EV Ownership - Yes it's a Tesla

Look, we tend not to mention out loud too often that our EV is a Tesla Model Y. Lately it's been "a thing" to drive one of these, then yesterday The Driven posted this piece:

Can you Love the Cars and Batteries But Loathe the Man

and I thought it was time to revisit this hitherto unpublished post. Because yes. It is.

We've had the Tesla for a couple of years now and we absolutely love the thing. Don't regret for a moment buying it, do regret that Musk has fully outed himself as the dick we always kind of knew he was. We've been paying attention for many years now, and you can just about guarantee if somebody's had a really good idea in the tech space, at some stage Musk will show up and try and put his face on it. 

In the case of the Tesla we were looking for a car that met our needs, and to be frank, the Polestar another local bought, or the early BYD's that showed up all over Ballarat in our post purchase years didn't come near the requirements back then.

Reason Number 1 - we wanted an EV. We wanted a really good EV with back up and a reputation because it's got to last a long time and do a lot of kilometres in the process. The service that we've had with the Tesla has been outstanding.

Reason Number 2 - range. We live an hour out from most regional destinations, and at that time charging infrastructure was thin on the ground. We wanted to be able to head out the door with a full charge and get to Ballarat or Bendigo, Ararat, or Horsham without having to worry too much about charging. As it is we can do all of those and return without the need to charge at any point.  

Reason Number 3 - accessibility. Neither of us are young anymore and falling out of a low slung sportscar isn't on. Any sort of sedan these days can be an issue and the Model Y is a breeze to get into and out of, and get stuff into and out of. 

Reason Number 4 - carrying capacity. That distance thing. For us a shopping trip is a return loaded to the gunnels affair. We buy in bulk. Anything we buy has to be hauled home - no such thing as guaranteed delivery when you live on a major freight path in the bush. 

Reason Number 5 - tech. Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning are no fools, and their moves post that massive own goal by GM all those years ago are something we've followed closely. The BRAINS as opposed to the marketing front end at Tesla are outstanding, and frankly the tech in the thing is mind blowing. And oh so incredibly good. And improving all the time.

We don't regret the car. We regret that a country full of enough awful people opted to vote in a rapist fascist who handed the keys over to somebody like Musk, knowing full well what Musk was, does and stands for. And then continue to support him in his defenestration of decency.

We get that Tesla drivers are probably easier targets than the great mass of mindless nasty out there. After all, as the Driven article says:

Sometimes progress comes packaged with paradox, and that’s okay. 

Although the added benefit of driving around in the thing is how it spins out the RWNJ's who now have to process that "technically" they are the fanboys.

We've always said, the Model Y, the Tesla home battery system and the Starlink system we use every day are despite him, not because of him. We're not fanboys, personally have never been able to stomach him, but we have a requirement to get around, keep our power bills manageable and run a business. The Model Y met our requirements, the Powerwall's been in for years, works like a dream and was available when we wanted it. SkyMuster sucks and the Telstra link out here has been progressively downgrading. Support on all of them has been precise, quick, and incredibly helpful. No complaints.

Would we buy any of these systems again with Musk owning them? Maybe. Depends on the alternatives. He's an awful human being, but we're not dropping ourselves back into the stone age to "prove a point".

Maybe we could have a chat about people who vote for Conservative governments who downgrade local manufacturing and purposely build infrastructure that's not fit for purpose - particularly in the bush. 

Maybe we could all get started on understanding that slinging shit at people who bought a car needs to expand to include those driving Volkswagens, Tata, Audis and their various offshoots. 

We need to talk about whoever is buying IBM, Coca Cola, Kodak, Pret A Manger, Krispy Kreme and Hugo Boss products, reading Associated Press, and taking Bayer Asprin.  

Just to name a few. 

I Beg Your Pardon?

3rd February, 2025

Email To:  Jason.Heffernan@cfa.vic.gov.au

Dear Mr Heffernan

I'm a non-operational member in District 16, which you are probably aware is in the Western area of Victoria.

You'd also be aware that as of today, at the time of writing this email (approximately 1:30pm) there are:

20 Warnings, including an Emergency Warning

and

260 incidents 

You'd also be aware of the overwhelming number of call outs last night, 2nd February, due to a series of extreme and very dangerous thunderstorms that moved through sections of this half of the State. After a day of extremely high temperatures, and break outs of the two major fire complexes in the region (Gariwerd / Grampians and the Little Desert). 

So I refer you to this article:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-29/bushfire-western-victoria-dimboola-grampians-little-desert/104866952

Posted by the ABC in the leadup to this past weekend, where it was known that things were going to become extremely dangerous, and fraught. 

I particularly refer you to this quote:

Country Fire Authority (CFA) chief officer Jason Heffernan said authorities were keeping a close eye on areas where dry lightning strikes had occurred.

"In particular focusing on Gippsland, the Latrobe Valley, and also the north-eastern parts of the state where we know we've had dry lightning events," he said.

"It's not uncommon for more fires to pop up as the weather starts to turn back to being hot and windy."

Whilst I'd definitely not be surprised to find that the ABC have chosen to take such a quote out of context, or cut your comments short, I cannot tell you the disappointment that this sort of dismissal of the real life situation in the West of Victoria evokes.

The major complex fires in the West of the state were all caused by dry lightning strikes. The dry lightning warnings were as valid for the much larger area to the West of the State as they were for the East.

Granted it is not unknown, for Melbourne based media and organisations to be mostly blind to the existence, and/or the plight of the West, but for the Chief Officer of the agency on whom the responsibility for trying to hold back the flames threatening communities and livelihoods all over the West falls, to have blatantly declared that the West didn't deserve focus seems utterly unacceptable. 

Luckily the volunteers did not concur and they worked like trojans (as at 31st January Stawell Group alone have been called out on 16 Strike Teams since the 16th December). 

Karen Chisholm

(address / contact details provided in the email)

UPDATE as at 10th February.

Mr Heffernan kindly replied to my email, acknowledging his recent visit to the area, and clarifying that the ABC had indeed taken his comment out of a longer interview that did, indeed discuss the whole of the State. (His full comments are in the video attached to the above, which was clipped by the ABC to, as usual, concentrate on the East).

This, to be honest, comes as little surprise. The ABC's coverage of anything in Western Victoria is woeful. They have form over and over again in completely ignoring anything that occurs here, always prioritising Gippsland and the East. Even to the point where I've noted many times their utter failure to report on major incidents occurring between Melbourne's western suburbs and Ballarat. This failure has been ongoing, and frankly, is a large part of the reason why calling themselves "the emergency broadcaster" is regarded as an utter joke in these parts. They, needless to say, in this event, strike again. 

Having said that - this bias is well known and I'd like to see authorities calling them out more often. Goodness knows complaining to them directly as a now mostly non-viewer of their services, achieves nothing. They never respond, and if this is anything to go by, have made zero attempt to correct their obvious disinterest in a large part of their potential viewing audience. Needless to say we don't listen / watch or tune into anything much at all on the ABC anymore.