Tesla is a Fraud with Ed Niedermeyer
The War on Cars
The War on Cars, LLC
4.9 • 937 Ratings
🗓️ 28 June 2022
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Journalist Edward Niedermeyer has been reporting on the automobile industry -- and its blind spots -- since 2008. He co-hosts the Autonocast podcast, focusing on the future of transportation. And he is the author of "Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors." In his book, Niedermeyer chronicles the electric car maker's rise and lays bare the disconnect between the popular perception of Tesla and the day-to-day realities of the company, its products, and its peripatetic, billionaire CEO Elon Musk. Musk, Niedermeyer argues, is a huckster with a particular genius for selling implausible products and making old ideas feel futuristic and new. But his overwhelming wealth, influence, and cult-like following is making him a danger to the rest of us.
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LINKS:
Pick up a copy of Ed Niedermeyer's "Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors" at your local bookshop or directly from the publisher.
Listen to Ed's podcast, "The Autonocast," about the future of transportation.
Follow Ed Niedermeyer on Twitter @Tweetermeyer.
When I First Saw Elon Musk for Who He Really Is (Slate)
Tesla Battery Swap Unused Over Busy Holiday Weekend (Daily Kaban, May 27, 2015)
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This episode was produced and edited by Aaron Naparstek. It was recorded by Josh Wilcox at the Brooklyn Podcasting Studio. Our theme music is by Nathaniel Goodyear. Our logo was designed by Dani Finkel of Crucial D Designs.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This company is just being so cynical about what it says its core value is which is improving the environment and you know environmentally sustainable mobility and I so it was like if the company is is so cynical about technology and the environment. |
| 0:13.1 | It's the two pillars of its brand. |
| 0:16.0 | You know, I had this moment where it's like there's never just one cockroach. |
| 0:19.1 | Like you find a cockroach like that. |
| 0:20.5 | You find that level of cynicism in a company, like that as a journalist is when you know there's more. |
| 0:25.6 | Hey I'm Aaron Napersack. Welcome to the War on Cars. |
| 0:31.6 | Ed Niedermeyer is an automotive industry journalist and the author of Ludocrats, |
| 0:38.0 | the unvarnished story of Tesla Motors. |
| 0:42.0 | In it, Niedermeyer cuts through the hype and peels back the high-tech |
| 0:46.3 | veneer to reveal a car company and a CEO more intent on manufacturing public opinion than environmentally friendly |
| 0:55.0 | transportation. One of the best and most emblematic stories in |
| 0:59.6 | Ludacris takes place over Memorial Day weekend, 2015. |
| 1:04.8 | Tesla had recently announced that it would be demonstrating a new battery |
| 1:08.4 | swapping system at an electric car charging point between Los Angeles and San Francisco on one of the busiest |
| 1:15.4 | travel weekends of the year. In a flashy press conference accompanied by thumping techno |
| 1:21.8 | music, Tesla CEO Elon Musk accompanied by thumping techno music. |
| 1:22.8 | Tesla CEO Elon Musk demonstrated how the new system would work. |
| 1:28.2 | A Tesla Model S drove on stage and stopped directly above a rectangular hole in the floor. |
| 1:36.0 | After a minute and a half of unseen activity beneath the stage, |
| 1:39.5 | the car drove away with its instrument panel showing a fully charged battery. |
| 1:45.0 | The audience of Tesla fans went wild, |
| 1:48.0 | as Musk promised that the new battery swapping system |
... |
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