this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2023
410 points (100.0% liked)

Fuck Cars

430 readers
6 users here now

This community exists as a sister community/copycat community to the r/fuckcars subreddit.

This community exists for the following reasons:

You can find the Matrix chat room for this community here.

Rules

  1. Be nice to each other. Being aggressive or inflammatory towards other users will get you banned. Name calling or obvious trolling falls under that. Hate cars, hate the system, but not people. While some drivers definitely deserve some hate, most of them didn't choose car-centric life out of free will.

  2. No bigotry or hate. Racism, transphobia, misogyny, ableism, homophobia, chauvinism, fat-shaming, body-shaming, stigmatization of people experiencing homeless or substance users, etc. are not tolerated. Don't use slurs. You can laugh at someone's fragile masculinity without associating it with their body. The correlation between car-culture and body weight is not an excuse for fat-shaming.

  3. Stay on-topic. Submissions should be on-topic to the externalities of car culture in urban development and communities globally. Posting about alternatives to cars and car culture is fine. Don't post literal car fucking.

  4. No traffic violence. Do not post depictions of traffic violence. NSFW or NSFL posts are not allowed. Gawking at crashes is not allowed. Be respectful to people who are a victim of traffic violence or otherwise traumatized by it. News articles about crashes and statistics about traffic violence are allowed. Glorifying traffic violence will get you banned.

  5. No reposts. Before sharing, check if your post isn't a repost. Reposts that add something new are fine. Reposts that are sharing content from somewhere else are fine too.

  6. No misinformation. Masks and vaccines save lives during a pandemic, climate change is real and anthropogenic - and denial of these and other established facts will get you banned. False or highly speculative titles will get your post deleted.

  7. No harassment. Posts that (may) cause harassment, dogpiling or brigading, intentionally or not, will be removed. Please do not post screenshots containing uncensored usernames. Actual harassment, dogpiling or brigading is a bannable offence.

Please report posts and comments that violate our rules.

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] li10@feddit.uk 55 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I remember when Teslas used to be cool.

Now I see them all the time, and they might as well swap the badge for one that says “cunt”, it would be less embarrassing.

[–] Steeve@lemmy.ca 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Buy a Tesla because you're trying to help the environment and it was regarded as the best EV at the time

Tesla starts making their products shittier

Tesla lied about range

Tesla CEO loses his mind, buys a social media company, drives it into the ground

Someone on the internet says you're a cunt because you own a Tesla

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] grue@lemmy.ml 44 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Electric cars are still cars, and therefore do fuck-all to fix the real problem of excessive use of land for parking lots, low-density zoning, and lack of walkability.

The only way to have communities that are healthy and sustainable (ecologically, financially, or otherwise) is to fix the zoning code so that folks don't need to drive in the first place.

[–] FlowVoid@midwest.social 23 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Or just reduce the need to drive, for example by encouraging remote work.

[–] Gormadt@lemmy.blahaj.zone 16 points 1 year ago

Oh man when almost everything was remote my commute was so nice. 12 miles in 15 - 17 minutes instead of almost double that everyday.

Unfortunately I operate a forklift so I have to be there in person but damn was it super nice.

Currently I'm trying to encourage and raise support for more bike infrastructure locally so it's an actually viable option intead of it's currently not so viable state.

[–] library_napper@monyet.cc 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Establishing maximums on parking lot sizes to be drastically less than the building's capacity would help

[–] grue@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Maximums aren't necessarily the problem, since developers are incentivized by market forces not to build more parking than necessary.

The problem is parking minimums, which are based on numbers pulled out of somebody's ass 80 years ago and (to the extent they correlated with anything at all) tend to be closer to the maximum that could ever conceivably be needed (think "Black Friday at a shopping center") more than anything else!

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org 38 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Extra frustrating because even though Musk is associated wholesale with Tesla, he is not actually a founder.

Yet another example of the rich running shit into the ground with poor decisions.

[–] Dangeresque@infosec.pub 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

As much as I think musk is an asshole he did put his money where his mouth is in Tesla which notably almost went bankrupt twice. The reality is that Elon distaste matters orders of magnitude less to buyers than value. I mean people hate Walmart and yet they make a ton of money. Other manufacturers cannot make profitable cars at the price point Tesla is offering. Tesla is going to end up the largest car manufacturer in the world. On Twitter yeah he is running it into the ground arguably on purpose but on Tesla and space x he is doing pretty good. I don't understand what people taking this angle think the founder would have done better. The founder would have just gone bankrupt with Tesla or sold to someone else.

I would also add that people don't deal with Elon when buying a Tesla, but they do have to deal with shitty dealers when buying another brand.

Most people are just going to buy the car that is the best value with the least effort.

[–] NotYourSocialWorker@feddit.nu 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I mean people hate Walmart and yet they make a ton of money.

The difference to Walmart is that there are alternatives, especially these days, to Tesla. Walmart on the other hand is known to push out smaller retailers in the town they settle into. The option for people can be really slim regardless if you like them or not.

Not to mention you have to consider demographics. Walmart is a value brand. When it edges out the local businesses, they get de-facto monopoly. There's no where else to go if you can't shop the higher retailers. Tesla had first-mover advantage with the flashy claims and making an EV not look like a Dustbuster. They ran out the goodwill and runway and they will get eaten alive by the seasoned manufacturers. They will have their segment of the market but you'll more likely see the same brands convert people from petrol to EV or H2 if white hydrogen is actually a thing.

[–] stilgar@infosec.pub 35 points 1 year ago (3 children)

No one cares about the rich assholes who own other car companies, so why Tesla? For example Toyota were some of the biggest campaign donors to Trump.

Also what does this have to do with Fuck Cars? This is about the minutiae of car culture... We should be talking about trains and bicycles here.

[–] NotYourSocialWorker@feddit.nu 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No one cares about the rich assholes who own other car companies, so why Tesla? For example Toyota were some of the biggest campaign donors to Trump.

Because the others know to keep their mouths shut and not draw attention to themselves. Also F Toyota for being donors.

Also what does this have to do with Fuck Cars? This is about the minutiae of car culture... We should be talking about trains and bicycles here.

This I totally agree with though. I would perhaps also include cars in the capacity of how they hurt our cities for instance, but in this case it's not like the article said that the Tesla owners bought bikes instead.

Iirc many Tesla owners were/are left leaning and I'm guessing many of them bought a Tesla in a combination of tech enthusiasm and wanting avoiding fossil fuel. The same group of people are probably more positive to, for instance, 15 min cities. So it's likely that some members here own a Tesla.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] cyborganism@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Wait. That Trump thing. You got a source? I'd love to learn more about it.

[–] stilgar@infosec.pub 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

OK my claim was a bit overblown, but they're not exactly strangers to the far right https://www.huffpost.com/entry/toyota-backlash-gop-donations_n_60dacd0ce4b08ef5e2be61c7

[–] cyborganism@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] pkulak 30 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Clicked through the first link and saw like half a dozen stickers with the only joke conservatives have ever been able to think of; "x identifies as y". Imagine thinking that's such a pinnacle of comedy that you reuse it for everything you can think of for years and years, never tiring of it.

[–] YeeHaw 28 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Imagine "Twitter stuff" being your breaking point after all the bad shit Musk did. These people are the real problem.

[–] MossyFeathers@pawb.social 21 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

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?

[–] Dangeresque@infosec.pub 3 points 1 year ago

Look I get it. Elon is an asshole. But the thing is he took his money and put it into two companies that people basically laughed out of the room as a joke. That is why he is worth so much now.

[–] mreiner 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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.

[–] yozul 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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.

[–] mreiner 1 points 1 year ago

Ok, but the comment to which I was replying was referring to when Tesla (supposedly) opened up their parents almost a decade ago so I’m not sure your comment addresses my question.

[–] Dangeresque@infosec.pub 1 points 1 year ago

Honestly it's pretty shocking they are all essentially saying don't buy our cars for a year because our charging network can't compete with Tesla.

[–] MossyFeathers@pawb.social 1 points 1 year ago

Tbh I don't actually have any sources for cars using the patent, it was my understanding however that a number of the patents were related to things like how the batteries were designed. As such, it makes logical sense to me that the explosion of electric cars with Tesla-like ranges would indicate that they were using Tesla's tech to some extent. However, after your reply I did look to see if there was any concrete information about whether or not anyone is using them, and found this article from 2015 in which Musk claims there are/were multiple parties using their patents. That's Musk's claim though, and he didn't provide any proof for it so take that with a grain of salt.

Secondly, something to note is that the Chevy Volt (2010) didn't launch until after the Tesla Roadster (2008) had already been released. What's important, imo, is that the previous full-electric cars were cars like the GM EV-1, Ford Ranger EV, Chrysler TEVan, Chevy S-10 EV, Honda EV Plus, or the infamous G-Wiz. All of these cars have something in common, which is that they were very slow, had very short ranges, took a long time to charge, and were fairly expensive and/or had a very limited run (or you had to be entered into a lottery to buy one). Some, like the GM EV-1 were forcefully recalled and destroyed after their makers got bored of them and declared them a failure. Finally, I like this quote from the Wikipedia article on the history of electric cars:

In an August 2009 edition of The New Yorker, GM vice-chairman Bob Lutz was quoted as saying, "All the geniuses here at General Motors kept saying lithium-ion technology is 10 years away, and Toyota agreed with us – and boom, along comes Tesla. So I said, 'How come some tiny little California startup, run by guys who know nothing about the car business, can do this, and we can't?' That was the crowbar that helped break up the log jam."

[–] NikkiNikkiNikki@kbin.social 7 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Well that's because he went from having an ounce of credibility to none at all.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] sabreW4K3@lemmy.tf 21 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I would prefer they drive a Tesla than a petrol car. But if they swap to another electric car, I'll take it. I hope they advocate for better public transport links locally though.

[–] LaSaucisseMasquee@jlai.lu 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

What would be the purpose of swapping ?

It wouldn’t automagically reuse the resources used to build the Tesla car into another one.

[–] czech@kbin.social 11 points 1 year ago

This is a stretch but with bad press the resale value of existing teslas may drop to within reach of more consumers who would otherwise drive an ICE.

[–] bioemerl@kbin.social 13 points 1 year ago

Would generally be better if they just kept driving their old car.

[–] Empricorn@feddit.nl 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is the equivalent of voting Republican, then complaining how everything is getting worse.

[–] donnachaidh@lemmy.dcmrobertson.com 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Eh, if you vote Republican, complain about things getting worse, then vote Democrat, that's changing your mind. If I saw someone with that sticker, I'd assume they regret the decision and won't be getting another one. Being able to change your opinion with new information really shouldn't be discouraged.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] ThePac@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 year ago

Meh, I don't give a fuck. Best car I've ever owned and Musk can eat a diiiiiiiiiiiiick.

[–] VanillaGorilla@kbin.social 7 points 1 year ago

I was so close to getting one. What a disgrace that would have been...

[–] Asymptote@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 year ago

"Ugh. A Ford, I know. I bought it before the nazi stuff"

Who the fuck cares. It's a tool. You don't care if the multinational corporation behind Disney World is a reprehensible child rape factory either.

[–] roguetrick@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

This is the only time I'd accept someone calling something virtue signaling.

[–] downpunxx@kbin.social 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

when you find out the owner of the brand you're literally flying the flag of is a fascist, and you don't make a change, it's at that point you become the asshole flying the fascists flag. virtue signaling. jesus fucking christ.

[–] roguetrick@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I've got no clue what point you're trying to make. Are you pro-bumper sticker or something? "Sorry I shoulda boycotted." Very helpful.

[–] kitonthenet@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Tbf it’s a decent virtue to signal on

[–] roguetrick@kbin.social 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

"Eat the rich" is. "I don't like the guy who profited off this car" is quite weak. I don't expect many Tesla owners to expouse eating the rich though.

[–] kitonthenet@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The man gave Andrew Tate $50k, he sucks pretty bad

[–] ReMikeAble 1 points 1 year ago

I thought Andy T was a multi-bajillionaire, now I have to rethink everything.

[–] ThePac@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago

My buddy sold his Y because his wife hated it and so he tells people it's because of Musk.

It wasn't because of Musk.

[–] BruceTwarzen@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

Because they were so great before?

load more comments
view more: next ›