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Misinformation on EV's and Tesla

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Not sure this is the correct place for this, but would like input on what I feel is an important issue that seems to come up every time I'm asked about the Model S and Tesla. There seems to be so much misinformation out there about electric cars and especially Tesla. Yesterday I was at a friends house and was talking to there son-in-law who happened to be in IT. He seemed to know about Tesla, after all he use to work at Apple, but I was astounded at his lack of factual information. He mentioned to me he was thinking of moving back to the Bay Area and working for Apple again, I said to him maybe he should go to work for Tesla. His response was "I do not know about electric cars and their future. I asked him what he meant and he proceeded to explain to me the problems with them and Tesla specifically. He said you cannot go very far and it takes hours to charge and further into the conversation he mentions that maybe down the road they will come up with an automatic fire retardant system. I was amazed that someone with his background would have not done some reading other than what is in the media about these issues. Of course I proceeded to give him the factual info on these issues and others. My point is that Tesla does not seem to advertise anything and they leave it up to owners to market the company and the car. I would like others to give me their experience and ideas to help change this misinformation that seems prevalent within the general population.
 
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I know, I run into that all the time. The lack of advertising, though, is intentional. Right now, Tesla is selling cars as fast as they can build them, so there is literally no need for advertising, it would just be wasted money. So I guess us customers need to go to more parties :)
 
I agree that Tesla needn't advertise at the moment. The problem however is that the established players ARE advertising, with all their might. They are spending a lot of money to try to convince people that electric vehicles are slow, unsafe, short range, and take forever to charge. When I talk to people about Tesla, they either know absolutely nothing, or tell me how unsafe they are due to the fires. When I talk to people about electric cars they tell me that they are slow and short range. There's a lot of misinformation out there, it's up to all of us to try to help correct it. (It would certainly help though if the media was on board!)
 
At car shows, I run into a few of those kinds of remarks, but not that many. Maybe five or six in a busy four hour show. (Busy means that as soon as one group gets out of the car, another one gets in.
 
I think the point Cosmacelf is attempting to make is that neither the mis-information nor the lack of advertising is hurting Tesla in any measurable way at the moment - they are selling every car they can build at full price with a two month or larger backlog, in spite of repeatedly raising production rates. I don't think there's any car in history that's ever been true of for over two years straight at any price point. That Tesla can do it in the premium segment is proof that they have enough of the right information out there, and a uniquely compelling product.

The misinformation is unfortunate, and may someday have negative implications for Tesla - if people's mindshare isn't changed in the interim - but in the mean time Tesla is in the cat bird's seat, selling every car they can possibly build and with a great new model coming out in a few more months to draw yet more customers.
Walter
 
Merrill, if all he had was range & 4!res, I'd say you got off easy. I just mean that the truly dedicated will hit you w a blast of FUD, sometimes impressive in its scope, because it's all so wrong. One example is my son's high school history teacher who taught the whole class that EVs are "far worse" than ice powered cars because the electricity has to be generated and transmitted and blah blah. Just generalizations in defense of the status quo. More recently, I'm hearing a lot of - "ok, yeah battery is fine but hydrogen fuel cell - now THATS progress !" Uuucgghk!
 
Thanks for the feed back, I understand that Tesla at this time does not have to advertise to sell its vehicles. The point I was making is that what Elon is trying to do is advance the EV cause and to get more of them on the road. Tesla may not be able to produce more cars at this time, but it is not just about Tesla. It is more about the advancement of Electric cars and unless you educate the general public it will be a long slow process. I would love for someone to get the word out about the misconceptions so more people understand how much progress has been made on EV's in general. I know all of us here will do that but is it enough.
 
I've found this as well. I still find so many people that have no idea who Tesla is.

The other day I was at Wendy's and the manager asked me if that was my Tesla. He asked how it accelerated compared to a gas car. When I told him it was so much better than a gas car he just sort of said 'yeah sure'. I offered him a ride to test but he declined.
 
I am not sure how one would construct an ad campaign that would "educate" everyone, particularly if your goal was to refute every bit of FUD. would one commercial explain that they are 5 times less likely to have a fire? Would another explain the complex calculations of wells-to-wheels efficiency of various power sources and vehicle types? Would another explain the reusabilty and recyclability of battery packs? Pretty dull commercials. No, they will be nicely done car commercials that explain a few top topics and make the car look desirable.

What TM SHOULD do is secretly mind-control a vast number of superfans across the globe and let them refute it on the ground level. Oh, they are doing that :) We are the advertising and while it is frustrating it is very effective.
 
I've found this as well. I still find so many people that have no idea who Tesla is.

The other day I was at Wendy's and the manager asked me if that was my Tesla. He asked how it accelerated compared to a gas car. When I told him it was so much better than a gas car he just sort of said 'yeah sure'. I offered him a ride to test but he declined.

Here's a tip: Instead of saying it's fast or really fast, tell him that it will beat a Corvette or a Mustang. Then you're playing into the fact that it beats what Americans think of as Sports Cars. Then mention the video on YouTube of it beating a Viper or the Corvette.

The Tesla stores are Tesla's form of advertising. Those stores should have video loops showing a lot of the cool stuff the car can do.
 
Here's a tip: Instead of saying it's fast or really fast, tell him that it will beat a Corvette or a Mustang. Then you're playing into the fact that it beats what Americans think of as Sports Cars. Then mention the video on YouTube of it beating a Viper or the Corvette.

The Tesla stores are Tesla's form of advertising. Those stores should have video loops showing a lot of the cool stuff the car can do.

I used the Porsche 911 comparison. Considering the Wendy's is THE closest permant structure to the new (still under construction) Porsche North American headquarters building I figured it would work. He just thought I was blinded by my ecogreeness.
 
I've found this as well. I still find so many people that have no idea who Tesla is.

The other day I was at Wendy's and the manager asked me if that was my Tesla. He asked how it accelerated compared to a gas car. When I told him it was so much better than a gas car he just sort of said 'yeah sure'. I offered him a ride to test but he declined.

A common human foible - preferring beliefs over facts and rejecting the possibility that the belief may be proven wrong.