Nothing you haven't heard before from Mr. Musk, but Letterman's opinions on electric cars and the industry in general hold some entertainment value if you didn't watch last night (although picking on GM and fuel cell cars isn't exactly an intellectual leap). Well, at least it's another chance to get a look at the concept car known as the Model S, right?
A few potential seeds of controversy:
Musk: "Even if 100 percent of the electricity comes from coal, the Tesla roadster, which is a sports car, produces less CO2 per mile than a Toyota Prius."
Letterman: "The Chevrolet Volt has a range of 40 miles [in all electric mode]. That'll get you down the driveway and back. I'm going to go pick up the paper and take the electric car. Call me if there's trouble at the curb."
Letterman: "Those fuel cell cell cars. That's a load of crap, too. Oh, it's going to make its own hydrogen. They're talking about 20 years from now, maybe 20 years from now. These automobile companies, they're just shining people on. If they were actually working on technology that was going to be in showrooms, they wouldn't have to be closing down plants and filing for bankruptcy."
jederino says:
12:54 PM, 04/30/09
Utter Letterman nonsense. He should stick with being funny!
brn says:
02:21 PM, 04/30/09
It was a fantastic promotional opportunity for Tesla. The problem is that people will buy into Letterman's statements about GM. That's too bad.
firstwagon says:
02:34 PM, 04/30/09
Letterman is right about fuel cells though. They been the "next big thing" ever since the Apollo missions.
cwc1 says:
07:33 PM, 04/30/09
Letterman sounds like such an idiot for blaming the auto companies for misleading people about hydrogen fuel cells. A lot of other supposed experts are the ones leading people on about hydrogen and making widely optimistic claims about it, many of whom are in Dave's camp. Hollywood and government liberals are the ones who want to force the auto companies to build these pie in the sky pipe dreams with no understanding of the cost and return on investment, nor whether it would be affordable and practical for consumers. Yet they never get challenged for their idiotic statements and continue to blame others like spoiled children. Why do these people have any perceived credibility at all?