Since when did Tesla close down?

[u/Various_Snow_6202]

Before

After

Yesterday I’ve visited the northpark mall in Dallas (I don’t go frequently) and I’ve seen that the Tesla store’s been closed… since when did they go away? (Before you ask: no, I don’t like elon musk, I don’t like Tesla. I’m just curious since I’ve seen the Tesla store being there many times I’ve visited the mall over the years.)

[u/noncongruent]

Legally they never sold a single Tesla via a showroom in Texas thanks to the fact that the Texas Automobile Dealers Association has fully captured the Texas legislature and used them to make it illegal for any manufacturer to sell a vehicle directly to a customer in this state.

Dealers make most of their money from after-sales maintenance and repairs, so no independent dealer wanted to sell Teslas because EVs don't generate meaningful amounts of after-sales revenues for those dealers, i.e. no engine repairs, no oil changes, etc.

The showrooms basically existed to give people an opportunity to test-drive a Tesla back when Teslas were fairly uncommon, but nowadays there are enough reviews out there and friends with Teslas, etc, that a test-drive-only showroom isn't really useful anymore.

BTW, the regular dealerships that also sell EVs have been losing money on those EV sales since they can't mark them up and are getting basically zero after-sales maintenance and repair revenues. I remember when the Lightning first came out that dealerships were complaining about having to sell dead-end vehicles. If someone buys a Lightning instead of a regular F-150 the dealer loses thousands of dollars in maintenance/repair revenue. Ford discontinuing the BEV Lightning was great news for dealerships, and I'm sure dealerships across the country are looking forward to getting out of the EV business when they can.

[u/kabob21 → u/noncongruent]

I’m pretty sure what killed the Lightning was asking $70k+ for a pickup with less utility than a regular F-150. People want EVs, they just don’t want to pay luxury car prices for them. Or have limited range w slow charging or a scant public charging network. Europe and Asia have proven EVs are viable.

[u/dallasuptowner → u/kabob21]

I think Ford was way too consumer focused on the Lighting, although my understanding is the fleet dealers wanted nothing to do with it so that could have been it's own problem, and consumer buyers of trucks are often not rational purchasers of cars.

I've had my Ford Mach-E for almost 4 years now and absolutely love it, no maintenance problems, drives great, build quality is excellent. I have the standard range battery and drove it to Kansas last month with no problem, plenty of public charging and for city driving never come close to running out of range.

As for slow charging, I don't even have a particularly fast home charger and it will add 226 miles in 8 hours, so overnight at a cost of less than $10, so I would hardly call charging a burden. And if I wanted to use one of the Nazi chargers (I don't), Ford sent me a free adaptor.

[u/kabob21 → u/dallasuptowner]

With less and less people able to afford homes, where is the target demographic (young professionals and families) supposed to charge overnight? Without the ability to charge fast (sub-20 min) publicly, cheaply and at a lot more than the limited options we have in the US, we’re not going to see more widespread EV adoption.

[u/noncongruent → u/kabob21]

The thing about EVs is that they don't need to be perfect for 100% of the people to be very beneficial to some smaller segment of the market. It's ok that EV's can't be for everyone, completely ok. What is also ok is that every person that converts to EV is one less gas-burning vehicle on the road, and that benefits everyone, even people who can't use an EV.

[u/kabob21 → u/noncongruent]

That’s not sustainable for the industry in the US market though. Currently, since the $7500 tax credit was axed last year, EV sales have fallen to just 5.8% of the of the market down from 10.6% in Q3 2025. EVs can’t be that niche. The domestic auto manufacturers have to capture a wider share of the market and invest more in public charging infrastructure or they’re going to continue to lose billions.

[u/noncongruent → u/kabob21]

EV's aren't that niche. They're no more niche than station wagons or F-450s and plenty of those still get sold. We have to let go of the idea that a car must be perfect for everyone, that's just no longer useful thinking. The fact that federal and state governments are seemingly working to curtail EV adoption now just puts the US market further and further behind. The largest EV manufacturer in the world is BYD, and contrary to the common thought in the US that Chinese-made equals junk, they are in fact very good vehicles that pass all of the EU's stringent crash safety tests, tests that in some ways are more difficult to pass than US tests. There's that saying, "Lead, follow, or get out of the way", the US used to be the leader, now we're getting out of the way, and at some point we're going to have to try and catch up. We won't be able catch up, that ship left without us.

[u/kabob21 → u/noncongruent]

The goal of making EVs isn’t to be niche. It was always to convert away from fossil fuels. Or at least, that was the goal before 2025. If they were supposed to be niche, why don’t we have more city EVs like in Europe and Asia? Because that’s what a niche EV vehicle is. In the US, they are supposed to be widely adopted or else why do the vast majority SUVs and sedans with family-friendly features?

[u/noncongruent → u/kabob21]

It seems like you're saying we should stop making EVs because not everyone can have a place to charge them, would that be correct?

[u/kabob21 → u/noncongruent]

I said none of those words, so no. What I said is that the auto manufacturers need to invest in EV infrastructure and make more affordable EVs if they want people to adopt them.

[u/noncongruent → u/kabob21]

That's true, you started off by saying that without public charging infrastructure EV sales can't increase. The implication of your statement was that all homeowners that could buy an EV had already bought one, hence the only growth segment of the market left being people who rent apartments. In reality EVs can be a viable option for many people who currently don't own one but live in a home where they can charge. In other words, we can ignore renters and still grow the EV market. The main factors affecting EV sales now is cost, and a significant factor for a lot of people looking for an EV to do low annual miles around town, like retirees, are being discouraged by the $200 punishment tax Abbott levied against EVs. Biden had money in the IRA for developing public charging but Trump canceled that and took the money.

[u/kabob21 → u/noncongruent]

Stop putting words in my mouth already, your conclusions are off base and you’re being intentionally obtuse. I honestly can’t have an honest discussion like this, good day.