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I have been driving a Tesla for a few years. It always attracted some curiosity, but lately it’s attracting the kind of attention I would prefer to do without.
In March, 2021, the government of Nova Scotia announced a rebate for the purchase of electric vehicles. Combined with an already available federal incentive, this meant that buyers would be eligible for an $8,000 discount on lower-priced EVs. That caught my attention. I was a couple of years away from the time I would usually trade in my car, but I ran the numbers and decided to make the switch earlier. Within a few days, I downloaded the Tesla app on my phone and with a few clicks placed an order for its base-model small sedan, the Model 3.
Beyond financial considerations, I was intrigued and curious about what it would be like to own and use an EV. Since we were a two-car family – the other car being a conventional gas-powered vehicle – we decided it was worth the experiment. If we were ever heading any distance that raised concerns about recharging options, we would simply take the other car.
We have no regrets. The car has performed very well and required virtually no servicing. We plug in at home most nights and have no difficulty finding places to charge on the road. It easily gets us to our cottage (some 200 kilometres away) and has saved us about $1,600 per year on fuel (net of the cost of the electricity it consumes). We have been very happy with our Tesla.
I can’t speak for other EV owners, but the last thing on my mind when we bought the car was that it was some kind of political statement. Sure, we liked the idea of zero emissions, but since electricity in Nova Scotia still involves the burning of coal, this move was not going to save the planet. Finally, we never considered the sanity or values of the company’s CEO in our evaluation criteria. I don’t think anyone did back then. It never came into play when we bought a blender or coffee maker either.
Today – four years later – we suddenly we find ourselves wondering whether our ownership of a Tesla is seen by some as a political statement. Who would have predicted that? While I would probably not buy a new Tesla today, I’m having a hard time understanding how I could have been expected to foresee this back when I bought the car.
That said, I am as angry as the next Canadian about what is happening south of the border, and I would not do anything to directly or indirectly voice support for Elon Musk. In a moment of weakness (or perhaps just curiosity), I explored the possibility of trading for a different EV, but the financial loss is simply too great to consider. I did not buy the car for political reasons, so I was not inclined to sell it for political reasons – especially at such a cost.
As much as I have enough faith in humanity to believe that no reasonable person would take their feelings about Musk out on us, we all know that the world is not made up solely of reasonable people. Although we see reports of protests at Tesla dealerships across North America – some of which regrettably involve violence – there seems to have been little, if any, activity targeting individual car owners. Nonetheless, my wife and I admit to exercising a tad more caution (or is it paranoia?) when driving around town. She came home the other day saying that someone in a pickup truck refused to let her into traffic. Was he sending a message or simply being inconsiderate? We will never know, but we could drive ourselves crazy trying to.
After some soul-searching, I decided to do something to ensure there was little doubt about where we stand. I have “rebranded” the car by blacking out all the Tesla emblems (they are still there but blend with the colour of the car) and adding bright chrome lettering and a maple leaf to the back. Instead of saying “Model 3,” for example, it now says “Elbows Up” next to the maple leaf.
I feel a little silly taking this step, but it was the only thing I could think of that might help me reconcile my feelings about owning a Tesla right now.
Now, on to my next major purchase: a lawn mower. I guess I’d best get cracking on researching the CEOs and majority shareholders of each manufacturer – not only to find out where they stand on politics now but also to predict what their views might be in four years.
Wish me luck.
Peter Fardy lives in Halifax.
