He had some credibility with nerds because Tesla transformed the electric car market* and was making contributions to renewable energy storage, SpaceX revived the idea of doing more in space than just launching the occasional satellite or probe, and Starlink was pitched with the idea that it’d bring about globally accessable, high-speed low-latency internet. The result is that, because he is the face of Tesla, SpaceX and Starlink, he received the major of the credit for them. Nerds were willing to overlook the fact that he was an asshole for the contributions that his companies were making to science and technology because either “he’s just shitposting” or “sometimes you have to take what you can get *shrug*”. It wasn’t until he bought Twitter that they realized that he’s not just shitposting, he really is just like that, and that maybe he was causing more harm than he was doing good.
Source: My dad and I had a lot of respect for him up until he bought Twitter and started throwing a temper tantrum. My opinion of him was already waning when I saw the fit he threw about not being able to use his submarine and the bigoted shit he said on Twitter, but him buying Twitter broke any illusions that the either of us had about him being even a somewhat decent person. I’ve also seen others have similar experiences as well.
* seriously, does no one remember how the major car manufacturers were trying to bury electric cars? Does no one remember that one of the big reasons why we have so many electric cars now is because Tesla voluntarily released all their patents to the public in 2014?
I agree that Tesla did a TON to popularize electric vehicles when the closest thing from a major American auto manufacturer at the time was probably the plug-in hybrid Chevy Volt. That spark, largely ignited by Tesla, is likely a huge reason we have many of the options we do today.
It’s a shame major manufacturers like Toyota and Honda still won’t get onboard (yes, Toyota technically has a single EV offering as of this year, but good luck finding it and most reviews seem to find it underwhelming at best), but I think that fact further bolsters your point. If those two major players still can’t be bothered to get involved, I think it does indicate that what Tesla did during the last decade or so helped inspire others to get into the market that may not have otherwise.
That said, do we have any evidence that Tesla’s announcement of a plan to release their patents in 2014 really made any real difference? I am unaware of any of those patents being used by competitors anywhere, though it is entirely possible I am uninformed and I’d appreciate any sources you have.
I think one of the most glaring examples that the patent release may have had little to no impact is that the now-presumptuously-renamed “NACS” connector still isn’t used by anyone other than Tesla almost a decade on. In fact, SAE only announced that they would standardize the thing at the end of June this year.
Again, I freely admit that I agree Tesla deserves credit for finally creating a real, mainstream electric vehicle market. However, I am personally unaware of any benefits their 2014 “announcement of a plan to release their parents” has actually directly benefited the industry.
Ford, GM, Volvo, Nissan, Rivian, Polestar, and Mercedes-Benz have all announced that they will support NACS with an adaptor some time next year, and they will all have NACS ports in 2025.
Imagine “Twitter stuff” being your breaking point after all the bad shit Musk did. These people are the real problem.
He had some credibility with nerds because Tesla transformed the electric car market* and was making contributions to renewable energy storage, SpaceX revived the idea of doing more in space than just launching the occasional satellite or probe, and Starlink was pitched with the idea that it’d bring about globally accessable, high-speed low-latency internet. The result is that, because he is the face of Tesla, SpaceX and Starlink, he received the major of the credit for them. Nerds were willing to overlook the fact that he was an asshole for the contributions that his companies were making to science and technology because either “he’s just shitposting” or “sometimes you have to take what you can get *shrug*”. It wasn’t until he bought Twitter that they realized that he’s not just shitposting, he really is just like that, and that maybe he was causing more harm than he was doing good.
Source: My dad and I had a lot of respect for him up until he bought Twitter and started throwing a temper tantrum. My opinion of him was already waning when I saw the fit he threw about not being able to use his submarine and the bigoted shit he said on Twitter, but him buying Twitter broke any illusions that the either of us had about him being even a somewhat decent person. I’ve also seen others have similar experiences as well.
* seriously, does no one remember how the major car manufacturers were trying to bury electric cars? Does no one remember that one of the big reasons why we have so many electric cars now is because Tesla voluntarily released all their patents to the public in 2014?
I agree that Tesla did a TON to popularize electric vehicles when the closest thing from a major American auto manufacturer at the time was probably the plug-in hybrid Chevy Volt. That spark, largely ignited by Tesla, is likely a huge reason we have many of the options we do today.
It’s a shame major manufacturers like Toyota and Honda still won’t get onboard (yes, Toyota technically has a single EV offering as of this year, but good luck finding it and most reviews seem to find it underwhelming at best), but I think that fact further bolsters your point. If those two major players still can’t be bothered to get involved, I think it does indicate that what Tesla did during the last decade or so helped inspire others to get into the market that may not have otherwise.
That said, do we have any evidence that Tesla’s announcement of a plan to release their patents in 2014 really made any real difference? I am unaware of any of those patents being used by competitors anywhere, though it is entirely possible I am uninformed and I’d appreciate any sources you have.
I think one of the most glaring examples that the patent release may have had little to no impact is that the now-presumptuously-renamed “NACS” connector still isn’t used by anyone other than Tesla almost a decade on. In fact, SAE only announced that they would standardize the thing at the end of June this year.
Again, I freely admit that I agree Tesla deserves credit for finally creating a real, mainstream electric vehicle market. However, I am personally unaware of any benefits their 2014 “announcement of a plan to release their parents” has actually directly benefited the industry.
Ford, GM, Volvo, Nissan, Rivian, Polestar, and Mercedes-Benz have all announced that they will support NACS with an adaptor some time next year, and they will all have NACS ports in 2025.