Tesla ditches forums and pushes fans to take political action with Engage

Tesla has created a new website for its fans, one mainly designed to spur them to political action on its behalf. Dubbed Tesla Engage, it was spotted by CNBC and Electrek. The company says it made the platform “to create a digital home base for all of our work, and make it easier for Tesla community members to learn what's top of mind for us, take meaningful action, and stay in the loop.”

So far, Tesla is pushing a handful of causes. One calls on people to donate to disaster relief charities in Texas after the unprecedented winter storms that left much of the state without electricity. Texas, it should be noted, is home to its upcoming Austin Gigafactory, as well as Space X's facilities in Boca Chica. Yet another post urges people who live in Nebraska to call state legislators in support of LB 633 — a bill that, if passed, would allow the company to sell its cars to customers there directly.

With the launch of Engage, the automaker is also winding down its official forums. On March 15th, they’ll be transitioned to read-only. At the moment, only the company can publish new posts on Engage. But as a customer, you can create a profile and comment on its posts, as well as earn likes for your replies and follow other people. All of that makes Tesla Engage not a one-to-one copy of the outgoing forums.