You think it's that you mentioned a competitor? Most people have never heard of Arcimoto. I haven't. Had you written something informative and showed some honest enthusiasm for the company, nobody would've downvoted you.

Instead, you started it by taking a crap on Tesla which is 1) Not in the spirit of "HACKER news" that you just evoked in your defense and 2) a dumb thing to do if you care about down-votes when we all know there's a lot of Tesla fans here.

I suppose maybe you don't truly care about down-votes, which would make me wonder then why you're complaining about them.

>>upstart disruptive competitors

I downvoted you exactly for this reason: you seem to be under the delusion that Arcimoto is (or will be) a Tesla competitor.

Well, at least you have the stones to own your pettiness.

And in so far as they are aiming at different market segments, the two companies aren't direct competitors.

If you're looking for an in town runabout that's all electric and that you can eel in and out of the parking lot at Whole Foods on your way home from work... you probably don't want a Tesla.

Tesla's are for people who want to signal their wealth and power, for whom the transportation is a secondary consideration. They're cool, better than a Boxster; but they aren't exactly practical. They're for movie stars and banksters not people who build things.

Here's the thing though, I could see fabbing up a custom skin for an Arcimoto as weekend(s) project. Whereas with a Tesla, you'd feel like a jerk for touching Elon Musk's Work Of ART™ and that means the Arcimoto wins on hackability.

What makes them not practical? They are more practical for a majority of people, who drive to work, drive home, and drive around the city on weekends.

Sorry, but that's crap. What makes them bad for people who build things?

Consumer Reports is not known for their affinity for status and bling so much as their affinity for boring practicality, and they rated the Model S a 99/100. I believe that ties it for their highest rated car ever.

You sound like you have a chip on your shoulder. Either that, or you are affiliated with Arcimoto.

I think people just disagree with your comment...

And that's awesome if they can talk about it like intelligent people, but drive by downvotes are more the domain of some other news site.

Of course, it's probably because I mentioned status... which is the third rail of Bay Area niceness; I mean it's an absolute meritocracy; right?

It's because you compared a niche product from a company with no track record and no production timeline to a mass market product, from a company with a CEO that has a history of goal completion, and that is in full production.