Feature
The Tesla Skeptics Who Bet Against Elon Musk
$TSLAQ is an informal collection of obsessives pushing back against the cult of Elon.
Randeep Hothi in Ann Arbor.
Photographer: Ali Lapetina for Bloomberg Businessweek
Randeep Hothi was driving north on California’s Interstate 880 in April when he spotted a red Tesla Model 3. The sight was unremarkable—in Fremont, where Hothi’s parents live and Tesla has its auto plant, the electric sedans are everywhere—but this particular vehicle stood out.
It had manufacturer’s plates, suggesting it was a prototype of some sort. More conspicuously, it also had a camera mounted on a custom tripod rising about 5 feet above the trunk. A second camera inside the cabin pointed at the steering wheel and center console. Two passengers rode in back, behind the driver.