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Texas Lawmakers Want To Stop Tesla From Fixing Its Own Cars (electrek.co)
In Texas the local car dealer lobby has blocked Tesla from selling its cars directly to customers. They're using old laws meant to prevent car manufacturers from competing with their own local dealers -- but Tesla never had any local dealers!
And according to Electrek, it gets worse... Despite this issue, Texans have bought thousands of Tesla vehicles, which the automaker delivers from other states to comply with the law. Tesla has been able to service those vehicles through its own service centers, which are not subject to those same direct-sale rules, but now dealers are even going after Tesla's right to service its cars.
Quartz offers some additional coverage: At issue is a battle over money. Car dealers derive much of their revenue from selling and (especially) servicing vehicles. Tesla's direct-to-customer sales and service stations are a threat to that business model since they cut dealers out of the transaction.
And according to Electrek, it gets worse... Despite this issue, Texans have bought thousands of Tesla vehicles, which the automaker delivers from other states to comply with the law. Tesla has been able to service those vehicles through its own service centers, which are not subject to those same direct-sale rules, but now dealers are even going after Tesla's right to service its cars.
Quartz offers some additional coverage: At issue is a battle over money. Car dealers derive much of their revenue from selling and (especially) servicing vehicles. Tesla's direct-to-customer sales and service stations are a threat to that business model since they cut dealers out of the transaction.
My mechanic is planning on specializing in vintage cars as the electrics start happening. He expects it'll be a pretty quick switch. He says that there will be very little to fix outside of suspensions, and occasionally brakes. Even brakes won't need as much fixing, because electric cars will probably all use regenerative braking. Electric motors, of course, last a very, very, very long time, and generally, they're so cheap that it makes more sense to replace a motor than taking the time to re-wind the coils.
I don't respond to AC's.
I figure this would be the kind of thing that Democrats would like since it forces automakers to pay out more money to workers. Car makers can't provide certain firmware updates over the air in most states because it's considered repair work. So what happens instead is they have to pay a dealership to manually install the update, thus giving a mechanic more work. Classic example of featherbedding, which unions also love forcing on businesses, in order to slow things down so that people have to pay more so that somebody has a job.
It's a total load of shit no matter who does it, and very much a racket, and it's part of the reason why most automakers rarely issue firmware updates to their cars.
Except for Tesla, who isn't beholden to dealerships. Fortunately, they found a loophole in Arizona's laws so they can do whatever they want here, including running their own dealerships. The law was written so that car makers aren't allowed to compete with existing third party dealerships; there are no existing third party Tesla dealerships in Arizona. A court ruled in favor of Tesla on this, so Tesla can (and does) sell cars right out of their showrooms here; typically they sell the ones that have been test driven, and at a discount.
Forget Chicago, New York, California. The state of Texas has by far the most corrupt politicians in the nation. From the governor on down to local sheriffs, they all have their hands out to someone who's only happy to put a little something in it.
This came as a surprise to me when lived in South Texas. Texans love to talk about their love of freedom and hatred for big government and regulation, but it turned out to be the exact opposite. This is a real shame, because the people of Texas, the actual citizens, are some of the nicest, most decent people you could meet. But decades of unabashed corruption and gerrymandering have completely destroyed anything like true representation. Only recently has this been changing a little bit, because the energy industry in Texas is slowly losing it's mojo.
They've covered in up using Koch Brothers money and energy industry wealth, but if you look closely, you quickly learn that Texas state politicians are so corrupt it would make a Chicago alderman blush.
You are welcome on my lawn.
While I don't agree Texas should ban anyone, least of all the manufacturer, from repairing Teslas, if third parties are unable to repair Teslas then that would also be a serious problem, and would be one warranting government intervention. You shouldn't be dependent upon a manufacturer to have their products repaired.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
Of course it matters if you want to fix the problem. First you need to identify the problem. Which in this case seems to be corruption and not big government as you can have a really small government that does nothing but protect business interests.
One possible fix might be to limit bribery, but that means intruding on peoples freedom.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
The state which prides itself on getting big government out people lives until the people need the power of big government to kill competition.
Has the GOP been consistent in any way between (a) what is says, and (b) what laws it passes when elected? At least when it comes to economic issues? Seems to me they talk to 'grassroots' folks, but walk to the plutocrats once in.
Perhaps they're more consistent with regards to social issues? Though the Right has the religious folks who think drugs are bad, and also tend to have many laissez-faire / libertarian folks who thing "let people do whatever"--so the tent is a bit confused in that regard.
Tesla mobile service is awesome. They come to you and fix the car. Since Teslas don't need any routine maintenance (no oil change, tuneups, etc.), you only need service when something breaks. Again, since the cars are so simple (electric motor, big battery) there's not much to go wrong.
In 75,000 miles, I've only needed service twice. Once for water in a tail light and once for a door handle repair. Mobile service came and fixed the door handle. Fast and easy. (Tail light was repaired under warranty before mobile service was available.)
Auto dealers are pissed at Tesla because EVs don't need any of their overpriced service. So happy I don't have to go to the dealer for oil change, etc.
In my experience modern ICE cars don't suffer a lot of severe powertrain related breakdowns. More than 50% of repairs is stuff that would impact an electric car the same: Tie-rod ends, struts, etc.
Meanwhile Tesla owners seems to have a lot of warranty claims for door handles (WTF? How can these break?) and "Drive Units" (AKA complete powertrain). Teslas actually have a poor reliability rating.
Don't get me wrong, as a nerd I like electric cars. Tesla has made very interesting models, and really pushed range. I'm also perfectly fine with Tesla trying to "disrupt" the dealership model, however there seems to be a reality-distortion-field around them.
Also, I'm a fan of right to repair. Tesla doesn't seem like they are. Third-party repairs? LOL.
If it was paradise, your numbers would not be falling. I am also looking at you NY
I can't speak about California, but NY used to be a blue collar state. Those days are long gone. Upstate is losing population in droves because there are no opportunities there at all, and NYC is all but unlivable for anyone with an IQ less than 100. Everything I understand about California suggests it is the same there. The "blue" states have policies that are actively driving away stupid people. Other states have policies that appear more welcoming (by way of blue collar jobs), but generally guarantee that the next generation will be no better than the last. That only goes so far, and eventually all of those jobs go to automation anyway.
Just like opportunity, social mobility looks an awful lot like hard work and, in this country, politicians don't have the foresight to know what they are looking at.
I wish I had a good sig, but all the good ones are copyrighted
Uh huh. Just like how after the first state explicitly banned gay marriage, the other 49 immediately followed suit. Every last one. Because reasons.