Teslas Must Be Banned From American Roads

  By Timothy D. Naegele[1]

Josh Saunders has written for the UK’s Daily Mail:

This is the shocking moment a Tesla driver was filmed sleeping behind the wheel as his self-driving car traveled at high speeds.

Clint Olivier captured the passed-out male as his car kept-up with other vehicles on the busy Interstate 5 in Los Angeles, California.

In the footage, a short haired driver can be seen with his head against the window of the black Tesla car and appears to be asleep.

Law states that people using Automated Driving Systems (ADS), including self-driving and autopilot features, ‘must be ready to take back control at any time.’

The clip had been watched more than 138,000 times as of Friday morning.

In the video, Olivier and his wife Alisha Gallon drove alongside the vehicle and at times saw the car speed ahead of them.

‘He[‘]s totally asleep… this is crazy,’ Gallon can be heard saying.

Meanwhile the driver remained sound-asleep throughout[,] only waking-up at the end of the 34 second clip.

Currently 29 states have legislation related to self-driving cars, laws are individually related to manufacturers. While the remaining states currently have no legislation on the book relating to the vehicles.

There are five levels of Automatic Driving System, the first three all require humans to either keep their hands on the wheel or to be ready to intervene at any time.

Levels four and five are currently being developed but have not been installed in vehicles.

These new developments will not require any human intervention other than in ‘certain conditions.’

Self-driving cars work through a series of cameras, radars and sensors, which use radio waves, light pulses and imagery to work out what is in front of the vehicle.

From there the car can adjust its speed to match what is considered to be safe in its surroundings.

[Tesla] CEO Elon Musk announced in May that all new models of the 3, X and S, have full self-driving capabilities.

Other car manufacturers also produce a range of automated driving systems[.][2]

This is not the first time that this has happened, by any stretch of the imagination. It is clear that the Tesla is an “accident waiting to happen,” and that it must be banned from American roads.

American and international lawyers may gear up for major class action lawsuits that will put the company out of business—and have it join the ranks of the DeLorean, Edsel and massive numbers of auto brands that no longer exist, and are in the dustbin of automotive history.

Also, Luke Kenton has written for the Daily Mail: 

Dozens of Tesla drivers in California were forced to wait in an extensive line after what should’ve been a quick stop at a Supercharger station turned into an hours-long ordeal.

Shanon Stellini was travelling through Kettleman City on November 30 when she stumbled across a backlog of around 50 of the electric cars waiting to recharge in a half-mile line outside of at a station near Interstate 5.

‘Bet they wish they had gas’, quipped Stellini’s partner in a video she captured of the chaos – but for the drivers stranded in the stagnant line the issue was certainly no laughing matter.

The Kettleman City Supercharger station – located halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco – is already immensely popular, but even with 40 charging stalls on-site the facility was still overrun by the overwhelming demand that one of the year’s busiest travel times brings.

To make matters worse, simultaneous re-charging slows down the speed of charging for everyone – encumbering a process that can already take up to as long as 75 minutes.

It’s unclear how long the Tesla drivers were forced to wait, however, one disgruntled commuter tweeted that he’d been waiting in the line for 40 minutes but only appeared to be ‘half way there’.

With Tesla’s Model 3 now being produced in mass, there are currently thought to be more than 400,000 Teslas on the roads of America.

But the surge in popularity has exposed a series of flaws in the Supercharger network’s operations this holiday season, which is sure to give the Elon Musk-owned company food for thought as the fallout seen in Kettleman City was not an isolated incident.

A day earlier, a video titled ‘Tesla Energy Crisis’ revealed a sizable line of 15 Teslas waiting for their turn at a Supercharger station in San Luis Obispo around 4.45pm on Thanksgiving day

Teslas could be seen wrapping around the outer edge of the Madonna Inn as families waited inside the running cars for a chance to refuel.

For a Model S Tesla at a Supercharger station, it will take about 20 minutes to charge 50 percent and 40 minutes to charge 80 percent.

Tesla’s website says that drivers will have enough to finish their trip on 80 percent, but owners can reach 100 percent fueled in 75 minutes.

Tesla’s Supercharger stations are described as the ‘world’s fastest charging network’ on the company’s website.

‘Supercharger stations are conveniently located near desirable amenities like restaurants, shops and WiFi hotspots. Each station contains multiple Superchargers to get you back on the road quickly,’ the company said.

It’s unclear how long the car owners waited to reach a Supercharger, but the video’s owner said the station was just given new equipment to help with the influx of holiday travelers.

‘The previous day, Tesla brought a Megapack that is said to be good for charging [approximately] 100 Teslas,’ the video post said.

Social media users shared photos of the Supercharger stations accompanied with Megapack chargers arriving to San Luis Obispo on Wednesday morning.

‘Megapack,’ a new massive energy storage product, was launched by Tesla in July and is being used in portable Supercharger stations to help bolster the company’s charging infrastructure.

Megapack will also be used in installations like the Moss Landing project in California with PG&E, which is a part of a new cost-effective energy storage project announced in June.

‘To match global demand for massive battery storage projects like Hornsdale, Tesla designed and engineered a new battery product specifically for utility-scale projects: Megapack,’ the company said in a blog.

During instances when Tesla drivers are expected to make long trips, like the holiday season, the tech company can roll out Mobile Supercharger units powered by Megapacks to several locations.

The US, parts of Asia, Europe and the Middle East have a combined total of 1,636 Supercharger Stations with 14,497 Superchargers.[3]

California, in particular, has experienced energy “blackouts,” which have affected millions of its residents and may last for another decade.  Its electric utility PG&E has imposed mandatory cessations of electric power ostensibly to reduce the risks of fires triggered by the company’s network.  Presumably vehicles like the Tesla become immovable “dead weights” when this occurs, which further exposes Tesla owners to the risks of serious injuries or deaths if they are unable to escape the raging infernos.

Their limited ranges when compared with gasoline-powered vehicles, the problems with disposing of Tesla batteries safely from an ecological standpoint, the absence of dealerships that can fix Tesla problems, the staggering debts that Tesla has incurred, all augur for major problems with the Tesla.  There is also the risk that the company’s founder will implode psychologically as many of his fellow bipolar sufferers have done over time.

Will the Tesla survive?  The odds are against it; however, it is not dead and buried yet.  It has loyal followers—and vast numbers of detractors who consider it the “badge” of America’s ultra-Left and eco-Nazis, and concur that it must be banned.

 

 

© 2019, Timothy D. Naegele

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[1]  Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the United States Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass). He and his firm, Timothy D. Naegele & Associates, specialize in Banking and Financial Institutions Law, Internet Law, Litigation and other matters (see www.naegele.com and https://naegeleblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/timothy-d.-naegele-resume-20-1-1.pdf). He has an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University. He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal (see, e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commendation_Medal#Joint_Service). Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years (see, e.g., www.naegele.com/whats_new.html#articles), and can be contacted directly at tdnaegele.associates@gmail.com

[2]  See https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7387827/Tesla-driver-filmed-ASLEEP-wheel-self-driving-car-travels-high-speeds-LA.html (“Shocking moment a Tesla driver is filmed ASLEEP behind the wheel as his self-driving car travels at high speeds on the California interstate“); see also https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2015/11/30/a-34-trillion-swindle-the-shame-of-global-warming/#comment-15896 (“Tesla Is An Accident Waiting To Happen, And Cannot Go Out Of Business Fast Enough”) and https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2015/11/30/a-34-trillion-swindle-the-shame-of-global-warming/#comment-14734 (“Is The End Near For Elon Musk And Tesla?”) and https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2015/11/30/a-34-trillion-swindle-the-shame-of-global-warming/#comment-14554 (“Are Elon Musk And Tesla Imploding?”) and https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2015/11/30/a-34-trillion-swindle-the-shame-of-global-warming/#comment-14477 (“FEDS INTENSIFY TESLA PROBE”) and https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2015/11/30/a-34-trillion-swindle-the-shame-of-global-warming/#comment-13481 (“The Musk-Tesla Bubble!”) and https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2015/11/30/a-34-trillion-swindle-the-shame-of-global-warming/#comment-12656 (“Huckster Tesla Founder Rewarded”) and https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2015/11/30/a-34-trillion-swindle-the-shame-of-global-warming/#comment-10525 (“The Swindle And Shame Of Global Warming: Electric Cars “) and https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2015/11/30/a-34-trillion-swindle-the-shame-of-global-warming/#comment-21046 (“(“Teslas: Accidents Waiting To Happen”) and https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2012/12/20/abortions-and-autos-kill-more-in-america-than-guns/#comment-16844 (“Tesla On The Brink Of Failure“) and http://www.dickmorris.com/legal-pot-sends-highway-deaths-soaring-lunch-alert/ (“Legal Pot Sends Highway Deaths Soaring“)

[3]  See https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7755753/Chaos-California-Tesla-drivers-stranded-hours-half-mile-long-line-charge.htm (“‘Bet they wish they had gas!’ Chaos in California as Tesla drivers are stranded for hours in a half-a-mile-long line to charge their cars on Black Friday”)

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