The myth about electric car owners

[nvabill]

But he wrote it confidently. Who wants to read something with citations, stats, and actually attempts to prove something like https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0965856415303153

That would be boring.

True. ?

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[DYohn]

I bought my Mach E because it is electric, it is not a Tesla, and it is not from Asia. I got hooked on EVs thanks to the wife's Chevy Volt hybrid and the Tesla that I purchased because it was the only viable option at the time, and drive EVs not to save the planet or any other self-congratulatory BS, but so I don't have to buy gas and worry about fluctuating gas prices. Nor do I have to worry about paying for the electricity, honestly, since I charge from my home with my solar array unless I'm on an out-of-area road trip. And the solar array exists not because I am such an environmental activist, but because I was tired of constantly rising utility bills from our local electric utility. Living in an all-electric home in the Phoenix area where A/C runs 24/7 for approximately 300 days of the year, it's nice not having huge energy bills. So my decisions were 100% for financial self-interest.

 

[Sikkun]

and it is not from Asia

Large portions of it is though.

 

[zvez]

People get that stereotype only because it’s true for the “loudest” EV drivers.

Kinda where a lot of stereotypes start.

same thing happened when the first prius' came out. and this also applies to the "vegan" debacle as well for that matter

 

[Chuck]

I enjoyed this post:

The myth about electric car owners

Excerpts:

"Every time I write about electric cars, there is an explosion of hostile comments online in which readers angrily denounce electric vehicles and the people who drive them. Much of this animus rests on a plausible yet mistaken assumption – that EV owners are all passionate environmentalists, sanctimoniously swanning around in their zero–emission vehicles while disdaining the ghastly, planet-killing masses burning dinosaur juice.​

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Let me disabuse you of this."​

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***​

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"(as Aesop’s farmer knew) it’s best not to appeal to sacrifice and self-denial until you have exhausted the possibilities of self-interest first. It is the consequences of a behaviour that matter, not the motivation.​

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And nearly all technological change is driven in its earliest stages not by high-minded purpose but by the selfish pursuit of novelty."​

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-myth-about-electric-car-owners/

Yeah, my other is a Lincoln Navigator L Series. My purchase of an MME had positively, absolutely nothing to do with the environment. Nuff said.

 

[DYohn]

Large portions of it is though.

Perhaps. But Ford is not.

 

[leehinde]

or any other self-congratulatory BS, ...
So my decisions were 100% for financial self-interest.

I'm unclear on why caring about the world is BS, but self-interest is ?.

 

[SonicBlue]

I'm pretty loud myself and I don't talk about the environmental benefits much at all, more the cost savings, performance, and comfort.

Yeah. My quick summation for anyone who asks is: It’s fast, it’s fun, it’s quiet, and it saves a ton on gas, but I would never recommend it as a sole vehicle without an ICE backup, because road trip charging is a pain.

 

[SonicBlue]

And I'm not "progressive" - I'm a realist. Absolutely crazy how EVs and fossil fuel reduction have become a politicized wedge issue. Humans are pretty bad at projecting into the future.

One could argue that carbon alarmists, and the models they rely upon, have been really bad at projecting into the future - the impact on global temperatures of an increase of a trace gas in the atmosphere from 200ppm to 400ppm. That it point zero four of one percent.

A realist would also acknowledge that full-scale replacing ICE with EV based on wind and solar is pie in the sky fantasy.

 

[SonicBlue]

The question is not what has caused the pause (obviously its the cost), the question is whether mfg will get the hint and produce lower cost EVs without all the bells and whistles, but retain 200-300 mile range to fit the needs of 90% daily use.

Cost is a major factor, to be sure. Maybe the primary one. But I don’t think we can discount that most Americans don’t want to be inconvenienced by even sporadic public charging.

I don’t think many EV enthusiasts realize this, but the reality of public charging is on full display to everyone who makes a quick stop at Target / Walmart, and it ain’t pretty. They see EV owners trying to activate chargers. Broken chargers. And the same nerds sitting in plugged in cars for the duration of their shopping trip. And these normies think “no thanks.”

Until the tech allows public charging to be faster and easier, that’s gonna be a major bar to mass adoption.

 

[DYohn]

I'm unclear on why caring about the world is BS, but self-interest is ?.

I'm stating my opinion, you can deal with it I'm sure. And if not, well I have an opinion about that, too.

 

[HuntingPudel]

I'm unclear on why caring about the world is BS, but self-interest is ?.

I didn’t take it as caring about the world is BS, just that the self-congratulatory part was. Maybe I read things funny. ?‍?

 

[MightyMike]

"Every time I write about electric cars, there is an explosion of hostile comments online in which readers angrily denounce electric vehicles and the people who drive them. Much of this animus rests on a plausible yet mistaken assumption – that EV owners are all passionate environmentalists, sanctimoniously swanning around in their zero–emission vehicles while disdaining the ghastly, planet-killing masses burning dinosaur juice.​

If you truly care about the environment, don't get a car. Live in NYC and walk to everything. use public transportation. become a vegetarian, or better yet become a vegetarian pedestrian in a low energy country like India.

The ability of our individual choices to impact the environment are so minuscule, that we might as well not make them. The only societal benefit owning an electric car does is create a permission structure for other people to own them. But even then, there are so many other sources of carbon pollution that it only makes a small dent in the overall problem.

I own an electric car because it is fun.

Mike

 

[leehinde]

If you truly care about the environment, don't get a car. Live in NYC and walk to everything. use public transportation. become a vegetarian, or better yet become a vegetarian pedestrian in a low energy country like India.

The ability of our individual choices to impact the environment are so minuscule, that we might as well not make them. The only societal benefit owning an electric car does is create a permission structure for other people to own them. But even then, there are so many other sources of carbon pollution that it only makes a small dent in the overall problem.

I own an electric car because it is fun.

Mike

Of course it's minimal, but it's not nothing. And, sometimes the little things are enough. I sat outside waiting for a table at a restaurant last night and was surrounded by idling cars waiting for their take-away to be brought out. Had they been electric cars I wouldn't have had to move to avoid the exhaust. And, there wouldn't have been exhaust.

And, as you say, it's enabling. We're helping normalize better approaches.

You do what you can, you don't have to be perfect (you were looking for 'vegan', I think.) Keep at it.

 

[SonicBlue]

I'm unclear on why caring about the world is BS, but self-interest is ?.

The self-interested reasons - cost savings, fun, etc. - are grounded in reality. The environmental benefits are not.

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