The only person in my orbit who doesn’t sneer at a Tesla Cybertruck every time they see one is my 6-year-old daughter. She thinks it’s cool. She also thinks that Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy probably all hang out, and that if you add the word “fart” to any sentence it becomes a hilarious joke. So she’d probably get along great with Elon Musk, who also often acts like a 6 year-old.
Not me! Musk ruined Twitter, which I used to love but quit. Then he did his best to help trash the federal government, which I also used to love but can’t quit using as easily as a social platform. So I understand a Tesla boycott as an expression of consumer dissatisfaction with a company whose CEO inserts himself into in our country’s increasingly divisive politics.
I’m especially here for a Cybertruck boycott—or at least, I was. Yeah, the three-ton electric pickup has become a darling MAGAmobile, often sporting right-wing wraps and favored by influencers like Jake Paul, who freely spread misinformation about the climate emergency. And yeah, every time I see one rolling down the road, I have an irresistible urge to throw a little sign language its way 🕊️. But I’ve got to cut it out.
"We—which, yes, includes me—should not do anything to discourage anyone from driving an electric vehicle, even a Cybertruck."
No matter how much we try to avoid it, we are all polarized, spending our digital lives in groomed virtual spaces designed by hyper-aware algorithms to make us feel comfortable and reinforce our own points of view. You probably signed up for this newsletter that way. Maybe your eyes lingered over a Facebook post about plastic pollution at some point in the past, which sent a signal that you might vibe with an ad for one5c. Maybe one of your friends from an activist or community group forwarded you one of our emails. (That is always a powerful move, by the way!) However you found us, it was probably because some person or snippet of code had a sense that you’d like what you’d see here. And that means you might not like Cybertrucks or Elon Musk very much either.
So the next time you see one, do what I’m planning to do: Pop that filter bubble by giving the driver a big smile and a hearty thumbs-up. If you see them in a parking lot, strike up a conversation. Be supportive of their choice to drive the scorned offspring of a doorstop and a shipping container, even though they are objectively not very good trucks.
Why shouldn’t you just merrily grump your way to your next Third Act meeting, muttering at Cybertrucks you see along the way? Because it turns out that, for all the good Tesla has done for the global EV market, Musk’s recent behavior is pushing potential buyers away. A new study showed that support for Tesla among liberal consumers has declined annually since 2023, the year the Cybertruck came out. This drop applies not just to Muskmobiles, but to all EVs.
That’s bad. Driving constitutes more than one-third of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, and an EV emits 60% less than a gas-powered car over the course of its lifetime. (Yes, that includes the vehicle’s production.) We need to do everything we can to get more people driving electric vehicles. Even if it means validating the vehicle choice of someone who might think the EPA shouldn’t exist. Because here’s another troubling finding from that same study: It does not show a corresponding surge in support for Tesla among people with more conservative views.
I wish it would. We—which, yes, includes me—should not do anything to discourage anyone from driving an electric vehicle, even a Cybertruck. Because though it may look like a shopping cart in battle armor, it has zero tailpipe emissions and is way more efficient than a combustion-engined pickup when driving from Point A to Point B. That’s a win, even if one of those points is a MAGA rally.
So on your way to hugging a tree, maybe give a Cybertruck a little squeeze too. Just make sure it’s not moving, and that you keep your fingers away from the frunk.
