Everybody talks about battery life and operating costs and “range anxiety” when it comes to electric cars. But what about the animals?
We're not talking about carbon footprint or sustainability, but rather leather. Or, to be specific, how some customers of Tesla Motors' electric cars — with a starting price of about $70,000 — would like to avoid leather.
A Bloomberg report from Tesla's annual share meeting noted how one buyer, Mark Peters, had to go through “extreme measures” to get a Tesla sedan not only without leather seats but without any leather trim at all for his vegan wife Elizabeth Peters.
“Tesla can continue to fill cars with the skins of sentient beings that suffer unspeakable horror,” said Elizabeth Peters, who said she grew up on a veal farm in the Bloomberg report. “Or, Tesla can adopt one of the many faux-leather interiors used by Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, BMW, Infiniti and others, that are cruelty-free.”
The couple made two proposals during Tesla's annual meeting: To stop using animal products in interiors and to be completely vegan by 2019.
Tesla's board of directors recommended against both proposals for now, saying the company had higher priority tasks. Shareholders' responses are expected by the end of the week, Bloomberg noted.
A representative from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals later asked Tesla CEO Elon Musk if the animal-rights group could help the carmaker find vegan alternatives to leather.
“We'll look into it,” Musk said.
Might we suggest something in a nice PVC? Or perhaps you're in the mood for a little TPO? Of course you can never go wrong with a classic slush molded TPU.