<story><title>A Raw Deal in Michigan</title><url>http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/raw-deal-michigan</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>wiremine</author><text>I live in Michigan, and was dishearten when I read about this story the other day. But not really that surprised.&lt;p&gt;A few observations:&lt;p&gt;- Tesla isn&amp;#x27;t a name brand here like Ford or GM. In fact, if you asked a lot of people if we should help the Big Three with this sort of legislation, you might be surprised by the answer. Remember, they generate a LOT of jobs in this state: not just the Big Three, but the tier 2 and tier 3 manufactors. While I think logic would win out in the day, I wouldn&amp;#x27;t assume that everybody in Michigan _wants_ Tesla. It isn&amp;#x27;t in their best interest.&lt;p&gt;- I haven&amp;#x27;t seen one media story about this yet, outside of social media.&lt;p&gt;- We&amp;#x27;re in the middle of an election cycle year, including a gubernatorial race. So, the special interests picked a good time to insert this language: there are a lot of problems the state is still dealing with, including Detroit going through bankruptcy. And people want the money to win races.&lt;p&gt;Personally, I&amp;#x27;d love to see Telsa in the state, both the cars and charging stations. But, honestly, Telsa isn&amp;#x27;t going to get much traction here until they improve cold weather battery performance.</text></item><item><author>skrebbel</author><text>&lt;i&gt;Using a procedure that prevented legislators and the public at large from knowing what was happening or allowing debate, Senator Joe Hune added new language in an attempt to lock Tesla out of the State. Unsurprisingly, Senator Hune counts the Michigan Automobile Dealers Association as one of his top financial contributors, and his wife’s firm lobbies for the dealers.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;In the Netherlands, we call this corruption.&lt;p&gt;(It happens too, but so openly? Don&amp;#x27;t you guys have rules against this? Or media who like scandals?)</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>clarebear</author><text>My retired father-in-law who lives in a suburb of Detroit got a car that was not manufactured by the by the Big Three a couple years ago. He felt so much social pressure that he quickly returned it and got one that was. He told me that some &amp;quot;foreign&amp;quot; cars would be egged in his neighborhood. I put foreign in quotes, as big three cars are not always manufactured in the US and sometimes other cars are manufactured here. But if you are from Detroit, where the headquarters is and the profits go back to matters most, and tangibly matters.</text></comment>
<story><title>A Raw Deal in Michigan</title><url>http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/raw-deal-michigan</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>wiremine</author><text>I live in Michigan, and was dishearten when I read about this story the other day. But not really that surprised.&lt;p&gt;A few observations:&lt;p&gt;- Tesla isn&amp;#x27;t a name brand here like Ford or GM. In fact, if you asked a lot of people if we should help the Big Three with this sort of legislation, you might be surprised by the answer. Remember, they generate a LOT of jobs in this state: not just the Big Three, but the tier 2 and tier 3 manufactors. While I think logic would win out in the day, I wouldn&amp;#x27;t assume that everybody in Michigan _wants_ Tesla. It isn&amp;#x27;t in their best interest.&lt;p&gt;- I haven&amp;#x27;t seen one media story about this yet, outside of social media.&lt;p&gt;- We&amp;#x27;re in the middle of an election cycle year, including a gubernatorial race. So, the special interests picked a good time to insert this language: there are a lot of problems the state is still dealing with, including Detroit going through bankruptcy. And people want the money to win races.&lt;p&gt;Personally, I&amp;#x27;d love to see Telsa in the state, both the cars and charging stations. But, honestly, Telsa isn&amp;#x27;t going to get much traction here until they improve cold weather battery performance.</text></item><item><author>skrebbel</author><text>&lt;i&gt;Using a procedure that prevented legislators and the public at large from knowing what was happening or allowing debate, Senator Joe Hune added new language in an attempt to lock Tesla out of the State. Unsurprisingly, Senator Hune counts the Michigan Automobile Dealers Association as one of his top financial contributors, and his wife’s firm lobbies for the dealers.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;In the Netherlands, we call this corruption.&lt;p&gt;(It happens too, but so openly? Don&amp;#x27;t you guys have rules against this? Or media who like scandals?)</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>nathanm412</author><text>Cold weather performance is trumpeted a lot by EV detractors, but the number one selling new car in Norway last month was the Tesla Model S.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/08/tesla-norway-idUSL6N0HX1CH20131008&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.reuters.com&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;2013&amp;#x2F;10&amp;#x2F;08&amp;#x2F;tesla-norway-idUSL...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Here&amp;#x27;s an interesting interview from Elon Musk about the Tesla battery winter performance. 
&lt;a href=&quot;http://cleantechnica.com/2013/03/01/interview-with-elon-musk-on-tesla-model-s-performance-in-cold-weather/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;cleantechnica.com&amp;#x2F;2013&amp;#x2F;03&amp;#x2F;01&amp;#x2F;interview-with-elon-musk...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>