To not get the hate thrown at EVs?

[EngineStart]

We have an EV. We didn’t get it for environmental reasons, we got it because I have access to an EV lease scheme via work and it was the most cost effective way for us to get a new car. I don’t think I’m morally superior for having one. It serves us well, is nice to drive, and cheaper (for us) than running a petrol car.

What I don’t get is the visceral hatred some people have for them. I understand they aren’t for everyone, there are definite logistical challenges with on-street parking and long journeys particularly. However, I expect range and logistics to improve as time goes on. I also get that some car fans might find them a bit sanitised. But I don’t really get why some people are so viciously against them?

AIBU?

My EV sounds like a spaceship at low speeds and reversing, it’s very intrusive as I can hear it from the office (back of the house and upstairs) when DH is reversing onto the drive.

TBH I think the fossil fuel industry knows the ICE is dead. The car manufacturers are phasing it out and no matter how much shilling is done by the fossil fuel industry it is finished for cars in the West. The market will still exist for other vehicles like lorries, military applications and maybe in other countries where electricity networks are less well established.

The Torygraph and Daily Rage run EV stories because they know the majority of their readership are resistant to change and hate anything new fangled. Its a way of making sure they reflect their readerships opinions, which is the best way of getting them to buy papers, because people buy papers when they tell them the things they want to hear.

It takes me two minutes to fill my car at the pump. I don't know any public charger that can charge a car in such a short period of time.

Agree petrol and diesel are dead. The big car companies are not investing in them now as we were informed regretfully by a car salesman . They are in the process of being banned by legislation m. We have to pay £9 per day to drive ours into Bristol / London or Birmingham. Having run our diesel into the ground buying another diesel or petrol car now seems retrograde and wrong. There’s a real air pollution issue in our city and we are adding to it.

Between 2% and 3% of cars in the UK are electric or hybrid (latest figures) and hybrids also use fossil fuels

In Norway, the figure is 5%.

It's going to be a while before all cars are electric, particularly pure electric.

I am adamant that I don’t want to buy one because I have really bad motion sickness. Reports are that EV are worse for car sickness. It’s already bad enough being in a traditional car.

Part of the problem is the mis-information. Over 90% of the battery components are recyclable, as they get more popular the economies are scale will mean better technology to improve further.

Are they dead though? Because we are looking for a new car and there’s still loads of new or nearly new petrol or diesel. Anything hybrid or EV is a fortune more expensive than the equivalent model, with less range.

Im worried about the cost of fixing. We like many take our cars to little local garages. I can’t imagine how expensive the bits must be when they go wrong, or do you only keep them a few years?

Loads of mis-information, don't believe everything you read.

We have a petrol and EV cars, EV is charged overnight from solar panels, costs nothing to run other than initial outlay.

Might not be suitable for people travelling long distances, but over life time of car EV is much better for the environment.

Might be sooner than you think given that 82% of new car sales in Norway were electric last year (up from 79% in 2022).

If Norway can do it, given their geography, population distribution and climate, there's no real reason the UK couldn't either (other than we have a government who are ideologically opposed to investing in the future).

That's a weird way to say "sorry for posting misinformation".

..given that 82% of new car sales in Norway were electric last year (up from 79% in 2022).

1. Affordability - what are salaries like in Norway compared with the UK?

2. Housing density - what proportion of the population in Norway can charge their cars at home?

3. What proportion of the whole market are new cars?

I get really bad motion sickness too (can’t even go on a swing) but I haven’t noticed a difference. I’m not sure why that would be really.

Yes. It’s a while of that.

I do think people hear ‘EV’ and assume Tesla. I’d never spend that much on a car even if I could.

Yes. That’s definitely why my sister gets so angry about it. She’s in that algorithmic bog sadly. She can’t see it though.

Well that’s true. The only way to travel in a completely carbon zero way is to walk. But if you have to travel by car then EVs are the lowest carbon footprint at the moment even taking into account production and end of life.

No. That is true. I think the newer models that draw down more KWPH it’s around 20 mins. Takes us 40-60 mins but we are on the slowest charge because our car is older.

I haven't got a problem with the cars themselves - I know little about them really. I have a problem with the idea that current cars will become obsolete within a few years and people like myself - on very low budgets - will have to change car and probably not be able to afford it. Who pays for putting a charging point on my property? Do electric rates change for charging cars? What happens of there is a storm and an electric outage mid journey? If I can't afford an electric car how do I get to work in an area with little public transport?

The unanswered questions about how the low earner will be able to transition to them is my problem with them.

We did a 280 mile round trip, this weekend. 10 minutes boost on an ultrafast charger, each way, while we went to the loo and stretched legs, briefly and we went on a short trip while there and made use of a slower pod charger in a supermarket car park for the hour we were there to cover that journey. No queuing to charge.

There are smaller services with fast charging points popping up all over the place, now. When we last did this journey in our old petrol car, last summer, we stopped off at a Moto services and it was hellish busy, most of the loos were out of order and some stupid woman reversed into us then tried to blame us. This was so much more civilised.

I like my second hand Corsa-e and feel lucky to have it. I've noticed a lot of what you might call 'objections' rather than hate. Maybe it helps that the Corsa-e looks like a Corsa so it doesnt threaten anyone. I'm a community therapist and drive all over the county with quite a lot of equipment but that's 150 miles or less per day so it works for me.

I've also noticed just how few EVs there are on the road and that it's going to be a long time before we really know what the switch over looks like, if it ever happens in quite that way. I am not sure what it will be like when the infrastructure required to supply liquid fuels all over the country becomes uneconomic to maintain.

I would love MNHQ to bring in some experts for a Q&A in this topic as there are some really valid questions here but many of them can be answered fairly straightforwardly.

range: going up all the time, 250miles plus now very common. Likely to be 500 miles plus in not distant future

true carbon saving v ice inc production: for most EVs in most scenarios the saving of fossil energy for an EV v ICE in unequivocal and will get better month by month as the grid greens.

battery chemistry/metals/end of life: technology has changed rapidly in only the last five years and already cobalt batteries are rarer and rare because of interns about some mining issues and lithium now more common. Mining for all sorts of things can be problematic (inc batteries for phones/computers:other tech) and so regulators and manufacturers have been doing a lot in this space. The EU has introduced a new regulation on supply chain due diligence and another specifically about battery supply chains to enable better oversight and governance to avoid big issues here. UK not In EU obvs but as the manufacturers are the work done on this has a positive impact for cars sold in UK too. And battery recycling is already commonplace and is absolutely the future.

charging infrastructure: growing rapidly. Needs more work which will happen more rapidly - to be frank - if naysayers pipe down and let the market take shape. The roll out in the UK in last few years has been remarkable but does need to keep pace. I own an EV and live in a terraced house in an urban street with no driveways. I drove 150-250 miles a week (so not high mileage but not minimal) and charge on a lamp post which I amicably share with my neighbours. For long journeys I charge on the road. I have driven the length and breadth of uk with no issues and in 18 months of ownership can say confidently I have waited a sun totally of 10 minutes for a charger to become available when en route somewhere. Which is less time than I’d have waited at motorway service stations pre EV.

The plan isn't really for poorer people to have a car, it's to get them off the road altogether and onto the non existent public transport, bike or those dreadful scooters that menace our towns. No one cares if people in houses with no drive can't charge their car or afford it in the first place, on your bike with you all

It probably depends where you live. In our affluent corner of Surrey (Esher/Cobham/Oxshott/Weybridge) there are lots of EVs and multiplying daily.
Most houses around here have lots of off street parking so charging is not an issue. Most people have minimum 2 cars often more so it's typical to have EV and ICE (ICE is often a smaller cheaper 'station' car. Car that is used to commute to the train station) or smaller ICE for the teens and the big luxury cars are more often EV.

range: going up all the time, 250miles plus now very common. Likely to be 500 miles plus in not distant future

The problem is that to get the range, you have to pay a lot of money in comparison to an ICE car.

My car cost me just under 4k, does 430 miles per tank and had 50k miles on the clock when I bought it with one previous owner.

I looked earlier and there was only one second hand electric car in the entire country that cost under 4k and that had a range of over 150 miles (and even that was only 153 miles). It was two years older than mine, had over 100k miles on the clock and two previous owners.

It makes absolutely no sense to me to spend the same amount of money on a car that covers less distance, is older and has had more wear and use.

We did a 300 miles journey, with one 30 minute stop to charge, go to the loo, get coffee etc. We had to do a five minute detour to a garden centre that had heaps of empty fast chargers. We should stop for safety on long journeys anyway, so that didn't put us off. The infrastructure and batteries are getting so much better, so quickly, that all the things that put us off a few years ago are no longer barriers for us. My husband does 1 or 2 250 mile journeys a week, and it's great.
That said, it wasn't cheap, but we own a business so could buy it through there with huge tax savings so it made sense for us financially.