Happy Birthday Elon.
You should spend it all at work - you deserve it
Cheers!
It's Friday somewhere isn't it?
You should spend it all at work - you deserve it
Cheers!
It's Friday somewhere isn't it?
Last edited:
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I totally agree that they are in these ways: The Tesla Smear | CleanTechnica
However, I think there is too much conspiratorial thinking about journalists and even editors. I think they have been duped, but I don't think they are financially corrupted (in most cases) by advertising* or direct benefits from short sellers. There's a big difference between those possibilities when it comes to how we should respond.
*Edit: I still contend that editors are generally separated from sponsorships/ads in most cases — until someone shows me strong evidence otherwise.
Good point, but it's not really about efficiency. The energy source for robots can be infinite if from solar. So it can be very inefficient and still have limitless expansion since it's not capped by energy availability.Biological systems are much more energy efficient than robotic systems, so that idea will move us in the wrong direction. A male human needs 2500 kcalories per day which is 2900 Wh per day, or slightly over 100W. Try making a robot that can do anything a human can do within a power budget of 100W.
This kind of FUD doesn't work in an international forum.
However, I think there is too much conspiratorial thinking about journalists and even editors. I think they have been duped, but I don't think they are financially corrupted (in most cases) by advertising* or direct benefits from short sellers. There's a big difference between those possibilities when it comes to how we should respond.
For the general press I honestly think it has more to do with the fact that many reporters don't earn enough money to afford Tesla's offerings and or they perceive them to be for the rich.
When it comes to automotive reporters my theory is more that they are and have been for a long time in bed with the traditional automakers. They provide press cars, paid for trips to exotic locations etc etc... Why bite the hand that feeds them?
May I ask a question: could your opinion be influenced a bit by the happy new world of disruptive green technologies, which are all growing massively and cooperatively, and which industry hasn't had the time to build out their spider web of corruption yet?
The ICE industry is a 100 years old stagnant industry that is mostly playing a zero sum game: what I gain today is at the expense of my competitors - it's not a new industry growing semi-cooperatively into a much larger market. Auto journalists are primary gateways to new car customers ...
But let's put history and economic logic aside, let me quote the corruption of auto journalists straight from the horse's mouth. Alex Roy (former and I suspect future Tesla critic) has recently bought a Tesla and has published a very entertaining article about it a couple of days ago on The Drive, and described how his TSLAQ friend Ed "Tesla Death Watch" Niedermeyer reacted to his decision to buy a Tesla:
How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Buy A Tesla
"Are you out of your f***ing mind?" said journalist Ed Niedermeyer, whose name is allegedly painted above the drain of the replica Duchamp hidden in Elon Musk's private bathroom at Tesla's Fremont factory."
"I'm buying a Tesla," I said, "and nothing you say can stop me."
"Maybe you should read my book."
"That definitely won't stop me."
Funny TSLAQ anecdote aside, this is how he is characterizing the relationship between carmakers and auto journalists:
"The truth was that I'd been talking to Tesla higher ups for months, alternatively promising to buy new and threatening to buy used. They'd never offered anything other than best wishes, which made conceding Ed's point a whole lot easier. However much a dark part of me hoped for a discount and a specially prepped car, I'd have to order one like every other shlub. But calling in manufacturer favors is what other people do. You know them; those auto "journalists" with nary an unkind word for a car until its model cycle is over."
"Me? I've got a reputation to uphold."
And yes, despite the funny and sarcastic packaging of a rich, independent and overly honest Alex Roy, what he describes is what I've seen how much of auto journalism works in practice, manufacturers are actively and systematically bribing auto journalists via various favors and benefits:
In pretty much any other industry (except maybe the oil exploration industry) accepting "gifts" like 'discounts', 'special prepping' or expensive trips from customers/suppliers would get you fired for cause and escorted out of the building the day your boss learned about it, with a possible referral to the police for FCPA violations.
- Do you think when Volkswagen "introduced" the I.D. in South Africa it was just for the photo shoots? Or maybe to invite select journalists to an exotic all-inclusive trip to a beautiful country?
- Do you think when Jaguar "introduced" the i-Pace in Portugal it was just for the photo shoots? Or maybe to invite select journalists to an exotic all-inclusive trip to a beautiful country? To quote one of the resulting articles:
- "It's why I found myself 12,000 miles from the office for a weekend. It's why Jaguar spent millions of pounds rotating 26 groups of journalists from all around the world through Portugal's charming sunbaked hills for a month and a half. I'm not sure how much it costs to rent a private plane, a world-class race track, an entire hotel, and truck in over 100 cars for six weeks - but you better believe me when I say they spared literally no expense for the I-PACE."
- And the expense paid off, to quote from the article:
- "From conception to reality, the 'luxury performance SUV' was born in a mind-boggling four years. “Where other companies talk about the future, we build it. We have torn up the rulebook," were the words spoken by JLR's top dog Dr. Ralf Speth himself."
- No, that's not an infomercial or press release from Jaguar. It's an independent auto journalist.
- The article also refers to Tesla:
- "I've tried to resist bringing up Tesla until now, but while we're debunking that bandwagon, let's agree that the I-PACE's aesthetics are infinitely more appealing than the Model X."
- Note how unintentionally revealing that sentence is, not primarily in its false negativity, but the "I've tried to resist bringing up Tesla". WHY would an auto journalist NOT want to talk about the primary competitor of a new model??
- There's also a couple of straight lies and pieces of FUD about Tesla:
- "Unlike the Tesla, the Jaguar can actually do other things beyond driving quickly in a straight line (and it doesn't cook itself after two laps either). The I-PACE went time and time again, as long and as hard as I pushed it, without noticeably letting up at all."
- and Jaguar got what they paid for:
- "Aside from the fact the Tesla's blown-up body looks like it's had an allergic reaction to a bee sting, it's interior really is just too minimal. The I-PACE, meanwhile, looks like it should have a cameo roaming another planet in an episode of Lost In Space and has enough buttons for you to feel in control of the essentials."
In the auto journalism world it's apparently totally routine to get "specially prepped cars", "discounts", in addition to free trips to "introductions", which result in gushing articles and Tesla-bashing to make sure the next invitation is in the mailbox...
This is not a "conspiracy" as @tinm is suggesting, it's a sporadically but consistently documented quid pro quo scheme between car manufacturers and auto journalists whose scope I'm sure is an order of magnitude larger than what gets documented accidentally and indirectly.
I'm pretty sure that Tesla's well documented refusal to dance with auto journalists: "[Tesla] never offered anything other than best wishes" is one of the major reasons behind the generally unfriendly coverage by auto journalists.
Strongly recommend everyone stop overreacting to every departure. It happens. Every day. In every company. And it almost always has virtually zero impact on the real success of the company.
What sound does an alarm clock make in Europe?
2021 CO2 targets would generate €34 billion euros in penalty payments within Europe | JATO
How to reduce the penalty?
View attachment 423313
"The conclusion of this study is the worst case scenario for manufacturers. We are assuming that nothing would change from now until 2021, and unfairly excluding the plans for electrification. Effectively, OEMs can claim up to 7.5 g/km of CO2 from 2020 to 2022 to offset their total CO2 number for vehicles that meet the eco-innovation criteria.
"Moreover, we will definitely see many models dropped where investment to reduce their averages is larger than the profits generated. This will include the axing of more combustion engines, large and heavy cars, or those slow-selling models. To sum up, the manufacturers may have the technology to launch cleaner cars and alternatives to reduce the fines – their only limitation is time."
Tick Tock 2021
If I look into my article and what I wrote as a worst case Szenarien for the German Automakers last year and compare it with today, the worst case scenario I painted just happened.
Unfortunately I do not see many indications this to change. The reason why I am pessimistic is the technology they have and work with, how they discuss with politicians and demand support and the internal company fight between gas, diesel, Hybrid and FC that is happening in this organizations as well as between OEMs and VDA. Some are way behind where I thought they are a few months ago.
Its bad and it gets worse. If Tesla can continue to execute and it all looks like that some won't survive.
please read Pulitzer Prize Winner Chris Hedges’ emphatic case for corporate goals having pretty much imploded journalism
The Day That TV News Died | BillMoyers.com
(former and I suspect future Tesla critic)
Oh, and it gets even worse.
EEA: average CO2 emissions from new cars and new vans in Europe increased in 2018
Dieselgate-related issues are driving higher adoption of (higher CO2) gasoline engines in Europe (and I suspect it's even worse than that in the real world, as the diesels had lower CO2 emissions when in cheat mode, whereas the popular downsized-and-turbocharged gasoline engines in Europe have very poor real-world CO2 emissions performance relative to their test performance), SUV/CUV adoption is increasing, and vans are getting larger. And, HEV/PHEV/BEV adoption isn't increasing fast enough to make up for this.
As in, the European automakers are going the wrong direction on CO2.
It's very possible that the shorts are feeding articles to the journalists as described by Cramer. The journalists may not realize the inaccuracies and they are mostly interested in timely shocking news that will generate clicks. After a while they might even develop a symbiotic relationship like Russ and Mark Spiegel.
Following this, a filing with the California Department of Insurance revealed that Tesla’s insurance program for its drivers is set to be fronted by State National Insurance Company, Inc., a subsidiary of Markel Corporation.
Tesla needs to complete small acquisition before insurance product launch - Reinsurance News
so insurance will be for Califormia only in the beginning
And then there was Audi as well with the e-tron press junket in Abu Dhabi - they even flew in journalists and Youtubers from my country, admittedly not a huge market for luxury SUVs.May I ask a question: could your opinion be influenced a bit by the happy new world of disruptive green technologies, which are all growing massively and cooperatively, and which industry hasn't had the time to build out their spider web of corruption yet?
The ICE industry is a 100 years old stagnant industry that is mostly playing a zero sum game: what I gain today is at the expense of my competitors - it's not a new industry growing semi-cooperatively into a much larger market. Auto journalists are primary gateways to new car customers ...
But let's put history and economic logic aside, let me quote the corruption of auto journalists straight from the horse's mouth. Alex Roy (former and I suspect future Tesla critic) has recently bought a Tesla and has published a very entertaining article about it a couple of days ago on The Drive, and described how his TSLAQ friend Ed "Tesla Death Watch" Niedermeyer reacted to his decision to buy a Tesla:
How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Buy A Tesla
"Are you out of your f***ing mind?" said journalist Ed Niedermeyer, whose name is allegedly painted above the drain of the replica Duchamp hidden in Elon Musk's private bathroom at Tesla's Fremont factory."
"I'm buying a Tesla," I said, "and nothing you say can stop me."
"Maybe you should read my book."
"That definitely won't stop me."
Funny TSLAQ anecdote aside, this is how he is characterizing the relationship between carmakers and auto journalists:
"The truth was that I'd been talking to Tesla higher ups for months, alternatively promising to buy new and threatening to buy used. They'd never offered anything other than best wishes, which made conceding Ed's point a whole lot easier. However much a dark part of me hoped for a discount and a specially prepped car, I'd have to order one like every other shlub. But calling in manufacturer favors is what other people do. You know them; those auto "journalists" with nary an unkind word for a car until its model cycle is over."
"Me? I've got a reputation to uphold."
And yes, despite the funny and sarcastic packaging of a rich, independent and overly honest Alex Roy, what he describes is what I've seen how much of auto journalism works in practice, manufacturers are actively and systematically bribing auto journalists via various favors and benefits:
In pretty much any other industry (except maybe the oil exploration industry) accepting "gifts" like 'discounts', 'special prepping' or expensive trips from customers/suppliers would get you fired for cause and escorted out of the building the day your boss learned about it, with a possible referral to the police for FCPA violations.
- Do you think when Volkswagen "introduced" the I.D. in South Africa it was just for the photo shoots? Or maybe to invite select journalists to an exotic all-inclusive trip to a beautiful country?
- Do you think when Jaguar "introduced" the i-Pace in Portugal it was just for the photo shoots? Or maybe to invite select journalists to an exotic all-inclusive trip to a beautiful country? To quote one of the resulting articles:
- "It's why I found myself 12,000 miles from the office for a weekend. It's why Jaguar spent millions of pounds rotating 26 groups of journalists from all around the world through Portugal's charming sunbaked hills for a month and a half. I'm not sure how much it costs to rent a private plane, a world-class race track, an entire hotel, and truck in over 100 cars for six weeks - but you better believe me when I say they spared literally no expense for the I-PACE."
- And the expense paid off, to quote from the article:
- "From conception to reality, the 'luxury performance SUV' was born in a mind-boggling four years. “Where other companies talk about the future, we build it. We have torn up the rulebook," were the words spoken by JLR's top dog Dr. Ralf Speth himself."
- No, that's not an infomercial or press release from Jaguar. It was penned by an independent auto journalist.
- The article also refers to Tesla:
- "I've tried to resist bringing up Tesla until now, but while we're debunking that bandwagon, let's agree that the I-PACE's aesthetics are infinitely more appealing than the Model X."
- Note how unintentionally revealing that sentence is, not primarily in its false negativity, but the "I've tried to resist bringing up Tesla". WHY would an auto journalist NOT want to talk about the market leader and primary competitor of a new model when informing readers??
- There's also a couple of straight lies and pieces of FUD about Tesla:
- "Unlike the Tesla, the Jaguar can actually do other things beyond driving quickly in a straight line (and it doesn't cook itself after two laps either). The I-PACE went time and time again, as long and as hard as I pushed it, without noticeably letting up at all."
- ... and Jaguar got what they paid for:
- "Aside from the fact the Tesla's blown-up body looks like it's had an allergic reaction to a bee sting, it's interior really is just too minimal. The I-PACE, meanwhile, looks like it should have a cameo roaming another planet in an episode of Lost In Space and has enough buttons for you to feel in control of the essentials."
In the auto journalism world it's apparently totally routine to get "specially prepped cars", "discounts", in addition to free trips to "introductions", which result in gushing articles and Tesla-bashing to make sure the next invitation is in the mailbox...
This is not a "conspiracy" as @tinm is suggesting, it's a sporadically but consistently documented quid pro quo scheme between car manufacturers and auto journalists whose true scope I'm sure is an order of magnitude larger than what gets documented accidentally and indirectly.
I'm pretty sure that Tesla's well documented refusal to dance with auto journalists: "[Tesla] never offered anything other than best wishes" is one of the major reasons behind the generally unfriendly coverage by auto journalists.