Is Elon Musk hurting Tesla? (Mod Note Post #1)

FWIW I agree but unfortunately "expand the administrative state" has never won an election

Irish people are famously tax averse (e.g. spending thousands extra on an EV to save a couple hundred on road tax) and so always vote in parties that promise lower taxes while ignoring the consequences this has to public services

It's certainly a possibility that social media companies are based in Ireland because of toothless regulatory bodies but I suspect that's viewed more as a bonus than the main reason

If you want to start a party promising a massive improvement to public services funded by taxation then I'll actually vote for you. Unfortunately I suspect I'll be in the minority

https://electrek.co/2025/07/15/retro-futuristic-diner-supercharger-is-here-looks-sick/

Okay, let it not be said that I won't give credit where it's due, the Tesla Diner looks pretty cool and is definitely a win from what I've seen

Dunno how involved Elon was in the design but I believe the whole cyberpunk diner style was his idea and it really works

No idea what the interior is like, I imagine it's just as cool as the outside

Biggest criticism I can think of is the cinema screens, they're a nice idea but they're facing the wrong way for half the cars. Also I shudder to think what they'll be showing if Elon is in charge of the playlist

Will it shift the needle on sales? Probably not in the short term, it's too early to tell if the diner will be a success or will be repeated elsewhere

If they do start rolling out their own diners at Supercharger locations then 8t could be a good business and they also wouldn't need to tie future hubs to existing businesses as they've done until now

Not to mention other networks have gotten in on the idea, Ionity and Fastned have figured out that there's more profit in coffee than kilowatts and are creating their own rest areas

Then you've the likes of Circle K and Maxol who've figured out that a customer pinned in place for 20 minutes will probably get hungry or thirsty

A lot will depend on the food and general customer experience I reckon. I've long complained that very often the only options at most charging hubs are miserable fast food like McDonalds

I'm not expecting Michelin star or anything but if Tesla can provide some nicer food and a better general experience then it could be a winner. I suspect there may also be a discount for owners which would sweeten the deal

I do agree, it's one location at a very busy area which is guaranteed to be profitable. It'll be interesting to see if the idea takes flight or if they just roll out a couple of locations in the US and call it quits

Let me put it differently, I hate this debt fueled treadmill that other companies promote where you should get a new car every 3 years

Really we should be keeping cars going longer and just buying fewer new cars

Tesla favours this in some ways by ensuring older cars get continued updates well past the 3 year mark

Meanwhile my 2021 ID.4 has gotten exactly 1 feature update in the past year and is unlikely to get any more. No hope of getting the battery preheating function that newer cars have because VW aren't bothered figuring out how to do it for older hardware

I also like how Tesla are in favour of self servicing instead of bringing the car to the garage every 2 years to have a pollen filter changed

I agree there are also many ways in which Tesla screw their customers. Trade in seems to be the main complaint, however they're also very anti right to repair (an aspect other brands are copying unfortunately)

Was that addressed to me?

No I don't think Apple are pro customer since their products are designed to be as difficult to repair as possible

The recent generation iPhone is only easier from a repair perspective because they're getting ahead of EU rules on that

They aren't quite as bad as Samsung on the designed obsolescence side of things, they seem to support hardware for around 6-8 years which is decent enough

However given the phone can be effectively destroyed by a single drop and the cost to repair is usually similar to the price of a new phone, then the long software support isn't worth much

In that respect, it's possible to argue Tesla have a similar attitude given some of the repair cost horror stories

I have to admit that is news to me

Did Apple say that? Kind of seems like the kind of thing they'd claim

Sigh...

You got a point to make them make it

Actually, don't bother, I'm out for a while again. See you all in a month if the site is still active