Saw the first episode of a new sitcom last night.
Although it's really a spin-off from an older sitcom.
Motherland has spawned Amandaland.
According to the Guardian, it is aimed at "strung out middle-aged mums" so shouldn't be of any interest to me.
And it perpetuates two tropes about electric cars - one real, one bunkum.
The real one is that you don't have off-road parking, they are a bugger to charge up locally and cheaply.
The bunkum one is that they keep running out of charge.
Here is Amanda in her Tesla.
As it is, the bunkum one doesn't bother me in the slightest.
For two reasons...
- It was essential to the storyline - and it is a VERY FUNNY sitcom.
- It makes Teslas look bad.
I don't like Teslas partly because of their lack of switchgear but mostly because of their odious CEO who I seem to be obsessed with - old Elon.
And it looks like I am not alone. Here are a couple of very interesting stories about sales plummeting in Europe and the States:
And one about how the Chinese brands are taking sales from Tesla over there.
The Chinese angle is interesting because Musk's current pal Donald is imposing tariffs on Chinese goods coming in to America (maybe he's found someone in America now who can make his MAGA hats) so that will probably include Tesla Model Ys. And China is putting on reciprocal tariffs which will affect sales of the US built Teslas.
The American angle is also interesting though because the Americans who are not fans of Trump will not want to buy Teslas now. And Trump is very pro-oil and anti-electric so I suspect the bromance won't last too long.
Apparently, only Toyota owners are more likely than Tesla owners to say they will buy the same brand when they come to change their vehicle. Wonder how long Tesla will hang on to that Number 2 spot?
Now go and watch episode 1 of Amandaland and you may realise that this post should have been called "Is clockwork better than chocolate?"
