The Tesla Influencers Leaving the ‘Cult’ | WIRED

Comment Loader Save Story Save this story Comment Loader Save Story Save this story This month, Tesla customers erupted in outrage over what some called a “ bait and switch ” by the electric vehicle manufacturer. Initially, the company had offered to transfer the Full Self-Driving feature, which is now only available through a subscription model but could once be purchased for a “lifetime” fee that ran as high as $15,000, to any new Tesla purchased by March 31. The deal was most tempting for drivers already enticed by a new base Cybertruck model that cost just $59,990, a price that CEO Elon Musk soon clarified would only last for 10 days , leaving potential buyers a very small window to make up their minds. (When first launched in November 2023, the cheapest Cybertrucks were $60,990, but by the beginning of 2026, the cost of the entry-level model went up to $79,990.) Then Tesla quietly amended the language of the FSD transfer agreement, stipulating that customers would need to take delivery of a Tesla by March 31 in order to swap their FSD from their last vehicle to the next. With Tesla’s current production backlogs, that meant many people were committed to buying cars that would arrive too late to make the swap. The company gave buyers the option to cancel delivery and receive a refund of the $250 order fee. On X —which Musk owns and frequently uses, making it a favored social media platform for Tesla enthusiasts—the community was livid. “Tesla still hasn’t fixed their blatant FSD Transfer lies for the $59k Cybertruck,” fumed the author of an account called The Cybertruck Guy, which is focused on the polarizing steel-paneled EV. “What a pathetic disaster.” Such comments are not taken lightly in the Tesla bubble, where insufficient fealty to the brand or Musk can be taken as an attempt to sabotage either. Another Tesla influencer screenshotted Cybertruck Guy’s post to say: “Disappointing to see what I thought as respectable tesla accounts calling Tesla ‘liars’. Time to block these morons.” Of this exchange, another major Tesla booster chimed in to add: “Crazy to block people over this, but I don't need to be involved with people that want to worship a corporation and say they can do no wrong.” Long before Musk bought Twitter and turned it into X, it was an ideal gathering space for investors and customers of his car company. There, they could follow him for updates about what was coming down the pipeline while expressing admiration for his supposed genius, continuously hyping each other up about the environmental benefits of EVs and the future of autonomous vehicles. Those who own shares of Tesla are rarely shy about their financial incentive to engage in this echo chamber—over the past six years, Tesla stock has increased approximately tenfold in value, giving the company a market capitalization of well over a trillion dollars. Yet as the recent FSD transfer uproar demonstrates, people have their breaking points, and you can never know which unfulfilled promise (or ill-advised actions from Musk) will cause a Tesla fanatic to rethink their entire worldview. Then comes a difficult decision: Are they going to take their objections public and face exile from a hardened group that no longer tolerates such dissent? For those who decide to leave the fold, going on to challenge the aggrandizing narratives about Tesla and Musk can come to feel like a relief—and a duty. For Earl Banning , a psychologist in Anchorage, Alaska, the process of breaking ranks from the Tesla gang was a gradual one. Banning joined Twitter in 2018 after buying his first Tesla, in order to keep up with everything Musk shared about the direction of the company. Early on, he tells WIRED, he had the idea of demonstrating the Summon feature to his followers. “I could hit the button on my car and it would open the garage door, park itself, and shut the garage door, which was pretty neat,” Banning says. “I had recorded a high-speed video of that.” Musk himself retweeted the clip, as did the official Tesla account. “And then I got a whole bunch of followers.” Banning says. “It's like going to Vegas and winning the first time.” At first, Banning enjoyed the camaraderie and optimism of the Tesla scene. He came up with the idea of “Frunk Puppy Friday,” where he and others shared pictures of their dogs in the front trunk compartment of their Teslas. Banning also attended in-person events and made friends around the country. As “more of an introvert,” he says “it was great to have this social community that I could interact with.” Meanwhile, it seemed the sky was the limit for Musk—and Banning was willing to go to bat for him online. Banning dismissed Musk’s critics as “Elon haters” and says he spent “too much time” trashing them and other car companies, sometimes via memes. “I was totally that guy.” He recalls going after auto industry journalists and “really anybody else who was remotely negative about Tesla—I was insufferable and just all o