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?

Can't you read properly?

I can 😂

Add to the above that most of the lithium batteries are mined in or by China.

Only a fool would buy something that (A) uses child labour in key areas of Africa/South America and China and (B) contributes to China's increasing grip on key parts of the worlds economy (they own the companies doing the mining) and (C) the components are flown to China (if mined outside) to be processed thereby increasing carbon emissions and (D) increases the need for mining - thus disturbing the environment in very fragile areas where the wildlife is already under threat (DRC).

Plus when the car inevitably needs a new battery, the battery is dumped in landfill an is toxic.

TBH the whole thing is laughable and the holier than thou attitude of EV owners is insane.

Try coming out of junction turning left in a normal car whilst the ev is turning right, try coming out of a parking space with an EV parked next to you...they like a bus you can't see. They lights are higher and the reason why my fil and dh are struggling to drive now as they get dazzled. They also all ugly and look the same like a bus. I prefer a proper car. Everyone is different. I love my skoda fabia...best car in the world.

She could presumably have sat in the car though.

I did once spend an hour with my sister trying to get some app to work with her car to charge it while we went shopping. Could've been there, done and back in just the time it took her to work out the charging.

It really all needs to be standardised or linked together on some way.

I don't hate electric vehicles.

But I certainly resent the subsidising of people rich enough to afford an EV, by poorer households who can't afford one.

Why should less well of households pay more road tax than richer ones? Why should they pay more for parking permits than richer ones?

Very unjust from a social perspective

Also, my experience is that EV owners tend to be quite vocal and smug about their green credentials and seem to feel justified in paying lower road tax.

Yep. Our Tesla got keyed on our driveway. I get not liking Elon Musk, but with all the projects and children he's only there part time, almost all of the work is done by other people, give them some credit for making a nice minimalistic looking car. We love the product.
But then I don't get the whole cancelling thing anyway, as if we know if Beethoven was a good man 🧐

Not articles, seen with my eyes.

I have seen a couple of diesel/petrol cars that have caught fire, it doesnt mean that I think all of them are going to catch fire

I love driving an EV, mine is similar size to many taxis- haven't noticed anything being higher up

I don't have it for environmental purposes and being disabled I have time to sit on car chargers while I go about life

I do advise all friends and family considering one to appreciate quite how different it is to driving an ICE car and probably really annoying if you've spent 20 years being able to fill up at every petrol station and not having to plan every non local trip with chargers in mind

But for me, it's cheaper and easier and just rarely has any problems... my friends cars always seem to have something going wrong... mine tells me in advance what needs doing (like tyre pressure) and it's just really easy and intuitive to drive with a body that struggles with regen etc and it gets me places without costs like ulez or congestion atm

I've not received any hate towards it or me as a driver of it... but I rarely look at twitter

Well seeing as non EV cars are getting banned if you need a car then you will be forced to get an EV. I’m sure you can argue that people can choose to not have a car but for most people that’s not a practical choice. Even now before the ban the choice/availability of ICE cars is getting less and less. Car manufacturers are not investing in ICE cars (why would they). That’s what people are pissed off about.

We're due to swap our car in November (it's on a lease agreement we get a new one every 3 years) and we're looking into hybrid but won't make the swap to full electric until we're absolutely forced to.

Things that put us off;

1. The range, for 70% of our journeys we're just driving about town or commuting so it's fine. But on the weekends we enjoy either visiting family (2 hour drive), or going on days out. This weekend alone, Friday we drove 200 miles, Saturday we drove 50 miles, Today we drove 175 miles. We've done all that on one tank and still got a quarter of a tank left. With an EV it would need charging each time we get home
2. Charging locations, we live fairly rurally and there aren't many charging stations. Aside from big motorway services which has more chargers but your standard petrol station (thinking of the one we usually fill up at) has a grand total of...one charger. What happens if you rock up and someone else is already charging? You have to sit and wait for them to finish their lunch, take their time doing whatever they're doing before you can even charge. That's a longer break than planned. A few months ago we stopped at a motorway services that had 5 charges, 2 weren't working and 3 were being used. I really felt for the poor woman standing in the car park in tears because she had 9 miles left.
3. What do you do if you break down? If you find yourself in a situation where you run out of fuel the majority of the time you'd just walk to the nearest petrol station (or get someone to take you) and get a jerry can. You can exactly carry a spare battery with you can you? (I mean...you can but would you average driver have the first clue how to change it)
4. I really really really don't want 15 different apps because each charger is under a different company who all want you to use theirs. There needs to be one universal charging app, it's bad enough having multiple apps for car parking.
5. I agree with posters above. They need a polite cough button. The amount of times i've almost been ran over when walking along the side of the road or checking if it's clear to cross because they just appear silently behind you

This is hilarious.

There are MANY tiny EVs. And MANY massive ICE cars

Of all the bizarre complaints, that's the most funny.

The environmental impact of creating a new car is so large that realistically, you’d only negate it by covering at least 150,000+ miles in it
Taxing people who purchased Diesel cars, on the advice of the Government, on the grounds that they were more polluting, was very unfair
Forcing people to change to EV’s by introducing ULEZ meant that a lot of the scrapped cars hadn’t reached their break-even impact from manufacture before being replaced
EV batteries use insane amounts of rare metals, causing a future looming crisis on a much larger scale than anticipated, with associated further impact on climate change
The rush to get EV’s to market has resulted in some unexpected, environmental impacts such as the Luton Airport car park blaze and increased damage to road surfaces, necessitating greater reliance on fossil fuels for repair and maintenance, since those machines are generally ICE driven
EV’s are so heavy that it’s only a matter of time before a dated car park is collapsed by the weight of them - and to add insult to injury, they take more power to move than ICE vehicles - power that is generated by burning coal in the majority of cases

TBH, OP, I don’t think it’s so much the EV’s themselves that people hate, but the methods employed by thick as mince politicians, whose thought processes are mainly concentrated on extracting excessive amounts of money from normal people. If you calculate the additional costs that normal families, often not higher tax payers, have been forced to spend, on the drive to reduce emissions, you’ll notice that their true rate of enforced payment (tax) has spiralled beyond the ridiculous rate that, in the 1970’s, had the super-rich and those whose flight caused the “brain-drain” of the same period, fleeing to the rest of the world for a chance to enjoy their millions.

I really really don’t believe electricity is the future, I am holding keeping all my fingers crossed for hydrogen . I work in the motor trade and it’s very divided. Toyota who were forerunners are moving away from it. I am hopeful this is just a chapter we will look back and laugh at in years to come

I don’t particularly hate EV’s, but I have zero desire to ever own one.

I live in a HA flat with no allocated parking of any sort. There are no charging facilities and I can’t see there being any for a long time (we’re still waiting for new bathrooms!?) And I struggle to see where they’d put charging points. Even if they did the minimal parking spaces alone are fought over. I can’t even begin to imagine the wars over charging points.

I travel regularly for work as I’m field based.

I can fill up my tank and know I have enough fuel for the journey there and back. And if I don’t it’s easy to pull into a petrol station, quickly fill up and be on my way. The thought of having to plan in extra time to fanny about charging before going and then possibly having to stand around waiting for a car to charge during journeys, feels tedious and frankly annoying.

And I kind of like the fact my car is more mechanical with some electrical components. An all electric car is fully managed by a computer. And we all know how ‘reliable’ they are 🙄. Just wouldn’t trust it. I have an all electric flat and when the power goes out, you get nothing. Zero. No heat, no light. Zilch.

They’re expensive and overpriced. And not particularly attractive. And we aren’t any where near where we should be for the infrastructure for them.

I just don’t find them appealing at all.

I have one and the stress is epic trying to find public chargers and then having to download apps and work out how to charge. The technology with that is so complicated. I have spent 30 plus minutes in a car park trying to sort it out.

You do know many manufacturers make the exact same car in both EV and petrol/diesel?

I just hate the fact that children are dying to produce the lithium oh, and the fact that there isn’t an affordable EV that can tow. They’re useless for anyone who has to tow to earn a living, e.g.farmers🥹

I don’t get the range argument. Surely no one does more than 200 miles without stopping at any point 🤷‍♀️

Frequently

You missed the additional wear and tear on roads by the heavier weight cars (because of batteries), and also the consequential excessive tyre particulates released into the atmosphere/surface water, along with the fact the Chinese are in control of 95% of the cobalt market (needed for batteries) which in the long term means they'll control the price. Aside from the fact that most petrol/diesel cars have a lot of life in them and shouldn't be scrapped before their time, because scrapping them is also bad for the environment....

Even when I drove from the Midlands to north of Stirling last year I stopped for 5 mins for a wee at a service station, literally in and out. I couldn’t have charged a car that fast.

i often drive from the midlands to Dorset without stopping at all. 🤷‍♀️

must be over 200 miles.

Do they?
Whuch ones?

I was waiting for Ford to make the fiesta ev but they dumped it instead :(. The kuga is ev but massive. I’d need a step stop to get in and I don’t want a big car.

But lots of people are like this on Twitter/X whatever the topic. It’s a place to rant about stuff, as a public platform. I don’t see this topic being dealt with more viciously than any other. It’s just people being people. I don’t like them for the reasons stated on here, but I respect others feel differently. Twitter users aren’t really into accepting opinions other than their own.