An American journalist wanted to know more about it and followed the developments of the car manufacturer Tesla for three years. Now she has published her findings and presents the sometimes even dangerous discoveries she made during her analysis.
Linette Lopez works as a journalist for the American news site BusinessInsider and from 2018 to 2021 dealt more closely with the car manufacturer Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk. She made some startling observations. In a Twitter post, she shares 17 things she found out about Tesla and Elon Musk during that time. EFAHRER has summarized the 10 most important points for you.
1 – Tesla knowingly installed defective batteries
According to Lopez, when the Tesla Model S was built, the car manufacturer apparently installed batteries whose cooling system was possibly defective. Tesla seemed to be aware of this problem, but ignored the possible error.
2 – Elon Musk stopped testing the Model 3 brakes
In 2018, the Tesla CEO is said to have ordered his employees to stop performing some of the critical tests on almost finished Tesla Model 3. Accordingly, he suspended the brake test, in which the alignment of the tires and the brake function are checked. In the past, this test apparently increasingly revealed defects in the vehicles.
3 – Recall campaigns in the USA are often delayed or do not occur at all
After an American bought his Tesla Model 3, he was involved in an accident just a day later. According to BusinessInsider, a faulty suspension caused a wheel to come off. Tesla was apparently aware of the problem, but the automaker did not recall the vehicle in the United States.
4 – Tesla wastes money and materials
In the production of the Tesla Model 3, Elon Musk seems to have misjudged something. According to a document obtained by BusinessInsider, building the Tesla produced $150 million in scrap. The miscalculation nearly bankrupted the automaker during the critical phase of the Model 3 launch in 2019.
5 – Tesla is dependent on the Chinese government
The automaker wants to conquer not only the American and European, but also the Chinese market. But the Chinese government has a say in this. In 2021, for example, the government set a specific timeframe for Tesla to gain market share in the Chinese auto market. In addition, the piece of land on which the Tesla factory in Shanghai is located belongs to the government.
6 – Elon Musk quietly and secretly replaced defective solar panels
In some cases, the solar panels from his company SolarCity led to fires breaking out on the roofs. As a result, Walmart sued Tesla in 2019. In the meantime, Tesla tried to silently exchange the defective solar panels and replace them with working modules.
7 – Poor working conditions during the pandemic
Speaking to Tesla workers, Lopez found many feared for their health and livelihoods during the pandemic. According to the report, Tesla is said to have been slow to react to the corona virus and only sparsely provided precautions such as easily accessible hand sanitizer for employees.
8 – Top lawyer resigns after only two months
Attorney Dane Butswinkas worked for Tesla for two months before resigning. And he wasn’t the only one to leave Tesla in early 2019. The vice president of global recruitment, the chief financial officer and the chief accountant all resigned last year.
9 – Extremely long hours at Tesla
BusinessInsider spoke to a large number of employees at various Tesla plants and reported extreme working conditions. Working weeks of up to 70 hours seem to be the order of the day here.
10 – Musk doesn’t care about his customers
Right at the start of her three-year research on Tesla and Elon Musk, Lopez noted that Musk doesn’t care about his customers and employees. It was noticeable that Musk rarely has details about his company and the production processes. He attaches much more importance to the appearance at Tesla campaigns.
Reactions on Twitter to Lopez’s Elon Musk analysis have varied widely. While some are shocked by the sometimes frightening observations and thank the journalist for the enlightenment, others support Musk and claim that the investigations are wrong. The summary of her articles from the past three years clearly shows that Elon Musk is a polarizing personality who often makes headlines. Most recently, for example, with the takeover of the short message service Twitter.
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This article was written by Vanessa Finkler
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