Comment by CursedSilicon | Hacker News Reader

Comment by CursedSilicon | Hacker News Reader

I'm sure the usual detractors will be here to whine "Electrek is biased against Tesla!"

To which I would ask: Is it "bias" because they simply report on Tesla frequently? Would it be "less biased" if they ignored Tesla? Obviously Electrek can't simply invent positive press for Tesla to report on.

Putting that aside though. The Cybertruck by all measures has been an abject failure. Its production run was so limited that insurance companies refused to cover it [1] and the NHTSA took something like two years just to crash test the thing due to how few of them there were on the road.

Combine that with 10 fucking recalls for absolutely horrific safety issues [2] and the company making the batteries taking a 99% slash in its $2.8 billion dollar contract [3] the thing is a complete travesty

[1] https://www.cybertruckownersclub.com/forum/threads/insurance...

[2] https://www.cnet.com/home/electric-vehicles/every-tesla-cybe...

[3] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-29/tesla-cyb...

Fred Lambert (Electrek founder) was pro-tesla and was using his site to get a huge number of referral credits. Then Tesla changed the rules on that referral program.

That's what triggered the beef. Fred sold all shares, took down all the pro-tesla articles, and posts nearly exclusively only negative tesla articles since.

Seems both parties were/are within legal rights, but it is clearly bias.

Literally the only people who can think that this dude is anywhere remotely objective is if you are already a Tesla hater; he posts qualifications in every title and always adjusts the wording and tone to be negative. Every Electrek's take on an article is him describing how he warned everyone about the Elon/Tesla heel turn as you laid it out. It screams confirmation bias but since he isn't a journalist there's no code of ethics he's bound to follow.

I'm bullish on EV's at large. They're far nicer to ride in. So I find his coverage informative. I've never owned a Tesla but I've ridden in hundreds and must admit (other than the original Roadster) I've been thoroughly "whelmed" by their mediocrity.

However, short of going to places like Reddit's "Tesla Lounge" or "Cyber Truck Owners Forum" I have yet to see many (any?) places that cover Tesla/Elon positively. Not because "every website is biased against him" but simply because they're reporting on events that've happened

Makes it even more impressive that Model Y is the best selling car worldwide. If you sell enough, I guess by definition you achieve mediocrity. You eventually become the average simply numerically.

Best selling car worldwide and not a super affordable one at that, but if you listen to everyone on the internet who "doesn't own a Tesla but has ridden in hundreds", they'll you very authoritatively they're mediocre cars.

Yeah. Obviously we should ask the people who own them for their opinion. Obviously they'll gleefully deride their not super affordable purchases :)

Speaking of not super affordable. When's that "affordable Tesla" coming. Or did Elmo turn on the 'full self driving' and it drove itself into a ditch along the way?

Cybercab? It's already been unveiled and will be start production in Q2.

Nicer to ride in in what sense? I find single-pedal to be nauseating because many drivers can’t control their foot raise well enough for smooth or gentle braking, and the suspension feels chunky as hell, most likely due to how heavy the car is. But maybe that’s just Teslas. Their ride is just categorically worse than most ICE vehicles.

Elecdrek's bias against Tesla is only surpassed by its gushing over any/everything China.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com