Driving a Tesla in 2025

Yes, I never saw this coming.

Back in 2015, both my wonderful children were living and working in Australia. Their mum is Australian, they were partly educated there and they both have dual citizenship the lucky little . . . . .

Anyway, I was washing up after cooking supper, doing the laundry and ironing and giving the kitchen the once over. My wonderful, creative, artistic wife was conducting a 3 way facetime conversation with my offspring. Son in Melbourne, daughter in Sydney.

Son (then 22): “Can dad borrow me some money, I’m waiting to be paid and I’ve got rent coming up yeah.”

(Son knows saying ‘can you borrow me some money’ drives me mad, which is why he has always used the incorrect term.)

Daughter (then 19) “I don’t want to work at the coffee shop any more, the boss is a massive bitch and I hate the customers, can dad give me some money.”

Daughter always more direct, she has her father wrapped around her little finger, with no effort.

Before I have the chance to turn around, moan, whine and then give them some money, my normally calm wife who never lost her temper with her children through two decades of parenting suddenly blew her top.

“Pull your finger out, both of you, your father has worked hard for you all your lives and he deserves a Tesla.”

No word of a lie, that is what she said, verbatim. We hadn’t even been talking about getting a Tesla, this really did come out of the blue.

As she and the children argued and claimed they would pay me back and that both of us are really mean, I got out my laptop, sent an email and leased a Tesla Model S.

About 3 weeks later, I went to the Tesla distribution centre in West London and picked up my black Tesla Model S.

(I should mention that I did cough up for my children, and 2 years later they both came back to the UK and are now, many years later, both gainfully employed. (Aaand relax, until the next crisis)

We had the Model S for 3 years, we drove to Italy one year (holiday) Copenhagen the following year (work) and it was no different from driving a fuel burning car, the very last anxiety we experienced was range. Comfort break, coffee, stretch legs, all number one. Charging, yeah, whatever.

Even back then, the Tesla supercharger network was exemplary. Easy to find and they always, always worked. Plus, in the days when our Model S was built, it came with life long free supercharging. This made long journeys through France, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark incredibly cheap.

So far so good. After 3 years the lease on the Model S ran out, but by then the Model 3 had just been launched. Although it didn’t come with free supercharging, the lease payments were a great deal less than the rather extravagant payments I’d been making on the Model S.

Again, the Model 3 was a faultless car, the software was 5 to 10 years ahead of any other manufacturer, and in case you don’t know, I was lucky through my work to get to test drive pretty much every electric car being launched.

Over the next few years, driving a Tesla became very commonplace, the numbers of these cars steadily increased, but that’s a well known tale.

After incredible challenges and financial stress, Tesla Motors grew into an incredibly successful, game changing company that pulled a fast one on all the old European and American manufacturers. Multiple ship loads of Tesla’s were selling every month, all the figures were up and to the right.

But in October 2022 there was a little chink in the otherwise dazzling armour of the extraordinary individual behind this company. He bought a social media site called Twitter.

A man whose political opinions had held zero interest for me suddenly became a very outspoken and reactionary loud mouth I could no longer ignore. I don’t live in the USA, I don’t follow U.S. politics very closely, but the change in the general tenor of Twitter was impossible to refute.

Overnight I was the recipient of torrents of aggressive abuse, death threats, vile and embittered adolescent language I didn’t understand. Looking back now, it was painfully obvious that America had bred a generation of viciously furious young men who were more than adept at blaming anyone and everyone for their own, pathetic and multiple failings.

I closed my Twitter account in early 2023, and as I have previously reported here on Substack, my general mood and mental wellbeing improved beyond measure.

However I still drove the Tesla Model 3 we had without a second thought, no one I knew ever mentioned that I was driving a car made by a company whose boss was rapidly turning into a rabid right wing dingbat.

I would occasionally come into contact with people who worked for Tesla, in the past I had never felt awkward talking to them. Some of the most incredible people I have ever met in my life were working for Tesla, and I’m very sad to report none of them work there now.

It was about a month ago when I was sitting in our leased Model 3 in slow moving traffic in London when I actually felt a bit awkward for the first time. I didn’t want to be associated with the increasingly lunatic, orange man loving weirdo who actively supported and gave a bully pulpit to some of the most obnoxious, often criminal white men any of us have had the misfortune to be aware of.

When the people of America overwhelming voted for an actual convicted criminal who was very publicly supported by Musk, I have to admit, it’s really difficult.

I would never have guessed this was even a remote possibility back in the early days of Tesla. Beyond all satire and parody.

I am supremely aware of the history of Tesla Motors, it wasn’t founded by Musk, but it’s early history is a pointless argument, it would not exist without his money, his determination and focus. Likewise for spaceX.

People who don’t hold extreme right wing, white supremacist views, which, I assume is most of you reading this, have to accept two really difficult things.

Elon Musk is an unquestionable bonafide genius, and an absolute nightmare sexist, reactionary bigot. At the same time.

I am not going to pay some early cancellation fee and swap out my Model 3, we’ve still got another year to go. It’s a brilliant car, my wife, who has as much interest in cars as I have in women’s fashion, is very passionate about the Model 3.

“It’s just better than all the others.” is her off-hand response.

But I now know I won’t be leasing another Tesla, and that is a tragedy for me.

Unless, of course, somehow in the madness and chaos of anyone who goes near the orange bloke, Musk steps away from Tesla, then that would require some further thought.