I am to some degree obsessed with how far I can take it to make an old house almost self sufficient in space heating, water heating, air conditioning, electricity and water use (rain water). It's not about how much money I can make, it's about how little fossil fuel and water can I resort to using. As soon at there is no good investment in it, most people sign off - not interested. Being a personal demonstration project, an extreme hobby you could say, I am posting money and time into this like there was not tomorrow (and maybe there isn't, some day, if we keep burning everything we get out hands on).

Don't waste yours or other peoples time to convey a story that they don't want to hear.

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Al Sherman said:

Sounds normal to me. I'm exactly the same way. With the exception that I've made an effort to not "annoy" folks that don't care about it. If they ask I let them have it. If they don't I talk about other things. It HAS been an effort though.

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See, that is my problem.

Al says the same as me in a line and a half, and conveys the same message basically. Brevity. Out.

Passion rules!!!!

One other point. When I do still "go there" I'm totally honest. Price and range ARE issues. I think it's important to be up front about that when extolling the virtues of EV's. The one point aside from the cleaner, less expensive to operate, getting off oil so we can stop financing murderers and losing young kids to protect the oil is: Electric driving is just better. It's a hard point to get across without the person actually driving the car for a while. I do the best I can to emphasize how MUCH better electric driving is. But, as I said; only if they ask. I definitely went through a period where I was annoying people who simply didn't want to hear about it. Regardless of my level of belief, I don't want to be that guy. :smile:

Merrill said:

I need some input form others to see if I have gone over the top with my love of Tesla and it vehicles. So if you were to have asked me just a few years ago about Tesla and told me I would own one and maybe by 2015 would have 2 in my garage I would have laughed. After 1 year of ownership of my Model S I cannot stop telling people how fantastic this company and car has been. I think my friends are getting tired of hearing about it, and when I told my neighbor who has 2 Prius in his garage that I put a deposit on the model x, his comment was "so you will be going to mars in the near future as well"! This forum is probably not the place to get any negative comments on this subject, I guess I just want to know I'm not alone on the above.

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I am a fanatic as well. Before I bought my Model S 15 months ago, I had never spent more than 40K on a car. Most people think I have gone off of the "deep end". I feel the most compelling reason to buy a Model S is for safety.

I would have never bought a Prius if I watched the crash tests first. Tell your neighbor you will " visit him in heaven on your way to mars". I would never want to be in a serious crash in a Prius. Everyone thinks that they will never be involved in serious crash ....and most never will.....but it does happen!

I love the car and feel a genuine sense of privilege whenever I drive it. I enjoy answering questions about Tesla, but usually expand the conversation to sustainability in general. I'm hesitant to push Tesla too much because it's not a car that the vast majority can afford to own and I don't wish to appear insensitive.

Merrill, our cars were siblings in the factory, and my delivery was only a few days after yours because mine had to travel across the country! You are not nuts, I get excited when someone asks me about Tesla, it's like a switch is flipped and sometimes I'm sure I can see that they wish they hadn't asked, LOL. While I am not in love with the Model X, I have thought many times about getting a second MS, mostly because I love the gray with gray interior. I'd keep the blue one and let my bf drive it.

I did not anticipate becoming a voluntary Tesla saleswoman when I took delivery last year, but I'm one of the most enthusiastic ambassadors they have!

I echo what Al said. Early on, I think I annoyed many of my friends. When they get me started about the car, I can't seem to stop. I'm careful now to only discuss Tesla when asked about it. My friends around here all know that I have the Model X on order and I'm now getting people asking if they can buy the S when the X gets here....I may keep both.

Expanding a bit on "passion rules!" above - I don't know why I feel so good.

The car is an absolute joy to drive, the instant response, the quiet, the way things all work, but that's not all of it.

I'm not a tree-hugger, but I'm now way more happy being off oil -- when I bought the car it was a small checkmark but not one that really weighted the "buy" column -- and yet now I actually feel some emotion attached to being part of an eventually sustainable future. Part of it (analyzing while I write) has to be being a small part of a company that is turning a corrupt dishonest car sales/service industry on its head. It just feels good. Part of it is the change in driving habits the Model S forces -- e.g. supercharging trips forcing a mental "unplug" from driving into 30-45 minutes of relaxation, every 2-4 hours; e.g. never tailgating to take advantage of regen braking. Part of it is having bought into a company where there have been several decisions made by its management in situations where there's "the right way", and there's "the way everybody's always done it". They're not perfect ("A" battery - perhaps jury is still out?) but it's so refreshing seeing a company make "it's just the right thing to do" decisions (e.g., China pricing, tank mode, etc). Part of it is the unbelievably smart strategy of the whole company with Gen III coming, superchargers to remove range anxiety, "thinking big" about energy storage, etc etc.

I'm sure there are other reasons, too. It's hard to analyze all the emotions, and part of me (like Alastair Sim in Scrooge but with a slight change in emphasis) still thinks - "I don't deserve to be *SO* happy!"

I'm rather introverted and not usually one to start conversations, so I pretty much go with whatever topic someone else brings up. If I see a good opportunity, I might shift a related topic like hybrids to Tesla. I'm more engaged talking about Tesla than just about any other topic. Unfortunately, most of the time I need to set people straight on misconceptions or get asked things like "how far does it go on a charge?", which does get a bit annoying because it's difficult to get them to understand how much of a non-issue they are.
Before I ordered, I had to try to not bring up Tesla because I didn't want to annoy anyone. Since ordering and especially now that I have it, I have to try harder because I also don't want to blow my own horn. In the weeks before delivery, I kept checking Tesla sites (mostly TMC) at work and a coworker on another team noticed and struck a conversation, which was cool since I rarely come across people that even remotely share my excitement. Another thing is that I want to leave the door open for the golden opportunity of bringing it up after someone (not knowing I have one) expresses interest in Tesla.

I don't even have the car yet, and I'm annoying people -- mostly my wife. When I talked about it with a few people at work, it suddenly became the hot topic at our weekly lunch for two weeks running. After that, nothing. I've left it alone now. I didn't even tell them I placed an order.

Ugliest1 said:

Expanding a bit on "passion rules!" above - I don't know why I feel so good.

The car is an absolute joy to drive, the instant response, the quiet, the way things all work, but that's not all of it.

I'm not a tree-hugger, but I'm now way more happy being off oil -- when I bought the car it was a small checkmark but not one that really weighted the "buy" column -- and yet now I actually feel some emotion attached to being part of an eventually sustainable future. Part of it (analyzing while I write) has to be being a small part of a company that is turning a corrupt dishonest car sales/service industry on its head. It just feels good. Part of it is the change in driving habits the Model S forces -- e.g. supercharging trips forcing a mental "unplug" from driving into 30-45 minutes of relaxation, every 2-4 hours; e.g. never tailgating to take advantage of regen braking. Part of it is having bought into a company where there have been several decisions made by its management in situations where there's "the right way", and there's "the way everybody's always done it". They're not perfect ("A" battery - perhaps jury is still out?) but it's so refreshing seeing a company make "it's just the right thing to do" decisions (e.g., China pricing, tank mode, etc). Part of it is the unbelievably smart strategy of the whole company with Gen III coming, superchargers to remove range anxiety, "thinking big" about energy storage, etc etc.

I'm sure there are other reasons, too. It's hard to analyze all the emotions, and part of me (like Alastair Sim in Scrooge but with a slight change in emphasis) still thinks - "I don't deserve to be *SO* happy!"

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^This!

iadbound said:

I don't even have the car yet, and I'm annoying people -- mostly my wife. When I talked about it with a few people at work, it suddenly became the hot topic at our weekly lunch for two weeks running. After that, nothing. I've left it alone now. I didn't even tell them I placed an order.

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My wife is tired of hearing about it so she basically told me "Oh, just buy one already." I guess that's permission?

@Pilot_51
Generally speaking, I actively try not to give a sales pitch. If people raise false assertions that they "heard", I set them straight. If they ask about range, I tell them I safely get ~200 on a 90% charge. Sometimes they want more details on "90%", sometimes not. Sometimes they want to mention the debris topic, to which I say "I don't plan on running over any trailer hitches, or drive through any cement walls or trees". For those that are actually "reachable", I think they get there on their own -- by asking good follow-up questions and actually listening to the responses. Those that want to talk over you or insert the latest jab/"joke", I consider them "unreachable" and not worthy of much time or effort.

The really smart ones ask for a ride, and that pretty much turns the conversation in a new direction as they recover from the "holy ___" moment.

Thud said:

My wife is tired of hearing about it so she basically told me "Oh, just buy one already." I guess that's permission?

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Sounds like you are good to go!! Good luck.