Anti-Tesla Pickup Truck Drivers Take Over a Supercharger Station -- Again (electrek.co) 719
An anonymous reader quotes Electrek:
In what is quickly becoming a problem for some Tesla drivers, pickup truck drivers have again taken over a Supercharger station and yelled profanities in what appears to be an act of protest against Tesla. Earlier this month, we reported on a strange situation at Tesla's Hickory Supercharger in North Carolina where three large pickup trucks blocked access to the station and reportedly chanted "F*** Tesla"....
Now it looks like it's becoming a trend since another Reddit user spotted pickup truck drivers taking over another Tesla Supercharger. They reportedly were also yelling profanities to Tesla owners coming to charge at the Supercharger station.
Electrek also cites one Tesla owner's reports of being "coal rolled" -- intentionally targetted with extra black exhaust fumes from specially-modified engines.
Now it looks like it's becoming a trend since another Reddit user spotted pickup truck drivers taking over another Tesla Supercharger. They reportedly were also yelling profanities to Tesla owners coming to charge at the Supercharger station.
Electrek also cites one Tesla owner's reports of being "coal rolled" -- intentionally targetted with extra black exhaust fumes from specially-modified engines.
Classic (Score:3, Funny)
No better way to convince people they're wrong/dumb than being an asshole to them. These truckers should run for office
Re: Classic (Score:5, Insightful)
Truckers drive trucks, including Teslaâ(TM)s. These rednecks are in coal/oil, which pumps money in piss poor towns. They have picked a losing fight.
Re: Classic (Score:3, Interesting)
This is a fake-out. The original reddit post used a cropped photo that deliberately didn't show several vacant recharging stations. That reddit post has since been picked up by various news and blog sites, which has been used as further verification from yet more news sites.
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WHILE watching Fox 'News'
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Re: Rethuglicans loved using it. (Score:3)
Sorry to disappoint but I'm not a Republican, or a Democrat for that matter. Quite frankly I wish all you extremists, left and right, would take your hate and prejudice and fuck off.
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One of the lesser known functions of the highway system is for national defense. It's not just about civilian shit.
Also, those non-urban areas have people that pay their taxes just like the urban areas.
Also, again, those highways to nowhere are what connect your urban areas together so you can move between them, and connect farms to your grocery stores so you have food to eat.
Just have them towed. (Score:4, Insightful)
If it isn't a tow away zone then somebody screwed up.
Re:Just have them towed. (Score:5, Funny)
Really-- call a tow company in there, block them in, and hook up towing gear, and charge them a stiff fee.
If it isn't a tow away zone then somebody screwed up.
They don't need a tow truck. Teslas have a lot of low-end torque and a Model S or X could easily drag those pickups out of the parking spots.
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They don't need a tow truck. Teslas have a lot of low-end torque and a Model S or X could easily drag those pickups out of the parking spots.
Now that would be embarrassing.
Re:Just have them towed. (Score:5, Interesting)
Really-- call a tow company in there, block them in, and hook up towing gear, and charge them a stiff fee.
If it isn't a tow away zone then somebody screwed up.
They don't need a tow truck. Teslas have a lot of low-end torque and a Model S or X could easily drag those pickups out of the parking spots.
Forget a damn pick-up truck, a Tesla Model X P100D can, and has towed an actual Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. That's a 130 tonne aircraft being pulled 300 meters [youtube.com].
See one of these many, many articles [google.com]. Or this one [businessinsider.com.au].
For a Model X, a pick up truck isn't going to be a problem.
Re:Just have them towed. (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Just have them towed. (Score:4, Informative)
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AFAIK, the problem is not towing (though that in itself is usually not too good for the gearbox) but braking.
I saw a video of a VW Touareg (V10) towing such a jet. While the Touareg needed extra sandbags to improve traction, the driver said the techs had told him not to use the brakes, under any circumstances. They certainly weren't designed for such a weight.
Re: Just have them towed. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: Just have them towed. (Score:4, Insightful)
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No, see my other comment. They can tow the truck with the wheels completely locked up.
It isn't about power, it's about friction on the wheels. If the two vehicles have roughly the same friction coefficient, the Tesla wins because it is heavier. It also has higher starting torque, but that doesn't actually matter because the truck's wheels will be free-spinning while it is dragged forward.
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I loved my diesel when i owned one, but one thing it severely lacked was bottom end torque. Had to get that motor spinning over a grand before it hit its power curve.
Now steam, 1000+lbs of torque at zero rpm, 0-75 in 5-10 secs (wiki quotes 10, another site, 5, but that might have been Hughes's souped up one) doing 900 rpm at 75. 1500 miles to a tank of water. Drawbacks included that 30 seconds warm up, high periodic maintenance and a price close to $20,000 when a Ford cost $400. Quieter then a Telsa too.
htt [hemmings.com]
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Need traction as well as torque.
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Teslas are heavy (all those batteries) and many have 4WD.
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And not even allowed to have a passenger due to the 3500kg weight limit of cars.
What? What are you on about? Every vehicle has its own gross weight allowance.
There's a reason pickup trucks are not popular in Europe.
The lads on Top Gear (at the time) stated that you had vans instead of pickups because if you had a pickup, someone would nick stuff out of the bed every time you stopped at a red light. Here in the USA, we seem to have much less of that kind of crime for some reason. It's not that nobody ever steals anything out of a pickup truck, but for the most part you can drive from place to place picking stuff up without worrying about it u
Re: Just have them towed. (Score:5, Informative)
Yep.
Tesla Model X easily tows Chevy Silverado 1500 from Supercharger in âDe-ICE-ingâ(TM) feat
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.teslarati.com/tesla-model-x-tows-chevy-silverado-1500-pickup-truck-de-ice-ing-supercharger/amp/
Re: Just have them towed. (Score:5, Interesting)
This should be stated more clearly: Tesla Model X easily tows Chevy Silverado 1500 with the Chevy's rear wheels locked!
Pretty cool!
Although I don't see the point of ICEing. Is this people trying to be stupid for stupid's sake?
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2WD trucks have most of their weight on the undriven (also unlocked) wheels. Teslas have lots of weight and many are 4WD.
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Although I don't see the point of ICEing. Is this people trying to be stupid for stupid's sake?
You've clearly never been to North Carolina.
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Your tag line is great. I assume you are trying to say if you want to regulate business and guns, and provide healthcare that you are a Nazi?
Here let me try.
The Nazi Party: Militaristic, anti-Immigrant, anti-Gay, anti-Minority, aggressive and resentful of how history has treated our kind. Make Germany Great Again!
So, just call the police. (Score:5, Insightful)
How hard is that?
Or I guess you could just pull out your guns and have a showdown. Seriously are people this stupid?
Re:So, just call the police. (Score:5, Funny)
Seriously are people this stupid?
If you don't know, you don't want to.
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Re:So, just call the police. (Score:4, Interesting)
The best response is to tweet a pic of the trucks and hope the owners get forever doxxed out of any job that pays above minumum wage.
That'll learn 'em!
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Carry an extension cord. Park longwise behind the pickups blocking them in. Plug in with the extension cord.
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Great idea, except that the current that gets pulled from a Supercharger would melt a standard extension cord to slag in seconds.
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Re:So, just call the police. (Score:4, Insightful)
This is america we are talking about. Those rednecks are probably the cops themselves.
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Yeah, until goddamn the hillbillies beat the shit out of you and destroy your phone. Putting yourself into physical confrontation with that kind of person, and threatening them with the police, is a great way to find out just how stupid they are.
Getting into a gunfight with them is likely to result in either your death or felony charges.
Gee what a surprise (Score:2, Informative)
Redneck trump supporters being total dickheads. Not surprised by this at all.
Hehe (Score:5, Insightful)
First they ignore Tesla
Then they laugh at Tesla
Then they fight Tesla <--
Then Tesla wins
Re:Hehe (Score:5, Insightful)
Please point to where oil and coal companies aren't getting subsidized but getting by entirely on their own merit.
They'll do it as long as they get attention... (Score:5, Insightful)
I suspect that it's a ploy to dissuade buying electric by presenting a "Electric car owners will be bullied" sentiment. I have no doubt it's orchestrated as I am sure the drivers or the utes have better things to do really.
The inevitable EV revolution is being attacked on many fronts.
I really don’t get it (Score:5, Interesting)
What exactly do the truck drivers think they’re accomplishing? And what do they think they’re protesting?
I realize these guys are likely not the brightest bulbs in the box... but seriously, they must have at least a vaguely-defined reason they are choosing to do this.
I'm just spitballing here (Score:5, Insightful)
Still, I could be totally wrong. Like the author if TFA I'd love to just ask them why.
Re:I'm just spitballing here (Score:5, Insightful)
A lot of them just seem to enjoy upsetting "liberals", in the broadest possible sense.
They feel that "liberals" had to good under Obama, with a lot of changes in their favour like marriage equality and other rights, and a general recognition by society that some behaviour was no longer acceptable. Now they feel things are swinging back the other way and are emboldened to to this kind of stuff.
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You might try checking out the pricing of pickup trucks.
I had a quick look over at ford.com today. And unless you're settling for the most bare-bones Ranger (Which is already ridonklously overpriced at $25K.); you're spending quite a pretty penny. With the F-series, which the googles tell me is the best-selling pickup of the lot of them; a middle-of-the-pack setup will put you well into the pricing of a nicely equipped BMW 2, 3, or 4-series, mid-range Infinitis or Lexuses (Lexuii???), or a very nice 370Z.
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if they're blue collar then odds are good they're not doing so hot economically since blue collar types got hammered in the last recession and never really recovered.
It's a wild guess, but they might even be voting for the party that keeps hammering blue collar types.
Re:I really don’t get it (Score:5, Interesting)
My feeling is many of the people that own and drive personal pickup trucks all the time; even when they're not actually hauling anything are self-centered arrogant SOBs who compare p***s links with each other; couldn't care less about being green, and often either don't think the rules apply to them -- or challenge the rules frequently through open defiance, Such as parking as to straddle two parking spaces, ignoring the lines, double parking locking people in, pulling in parallel to perpendicular parking, or pulling in perpendicular to parallel parking, etc.
Many Supercharger stations are in sectioned off area of a larger parking lot ---
the pickup drivers' ego is probably irked that someone else is special, other than them. Tesla drivers get dedicated Tesla-only "parking" areas in a crowded space, and that alone drives them batshit insane.
Re:I really don’t get it (Score:5, Insightful)
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Pickups aren't usually that fuel inefficient, maybe 20 mpg instead of 30
More like 20 mpg City, 23 mpg Highway Instead of: 30 mpg City, 40 mpg Highway.
Driving only 2/3 the miles is kind of a big deal; it means you need 1.5x as much fuel which also means 1.5x as much
fuel cost, for city driving, and 2x as much fuel and 2x as much cost for highway driving.
For an average driver, that's $1600 a year in gas, instead of $800.
And there's a simple solution for occasional hauling --- fit your car wit
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They are protesting the size of their brains. They feel short changed, unfairly discriminated against, victims of tiny brain syndrome, being born a dumb loser, being human genetics bitch, fucked in the head, from conception to death, unfairly victimised by everyone in society smarter than them.
Is it fair and reasonable for those born genetically, well, stupid, to be so victimised by society, at the very bottom of the pay scale, doesn't not matter, colour, creed or religion, born to a shitty minimum wage wi
Re:I really don’t get it (Score:5, Informative)
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What exactly do the truck drivers think they’re accomplishing? And what do they think they’re protesting?
Just guessing here. Accomplishing: irritating Tesla owners, making it less convenient to own a Tesla. Protesting: subsidies to Tesla, people who don't like fossil fuels, environmentalism in general.
Good for the goose, good for the gander (Score:3)
"...if you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them. And you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.” - Maxine Waters
"at a gasoline station"...hmmm? Maybe it isn't a good idea to incite that kind of activity.
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Not so sure. These are the same people who spend hundreds adding a switch to detune their engine so it will blow clouds of soot. They tend to use it to blow soot at economy cars as well as electric and hybrid.
LOLZ - mostly not happening (Score:4, Interesting)
We have quite a few of those recharging station at the malls and railroad stations around here, 16 within 2 miles of me..... never seen them blocked by anything or anyone, ever.
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Yes, if you personally have not experienced it, it can not possibly happen.
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I've not seen any group efforts to block superchargers but this week I did see a single incident. I pulled into a supercharger station in Sandy, OR and plugged in to get a top off. I was the only Tesla there using them at the time. At the end of the row, however, was a huge diesel van; one of those 'earthroamer' types that was jacked up on high suspension with big tires, parked sideways across three of the spots.
A few minutes later the driver got back to his vehicle. He saw me sitting in my model 3, flipp
Re:LOLZ - mostly not happening (Score:5, Informative)
no one asked for article implying incidents at a whopping total of 3 stations out of 16,000+ were indicative of anything either.
I live near one of the largest cities in the United States (also one of the "top ten EV friendly cities"), nothing like that has ever been reported here.
In short, what this article is trying to make a news item out of, mostly is not happening anywhere, to anyone.
Nice... (Score:4, Informative)
Nice, have these idiots vehicles legally towed and let them enjoy their ridiculous impound fees that most communities have. Maybe they'll direct their far right rage towards the bullshit government attitude towards the privatization of impound lots. Your car was towed on a Friday? Good luck low income person being able to afford getting your car out of impound on Monday.
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That depends very much on where the charging station is - many are on private property, and if asked to leave they must.
So yes, a representative of the property owner would need to ask them to leave before towing them.
Of course, if a sign was put up warning them that non-tesla vehicles will immediately be towed at owners expense, then no such warning would be required.
Prius drivers in good company (Score:3)
https://www.businessinsider.co... [businessinsider.com]
Extreme dumbassery on both sides. (Score:2)
Big truck drivers must not have much to do. I wonder how long they waited for somebody to actually wanna use those chargers? Must have been a sale on Copenhagen and Budwieser.
In TFA, Tesla driver reports “took them 10 minutes or so and one of them did that ‘I’m going to hit you’ maneuver after circling the parking lot.”
WTF is a ‘I’m going to hit you’ maneuver?
Sooner or later (Score:3)
Someone is going to die.
Whether it's a pregnant woman being driven to hospital in a Tesla dying of complications, a kid getting hit by something thrown, raised tempers turning ugly, someone failing to stop in time for the parked cars...
And the truckers will deny it has anything to do with them. Legally, they'd probably be right. Blood on innocent hands.
The Tesla drivers will deny any blame, too, if it's a case of raised tempers. Stand your ground is a legal defence.
It wouldn't matter if they had to stack the bodies in a double 40' trailer. Nobody's guilty here, your honor.
Who the hell gives a shit what you think of such and such a political ideology that nobody here can define anyway. Who the hell cares what you think of Tesla or truckers?
Is the absolute certainty of accidental death of someone who has nothimg to do with either side a desired outcome? This isn't whatiffery, this is guaranteed if these incidents keep happening.
At what point is it more important to find and apply a fix than to whine about the bug?
My guess is never. The days when getting things done mattered are long over.
Now get off my lawn!
Hillbillies at their worst (Score:2)
Define 'quickly becoming a problem' (Score:5, Interesting)
In what is quickly becoming a problem for some Tesla drivers
It's happened TWICE - that's the same number of times Hillary lost her bid for President...
Let's not over-react.
Why don't you try to UNDERSTAND the other side ? (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm a suburbanite and I've been driving a hybrid Camry since 2007 and I like it.
But I don't think that insulting these truck owners (or vice versa) is going to help anybody.
I think that electric vehicles pose a very real threat to the jobs and the future of many rural Americans, who feel that their work depends on trucks, cars, vehicle repair, oil, oil equipment, coal, scrap yards, etc, etc.
That is especially the case today, when Tesla has been publicizing the success of their SELF-DRIVING electric SEMI-trucks. Tesla says that in a convoy, they are more energy efficient than trains. They even have a standing order for HUNDREDS of these new trucks from Walmart, rural America's love/hate store/employer.
For years, the only way that a rural American could escape and see the world was to either drive a truck or work on the railroad.
Its a fundamental part of American culture, and it doesn't escape these people that Tesla's development poses a tangible threat to that way of life.
There are political and economic solutions that could provide jobs AND save the environment, but its not going to happen by spewing all this filth.
Redneck snowflakes are the worst. (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't think that insulting these truck owners (or vice versa) is going to help anybody.
Fuck these fragile snowflakes who are so afraid of change that they'll go park their trucks in front of another guy's filling station. That's small ball. You don't see Tesla owners blockading filling stations.
They don't get to be assholes and expect that anyone will listen to them. The American Yahoo is something to be derided and mocked. I've met them - if you aren't like them, you're their plaything or their enemy. They'll screw you mercilessly if they have an angle, and they'll laugh to their buddies about it later.
For years, the only way that a rural American could escape and see the world was to either drive a truck or work on the railroad. Its a fundamental part of American culture, and it doesn't escape these people that Tesla's development poses a tangible threat to that way of life.
Railways will continue to exist. Trucks will continue to exist. The rednecks will still be able to hoot and holler and do doughnuts in walmart parking lots at midnight. Soon they'll be able to stagger out of their shitty bars and have their trucks drive them home without the usual DUI along the way. You don't need to be doing the driving to see the country.
I think that electric vehicles pose a very real threat to the jobs and the future of many rural Americans, who feel that their work depends on trucks, cars, vehicle repair, oil, oil equipment, coal, scrap yards, etc, etc.
The fact is, moving goods around and monkey-wrenching are not going to be fallback jobs for Joe Schmoe anymore. They only ever paid reasonably well because they're shit jobs that no one with half a brain wants. Those jobs will go away, because it's cheaper and more pleasant to deal with a self-driving vehicle than it is to deal with Joe Schmoe. Time for Joe to do something with his life.
Re:Redneck snowflakes are the worst. (Score:4, Funny)
Yeah, those pickup truck drivers are the REAL victims here! They should be allowed to molest Tesla drivers in peace! How dare someone harshly criticize them -- on the Internet, no less! -- simply for exercising their right to be assholes? It's a horrible injustice, I say!
Land of the free (Score:3)
home of the stupid bullies.
Trump as a President fits perfectly.
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Tesla owners are scared of guns. They would cry if they saw one.
Re:Speak a language they can understand (Score:5, Funny)
Tesla owners are scared of guns. They would cry if they saw one.
They seem pretty fond of flamethrowers [boringcompany.com] though.
Re:Speak a language they can understand (Score:5, Insightful)
The right-wing in the USA operates under a lot of myths that they tell themselves about the other side. One thing they believe is that if it ever "came down to it" their side would obviously win in any kind of civil war that they like to fantasize about.
It's because they operate under the belief that they must be an entirely homogenous group so the other side must be as well. Since they perceive the "typical" left-winger as some kind of weak willed pansy they assume they must all be like that.
Which as an aside, a right-wing myth is in play with the gov't shutdown as well, which is the right-wing pushes the narrative that almost all gov't employees are democrats that are leaching off their tax dollars when the reality is the gov't employees are split much in the same proportions as the rest of the country, about 30% republican, about 30% democrat, and the rest independents.
You also see it in rhetoric about who receives gov't social welfare benefits. They love to present the myth of them all being inner city and minority when the reality is that there are more rural whites receiving social welfare benefits than city minorities.
But back to my original point, one myth they love is that republicans surely have all the guns and make up all the military and law enforcement when the reality is that an estimated 45% of guns are in the hands of democrats and that while it's true republicans have a majority in military and law enforcement, it's only a little more than half.
In spite of what the NRA likes to push there are loads of gun owners and enthusiasts who see no issue with some common sense regulation around guns, and that's not just democrat gun owners but republicans as well.
Re: Speak a language they can understand (Score:2, Insightful)
Those that publicly claim to be a gun owner are seldom capable of effectively using a firearm. Beware of the person with a single firearm ... and keeps it a secret.
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I know a guy with two firearm. His name is Johnny Storm.
Re:Speak a language they can understand (Score:5, Insightful)
I have a Tesla and own several guns. If this was happening to me, I would construe it as a threat upon my being and I wouldn't hesitate to put the assailant(s) to death.
This is why a mental health assessment should be required for both gun ownership and a drivers license. You should have neither.
Re:Speak a language they can understand (Score:5, Funny)
Then I have good news for you: He has neither.
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"diagnosis of "mental illness" has been used to suppress political dissent by many different tyrannical regimes."
Some people are dangerous, unstable, and crazy regardless of who is in charge.
You're both right. And sometimes, someone dangerous, unstable, and crazy is in charge...
Re:Speak a language they can understand (Score:5, Funny)
your airsoft gun will just make them angry, basement dweller. besides, you'll get a sunburn.
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oh boy, John Wick lives, and threatens geeks on slashdot. I'm shaking in my boots, er slippers, right now.
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Re:Speak a language they can understand (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Speak a language they can understand (Score:5, Insightful)
They aren't protesting anything. They are just being jackasses. I think the pickups should be crushed into little cubes. It would not particularly upset me if the owners were inside during the operation.
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Re:Speak a language they can understand (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Good for them. (Score:5, Insightful)
We will replace you. And all your coal rolling desperation does is tell us you know it too.
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Re: Just a response to smugness (Score:2)
Are you really that fragile.
Re: Just a response to smugness (Score:3, Funny)
Taxes are how evil liberal Muslim gay atheists steal the pretty women from us real Muricans. Fucking bastards with their "good higene" and elitist "literacy".
Trumps gonna build that wall with clean coal and make murica great like back in the fifties!
Yes, he does know how taxes work. (Score:3)
Actually I think you dont have a clue how taxes work.
What the grantparent said is true. Both teslas and charging stations are subsidized by taxes.
As of course are a lot of other things, however it does not make it untrue.
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And who do we have to thank for that, other than Elon Musk?
Because the last time the established car companies made electric cars, it did not end well [imdb.com].
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Tesla: Why are you blocking the entrance?
Redneck: Go home, fag!
Tesla: OK, I'm gay. But why?
Redneck: Fuck you!
Tesla: (drops his pants)
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Amiably agree to just split, no civil war necessary. The middle and the South get their "news" from Fox, Breitbart, and AM pundits
This is how it looks if you ignore reality. But in fact, much of the south has become extremely progressive. Their votes are being miscounted or just made irrelevant (through gerrymandering) to keep the conservatives in charge, but several of those states (notably including Texas) would probably be blue today if not for gerrymandering. We need to pull through this thing together. Giving up on the union is what Putin wants. Don't be his useful idiot.