Tesla vehicles delivered

As Tesla has delivered more electric vehicles to Americans who believe they are saving the planet, those same Americans have bought more candy and chocolate, a correlation that suggests the psychological reward for purchasing a 50,000-dollar car is approximately one Snickers bar. The data spans 2015 to 2022, during which both curves rose with the exponential confidence of industries that have discovered their audience and intend to exploit them thoroughly. The correlation is 0.974, which is sweeter than it has any right to be.

Tesla deliveries grew from about 50,000 vehicles in 2015 to over 1.3 million by 2022, riding the EV adoption curve powered by falling battery costs, federal tax credits, and Elon Musk's ability to remain in the news. US candy and chocolate sales grew from roughly 32 billion to over 42 billion during the same period, driven by premiumization (artisan chocolate bars costing eight dollars became normal), inflation, and the pandemic-era comfort eating that never quite stopped. Both trends are measures of consumer spending in a growing economy: one aspirational, one indulgent, both rising with disposable income. The shared variable is simply American prosperity expressing itself in two different aisles.

Eight years of Teslas and candy growing together is the kind of correlation that feels like a metaphor for something, though it is hard to say exactly what. We electrify our commutes and sweeten our afternoons with equal commitment, and the economy that enables both does not distinguish between virtue and vice. The chocolate melts, the battery charges, and the correlation hums along.