How an Austrian media executive ignored the “experts,” bought a car online in 2014, and accidentally became an electric mobility prophet
In 2014, Franz Leeman did something that made his colleagues think he’d lost his mind. He spent €100,000 on a car he’d never test-driven, from a company everyone said would be bankrupt within months, using technology the automotive press dismissed as “a toy for showoffs.”
Eleven years and 800,000 kilometers later, that car is still running. And Franz? He’s still driving it, with no plans to ever buy another car again.
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The Moment Everything Changed
It started at a future forum in Frankfurt. Franz, who’d spent years collecting millions from the automotive and oil industries as an advertising director, sat in an audience listening to Philip Schroeder (now CEO of 1.5 Degrees) talk about Tesla and electric vehicles.
The concept hit him like lightning: “If we can drive electric, if we can produce all the energy we need for mobility here in Europe, all the money we spend at gas stations stays here. Our economy will grow very, very fast.”
He did the math in his head. Every euro spent on gasoline was building another tower in Dubai or funding indoor skiing at 50°C. Meanwhile, European wealth was hemorrhaging to oil-producing nations.
“Somebody has to try it,” he thought.
When “Experts” Are Spectacularly Wrong
Franz went to his colleagues in automotive journalism. Their response? Unanimous dismissal. “It’s only a toy for showoffs. Nobody will make it. They’ll go bankrupt in a few months.”
He bought the Tesla anyway.
What happened next reads like a masterclass in how conventional wisdom can be catastrophically wrong:
- The “you’ll need service constantly” myth: Tesla told him 8-year warranty without required service. He didn’t visit a service center until 120,000km—for a broken door handle, covered under warranty.
- The “battery will die and you’ll throw the car away” myth: At 600,000km, his battery still had 82% state of health. When flood water damaged it at 7.5 years, Tesla replaced it under warranty—no discussion, no questions.
- The “charging infrastructure doesn’t exist” myth: He made it work by plugging into farm equipment, offering to buy coffee shop customers’ drinks in exchange for electricity, and thinking creatively. Today, Europe has fast chargers every 50km on main roads.
- The “it’s expensive to own” myth: The front motor is still original. The rear motor was replaced under warranty at 400,000km. Total major repairs in 11 years? Essentially zero beyond consumables.
The Economics That Make Oil Companies Nervous
Here’s what keeps traditional automakers up at night: In 2014, Tesla quoted Franz €1,000 per kilowatt-hour for battery replacement—€85,000 for his 85kWh pack. They predicted prices would halve every three years.
Today? A new battery costs around €12,000.
That’s an 86% price drop in a decade. Name another technology with that trajectory that didn’t completely transform its industry.
The Software Revolution No One Saw Coming
On October 26, 2015, Franz woke up to a message on his car’s screen: “Congratulations. We made an update last night. From now on, you have an autopilot.”
He’d paid €4,000 for this feature without knowing what it would do. Now, suddenly, his car could drive itself—curves, highways, everything.
He called his nephew. They drove 200 kilometers on autopilot that day, using just one finger on the steering wheel to satisfy the system. The technology worked beautifully.
Then European regulations kicked in. Terrified of progress, regulators forced Tesla to require 500 grams of pressure on the steering wheel. The same capability Franz had in 2015 became harder to use—not because the technology failed, but because industries built on accidents and traditional automotive sales lobbied against disruption.
Franz calls it the modern “Red Flag Act”—referencing the 1860s British law that required someone to walk in front of early automobiles waving a red flag to warn people. A law designed explicitly to protect horse-riding jobs delayed automotive progress for 30 years.
The Morocco Story You Won’t Believe
In 2018, Franz drove through rural Morocco in his Tesla. When he needed a charge, he’d walk into restaurants, check if the coffee machine ran on three-phase power, then negotiate: “How many coffees will you sell in the next three hours? I’ll buy them all if I can plug in my car.”
He never paid for those coffees. Why? So many people came to see the electric car charging that the restaurant owners made far more money than the cost of a few drinks.
But here’s the twist: The King of Morocco was watching people like Franz. He’d decided in 2016 that Africa would not be Europe’s dumping ground for old fossil fuel cars. He started requiring imported cars to be newer each year, with a mandate that by 2035, only electric vehicles could enter Morocco.
Today, those rural Moroccan towns have superchargers. Free ones. Powered by Morocco’s 6,000-hectare solar plant in the desert.
A developing nation is leapfrogging the developed world in transportation infrastructure.
The 6,000 People Who Changed Their Minds
Franz’s license plate reads “SO NICE.” Over 6,000 people have driven his Tesla.
Not sat in it. Driven it.
“This is the most important thing,” he says. “Get people behind the steering wheel. Not into the car, behind the steering wheel. So they can feel how easy it is.”
His mission isn’t about converting people to a brand. It’s about accelerating the transition to renewable energy by letting people experience a future they’ve been told is impossible, impractical, or decades away.
The Cold Hard Truth About Temperature
Franz drives through Norwegian winters and Moroccan summers. The question everyone asks: How does temperature affect range?
The answer is nuanced. Batteries work best between 20-40°C. In an Austrian winter at -10°C, the car heats the battery to 20°C before optimal performance. Short trips (10km to work and back) can use 30% more energy because the battery keeps cooling down between drives.
Long trips? Minimal loss. The battery warms up and stays warm.
The solution? If you have a heated garage, you start with an advantage. If you’re driving longer distances, the temperature impact is negligible.
This isn’t a fatal flaw. It’s physics, and it’s manageable.
The Car He’ll Own Forever
Franz’s Model S has an aluminum chassis. No rust. Regular software updates keep improving the system. Every replaceable component has been replaced at a reasonable cost.
“If I don’t get in an accident that makes the car unrepairable,” he says, “I think I will never buy another car in my life.”
Think about that statement. In an industry built on planned obsolescence and 3-5 year replacement cycles, Franz has a vehicle that could genuinely last his lifetime.
What This Means for Everyone Else
Franz’s story isn’t just about one man and one car. It’s about:
- The reliability of electric vehicles – 800,000km proves the technology works
- The economics of ownership – Lower running costs offset higher purchase prices
- The infrastructure evolution – What seemed impossible in 2014 is standard in 2025
- The speed of technological change – Software updates make cars better over time
- The resistance to progress – Established industries will fight disruption viciously
When Franz bought his Tesla in 2014, he was considered crazy. Today, he’s considered prescient.
But he wasn’t prescient. He was simply willing to test an idea when everyone else was content repeating what they’d been told.
The Question You Should Be Asking
If automotive journalists, oil industry experts, and conventional wisdom were this wrong about electric vehicles in 2014—when the technology was primitive compared to today—what else are they wrong about right now?
Franz kept his job in the media while building relationships with people who could see the future. He attended conferences. He questioned assumptions. He did basic economic math.
You don’t need to be a visionary to see what’s coming. You just need to be willing to calculate whether the money you spend on gasoline might be better spent on local energy production.
You need to be willing to test-drive an electric vehicle, even if you’re skeptical.
You need to be willing to question whether the “experts” telling you something is impossible might have financial incentives to maintain the status quo.
The Legacy
Franz’s Tesla has traveled through 26 countries. It’s won rallies across Morocco. It’s been charged by unplugging milking machines on farms and negotiating with coffee shop owners.
It’s convinced 6,000 people to sit behind the wheel and experience a future they’d been told was a fantasy.
And it’s still running with the original front motor, a replaced rear motor under warranty, and no plans for replacement.
In 2014, Franz made a bet. He bet that a startup company would outlast the critics. He bet that electric vehicle technology would improve faster than skeptics predicted. He bet that infrastructure would emerge to support adoption.
He won every single bet.
The question is: What are you betting on?
