To Elon Musk Critics: Fuck Off!

A MEASURED RESPONSE FROM AN INDUSTRY LEADER

BY JASON F. MCLENNAN

I have been watching the media and business and auto experts poke at Elon from every angle, criticizing every off-script message or sentiment he makes. Each misstep on Tesla’s part, and every single mishap and malfunction in its cars, is pounced on, often ruthlessly, only sometimes accurately, and mostly unfairly, hypocritically and agenda driven. I’ve further seen direct character assassination from groups tied to other automobiles and the oil industry—in other words people scared of his influence and threatened by his success. To that I have to say— unequivocally—Fuck Off!

Here are some things I’d like to underscore to put this in perspective:

UPENDING AN ENTIRE INDUSTRY

The auto industry has been dominated by a few giant companies for decades now. In their corporate leadership they have a history of trying to squash progressive legislation including everything from the incorporation of basic safety features like seatbelts to increasing vehicles’ efficiency. Their vehicles’ emissions make hundreds of thousands of people sick each year. They have often banded together with oil companies to spread lies and misinformation to the public about climate change and to cover up the deleterious impacts of their industry in truly alarming fashion. Further, many have a history of treating their workers unfairly, fighting their unions, and a terrible track record of abandoning the communities that support them (e.g. Flint and Detroit). Volkswagen very recently engaged in a multi-year campaign to deliberately mislead the US government and its customers on the cleanliness and emissions of its diesel vehicles, criminal actions for which they are now being punished, yet with very little public focus on their executives who committed these crimes. And it’s Tesla we trash?

VASTLY SUPERIOR TECHNOLOGY

I first started driving electric cars in the early 2000s. The technology was terrible, the range sucked, and the quality was lousy. Musk and his talented team at Tesla changed all that. Their cars are now the best vehicles in the world—and not by a little, but by a lot. I am someone that travels and rents a lot of cars. I have driven just about every make and model of vehicle out there. I have owned vehicles made by Volkswagen, BMW, Toyota, Chrysler and Saab. When the First Tesla Model S came out, I bought one, and was shocked at how far ahead of these old, large companies it was. The car is the safest on the road—better than a Volvo. It seats up to 7 (if two passengers are little kids) and has more storage space than any vehicle in its class. It goes zero to 60 in just a few seconds, making it faster than a Porsche. It produces no tailpipe emissions. Its driving assist technology has helped me avoid at least two minor fender benders in the last two years. And it upgrades itself over the cloud, making it the first car that improves after you buy it.

In four years of Tesla ownership I have had to get one thing fixed—a window that got stuck because of an ice storm. It requires zero maintenance and boasts several hundred less moving parts than an internal combustion engine. And in just a few years its price has dropped from about $90k to about $50k (with more and less expensive versions available). Its range has increased to over 300 miles and its speed potential is now ludicrous (as Elon puts it), with some models topping 160mph and able to accelerate from 0-60mph in less than 3 seconds— putting it in rarefied supercar performance levels. I could care less about driving that fast, but it is a nice way to shut up anyone who might be hanging onto the notion that electric cars are inferior to gas ones. The cars are beautiful and comfortable and quiet—some traditional cars are still superior in creature comforts, but that’s about it.

SYSTEMIC THINKING

Most companies only think about their own bottom lines and market share. Certainly, no automotive company since the first Ford Model T has set out to change the world for the better. (I should acknowledge that it is better to bike and walk than to drive even an electric car by a large factor, but given the way we’ve designed our cities—which also needs to change so that cars are less needed—cars are still very necessary.) Elon Musk is a person who is thinking systemically, which is so rare and so needed today as global issues like climate change press on our global society.

Musk and Tesla didn’t just build a car—they built a network: they have installed thousands of Superchargers around the world, a true network across the country that increasingly makes needing a gas car and gas stations obsolete. Thanks to this system, I can drive coast to coast and not pay a cent. My car charges in a matter of minutes, and I haven’t had to visit a polluting, stinky gas station now in three years. Talk about a better experience—gas stations have to be one of the worst blights of urban and rural landscapes.

Given this groundwork, it is now actually plausible that electric vehicles signal the end of the internal combustion engine. Further extrapolated, that could mean the end of the military industrial complex, lives lost in the protection of and fighting over oil supplies, and unwarranted tax cuts to oil companies. Though he’s fumbled, Musk paid his debts back, mere pittance compared to what we as tax payers underwrite to ultimately bolster the oil industry via the military industrial complex.

Having poked through the perception barrier, Musk has changed the entire industry—and every automotive company in the world is now playing catch up. He’s also paving the way for autonomous vehicles to reduce accidents and fatalities caused by human error and improve the functionality of our urban landscapes.

And finally, he’s completely changed the battery industry—with repercussions reaching beyond the automotive industry into the building industry—allowing for changes to how we use other fossil fuels like natural gas and ultimately providing greater autonomy and resiliency. This is no small feat as it completes the roadmap for us to wean ourselves off fossil fuels for good. Climate change is both scary and very real— we need to decarbonize yesterday. We need to be fully electric with no combustion as quickly as possible. While Musk’s work in solar is yet to be perfected, the fact that he’s tying our whole energy paradigm together is powerful. Disruption breeds resilience.

CULT OF PERSONALITY

You want to know why he’s attacked? See everything I wrote above. No wonder. He’s upending an entire industry and perhaps changing the world more than any other industrialist has to date, and this time, for the better.

Musk is a polarizing character, to be sure. I’ve never met the guy, so I can’t comment on him from personal experience, but what I know is that it takes someone with a large and not typical personality to revolutionize an industry. We let stranger people off the hook for much worse. We ignore auto executives that have proven criminal actions. We voted in Trump as president despite him having said many things that are truly reprehensible, sexist, racist and polarizing (making Musk’s “bonehead” comment seem elementary at worst). Yet we go after Musk. I hate that he made flamethrowers (Elon—bad idea), but put this in perspective; I could care less about his celebrity status, what he does in his spare time. I care about what he does for the world.

Before resorting to complete character assassination, look at what Musk is doing to change entire systems in our society and an industry that has caused considerable harm to our world. Take a look at the science behind climate change and realize that we need to get off all fossil fuels as soon as humanly possible. Who else is doing so much and not merely talking about it? •

Elon—keep bringing it on.

JASON F. McLENNAN is a highly sought out designer, consultant and thought leader. Prior to founding McLennan Design, Jason authored the Living Building Challenge – the most stringent and progressive green building program in existence, and founded the International Living Future Institute. He is the author of six books on Sustainability and Design including the Philosophy of Sustainable Design, “the bible for green building.”