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Look Up “Irrelevant” in the Dictionary…

…and you might find a link to this CNN story. (archived copy on archive.org)

I know a lot of people think this guy is awesome, but he apparently believes that a battery-powered car in the year 2008 with the following properties “could change the world”:

  • It’s based on a 1959 Continental convertible, a car that’s over 19 feet long and weighs over 5000 pounds (and almost certainly weighs more as a battery-powered electric).
  • It has required over $120,000 of money to convert it to its present state.
  • Its acceleration control is a knob in the back seat.
  • Its brake control is on the passenger side.
  • It had a 12-mile test run which almost ended in a collision.

I don’t have a problem with rich people having fun with their money or chasing windmills, but this story is phrased as if we are expected to believe that this car is going to create a revolution in electric automobiles. I honestly don’t know whether the person who wrote this story for CNN was pandering to Young or making fun of him.

When I could (theoretically) buy a Tesla Model S for $109,000, how does this story have any relevance at all? I don’t blame Young. I blame CNN for passing it off as real news.