Pertinent to the discussion at hand, there was an article posted yesterday on the Energy Collective website titled "Why Electric Car Hype Is Overblown".

The highlights are:

- Electric cars offer no clear fuel cost savings relative to efficient internal combustion engine (ICE) options.
- CO2 and tailpipe emission benefits are also insignificant relative to efficient ICEs.
- Attractive car-free lifestyle options will reduce demand for city driving patterns that are best suited to electric cars.
- Autonomous driving technology could benefit the ICE more than it benefits pure electric drive.

Some interesting and thought provoking data.

http://www.theenergycollective.com/schalk-cloete/2412528/electric-car-hype-overblown

I'm all for people making independent informed decisions and, for me, electric vehicles will not even remotely meet my needs. For those who are considering, please don't make an emotional decision, use your due diligence.

American taxpayers have contributed 1.5 Billion dollars to Tesla in order to subsidize expensive toys for the wealthy.

I'm not a fan of crony capitalism.

Don't take it personally boys.

My post in regard to the 1.5 billion dollars paid by American taxpayers was in response to those who seem befuddled by why anyone would be critical of Tesla. The other examples you provided are, of course, legitimate as well and I'm against those too. Tesla is indeed the beneficiary of crony capitalism and if they were thriving in the free market I would have no such objections but since I'm being forced to pay the bill I have every reason to question them and their business practices.

Definition:

"Crony capitalism is an economy in which businesses thrive not as a result of risk, but rather as a return on money amassed through a nexus between a business class and the political class."

We'll see how well they do once the subsides and cash hand outs finally end. I hope it was a good investment for the taxpayers but I have grave reservations this is the case.

Enough said. I don't want to be accused of trolling, that was not my intent.