Electrek Poll: 80% Doubt Musk Will Deliver on Promises
Get the Energy newsletter
Daily energy & climate — solar, EVs, oil, the policy fights and tech bets shaping the transition. Free.
- Electrek surveyed 3,300+ readers on whether Musk—now the world's first person approaching $1 trillion in personal fortune—would finally deliver on early promises covering sustainable energy, unsupervised full self-driving, useful humanoid robots, and making humanity multiplanetary.
- Nearly eight in ten respondents answered 'no' or 'not even a little,' which Electrek read as evidence that a shortage of capital, if it was ever the constraint, is no longer what's holding Musk back.
- Electrek framed the results as a 'noticeable shift in sentiment,' noting that early Tesla fans who once focused conversations on technology and sustainable-energy mission now increasingly focus on Musk's public persona and right-wing political activity.
- Top commenter Fazal Majid linked Musk's DOGE role to cuts to USAID's PEPFAR AIDS relief programs—originally backed by George W. Bush and Jesse Helms—claiming the cuts have already led to over a million deaths, the vast majority children.
- Reader Weezedog1 pointed to an earlier challenge for Musk to contribute a small portion of his fortune to end world hunger, which he declined, as evidence of his character.
- One respondent characterized Musk's accumulation of wealth exceeding that of 3.8 billion combined people as 'Hoarding Disorder,' calling it 'a disease' rather than a goal.
Why it matters: Tesla's brand was carried for years by grassroots enthusiasts evangelizing a sustainable-energy mission; if 80% of Electrek's self-selected readership now believe Musk's character—not capital—drives the gap between his promises and deliverables, the company's word-of-mouth demand engine among early adopters is at risk of further erosion.
