"Tesla extorts thousands of dollars from customers to get their electric car to work efficiently."
But they THOUGHT it was good PR...
What this has written all over it is monopolistic behavior. If Tesla had actual competitors, it would be forced to sell the most performance it could deliver of the minimum profitable price.
back in the day, IBM sold a family of card sorters with a range of sorting speeds, with the faster ones costing more money.
For a significant fee, the slower models could be upgraded to the faster ones. This was accomplished by IBM field personnel by opening the cover of the drive belt and then slipping the belt up a step or two on a pair of step-pulleys. No difference at all between the models, just the position of the drive belt on the pulleys.
Tesla is further proof that P.T. Barnum was right.