[7e]

It's fair to compare Tesla's new cars with others' new cars. That's the benchmark. If someone didn't buy a Tesla, they would have bought another type of new car (though probably a new hybrid or plug in hybrid, which have even higher average MPG). Tesla is disingenuous here.

[slg]

Except they aren’t comparing their cars. They are trying to quantify the total carbon saved from their cars and other ventures like solar panels. People have no idea what a “ton of carbon” equates to, but saying it is the equivalent of taking 500k cars off the road is meaningful to the general population.

[TheSpiceIsLife]

People have no idea what a “ton of carbon” equates to, but saying it is the equivalent of taking 500k cars off the road is meaningful to the general population.

Is this meant to be an off the cuff remark, or is a ton of carbon and 500,000 cars meaningfully linked?

[slg]

Thanks for pointing that out, I definitely phrased that poorly. The report said they saved "four million tons of carbon" and they equated that to "saving emissions from being released into the environment from over 500K ICE vehicles". They are basically converting one unit that is hard to understand "one ton of carbon" to a unit that people can relate to in "one ICE vehicle".