Over one million people have viewed the Instagram video I made while stranded at a broken Electrify America charging station in my $2000 Nissan Leaf, whose range after 12 years is down to just 20 miles due to battery degradation. A huge portion of those 1 million people are electric vehicle skeptics, and the things many of them are saying in the over 10,000 comments are wild.
In addition, the U.S. arm of the British tabloid The Sun even wrote an article about my situation. It seems I’ve somehow found myself in the middle of a massive culture war. Behold some of the jaw-dropping comments that make it clear just how divided America is when it comes to electric cars.
Let’s show the reel that started this whole thing, and try to imagine you don’t have the context of having read about the car here first:
View this post on Instagram
This video depicts me frustrated that three Electrify America charging stations are broken at the same time that my 2011 Nissan Leaf — a vehicle that I bought for just $2000 and that will end up being $1000 after a rebate from my power company — had pretty much no juice left. This shouldn’t be surprising to a regular follower, since I’d previously noted that the vehicle’s battery had degraded to about 40 percent capacity, meaning it will power the vehicle only about 20-ish miles on flat ground.
The video ends with me stating that I’m likely going to have to ditch the nearly-dead Leaf in that parking lot and take an Uber to my destination, though I actually managed to find a Level 2 charger nearby, and later I drove the Leaf home; I state in the video’s caption that America’s charging infrastructure still needs work.
It’s OK To Be An EV Skeptic
This was enough for anti-EV extremists to go wild and to use my clip as ammo to promote an anti-EV agenda. I want to make clear before I go further: I don’t use the term “extremist” in the headline lightly (also it’s worth noting that there are just as many extremists on the other side, obsessed with Tesla to a degree that’s almost cult-like). It is OK if you don’t like how the government is forcing EVs upon everyone (I myself am not 100% onboard with it), and it’s even OK to hate EVs themselves (though I find that objectively weird given how technologically impressive electric cars are) — if people did just those two things, I would not use the term “extremist.”
It is totally OK to be an EV skeptic given relatively long charge times, significant infrastructure issues (including the grid’s inability to handle it all), high average EV cost (a huge player in dividing EV fans from EV skeptics, as price makes it a class issue), battery degradation concerns (especially not knowing the battery condition when buying used), range anxiety (especially in winter or when towing), concerns about mining of minerals in batteries, road/bridge concerns related to high weight of EVs, concerns over how violently EVs can burn in a crash, and on and on. Some of my closest friends hate that Americans are being forced to buy EVs when we so love our gas cars. I don’t hold that against my friends. That’s totally fine.
But people in the comments of my Instagram reel did not just voice their displeasure over America’s EV push or with EVs themselves or with any of the other issues I mentioned; instead, they went overboard, calling me a “sheep,” frequently mentioning “virtue signaling,” implying that I’m somehow a “sucker” who bought into some kind of government trickery, and bullying me. Hard.
America Is Intensely Divided On Electric Cars
I’ve been in the media limelight for nearly a decade, so this stuff truly does not affect me one bit, but for those of you who are maybe having a tough day, I’d recommend you stop reading. Some of this is tough to see, but it’s indicative of the incredibly volatile place America’s EV transition finds itself in socially — this is a culture war, make no mistake about it:
dave_chungus_connery went absolutely wild with his comment above, stating:
If your dumb enough to buy an EV, you deserve worse than this. I hope your life becomes so miserable that you move to a red state specifically so that you can purchase a firearm and then blast a tunnel through your brain with it.
Yes it is you FUCKING LOSER ! IT’S ALL A BIG SCAM ! WAKE UP YOU FUCKING LOSERS ! ELECTRIC WILL NEVER WORK, PERIOD. END OF STORY ! ????????????????????????????????????????
I can’t get over the fact someone can be so ugly ?
Or you can work on that double chin and walk
Misogynistic Views Towards EVs
This lady needs to call a man
Libtard!!! Lol. Ha ha!!!
Sell car, buy testicles.
Politics And EV Ownership
What does the bullying and the misogyny tell us about the state of Americans’ EV transition? I think it highlights just how vehemently a significant portion of the population detests electric cars; they hate EVs so much that anyone who drives one is no longer an “us,” but rather a “them,” and a cursed, emasculated “them,” at that. Many folks made assumptions about my political preferences, too, and all because I drive a $1000 Nissan Leaf:
“Typical liberal,” writes Instagrammer t1_jossh. “But your being a good little Democrat. Stop complaining and do your part. It’s not supposed to make sense,” saintcloud69 writes, implying here that I’m under some kind of government trance.
“I think these are the same people that voted for you know who, hows that all working out…Trump and gasoline 2024,” writes Instagram-user yorkie_sydney. “It must be hard to be a liberal, like if you get stranded but you also voted for no guns so your’e just going to have to sit there if anything happens,” chimes in Instrammer kev_the_truth.
“This guy probably voted for Biden too …” wrote scooter_diablo_dffd. “You people support lithium and cobalt mines that basically enslave children,” states damniel_gets_lost. That latter comment about mining is echoed throughout that comment chain, as are assertions that electric cars are, in fact, no cleaner than gasoline cars (the best research out there has found that new EVs are, in fact, cleaner than new gas cars).
Instagrammer stupidweekends asks: “do you get to keep your woke patch?” Instagram-user 23_whiteboy_summer_23 says something similar: “The consequences of your choices. Stay woke cornhole.”
Here’s my video-response to these comments:
View this post on Instagram
Skeptics Circulate Claims That EVs Are Dirtier Than Gas Cars
Electric vehicles should not exist. Their footprint on our planet is SOOOO much more toxic than fossil fuels.
Instagram user cuetlachtli_ writes:
Electric vehicles are a scam and are worse for our environment. People need to stop buying…into this
User ant7t2 follows up with:
Go back to petrol & be normal. you ain’t saving no environment bro.
Then there’s el_chabelo73 who says:
It looks that you didn’t research anything about those cars and the damage that they cause to extraction of lithium WAKE UP
Instagrammer tat2rob73 tells me to stop being a sheep, before claiming that EVs put out more carbon than gas cars (a largely inaccurate claim for new cars when evaluated over lifetime-use, though this article isn’t meant to debunk all these claims, but rather to highlight the extent to which many Americans are critical of America’s EV path). Here’s the full comment:
Quit being a sheep and follow along just a start they will shut off electric at anytime they want to that’s what they won’t so they can control you and besides to make that car puts out more carbon ruins the earth than a gas vehicle for its life of being on the road and that have ass car is going to ruin roads faster so there’s more money out you’re pocket to pay higher taxes to fix the road its going get with it sheep
It’s worth noting the beginning of that comment, “follow along just a start they will shut off electric at anytime they want to that’s what they won’t so they can control you,” because this idea that EVs are a way for the government to control your movement is, by far, the biggest concern that people in the comments of this reel have voiced.
The Biggest Concern By Far: EVs Are A Tool That The Government Is Using To Limit Your Motion
Without question, the most commonly-mentioned concern in the 10,500+ comments is that the U.S. government is using EVs to control its citizens’ movements. It goes without saying that there’s no proof of this, but nonetheless, it’s something that worries thousands of Americans.
“Non reliable energy will make you reliant on those who control it (government). This is how they will imprison and enslave us,” writes Instagram user 81ronin41 in the comment above.
“All by design – a means to control our movements,” shares shane1122469 in the comment above. Instagram user g_mabev1957 wrote something similar, saying “It’s all about control, all they have to do is turn off the electricity. Wake up people.”
Instagram user ronin_skater_138 (a similar username to the other 81ronin41, curiously), writes in the comment above:
It’s by design. They want you to get so frustrated you just give up, move into the pod in your nearet 15 minute city, eat the bugs, own nothing, and like it. It’s the progressive agenda in a nutshell.
Then there’s this comment from Instagrammer phiyaatv, in which they refer to me as a zombie and liken EV ownership to a “plandemic”:
Sorry but I feel no sympathy for any of these zombies. Maybe he should’ve done his due diligence and he wouldn’t be in this situation. Evs and the climate crisis are as big of a scam as the covaids plandemic ????
Writing on the wall. Read it, believe it. ‘They’ want us helpless.
That is the Democratic Communist Swamp terrorists plan by pushing electric garbage has zero to do with emissions and climate change political hoax its about control. They can cut the power and boom nobody is going anywhere. Vote Red
That’s their whole plan to keep people from moving around. You think if everyone drive those things. They would be able to move around freely. hell no, all they have to do is turn of your charging stations at your not going anywhere, ANYTIME
And more from arteims21:
FYI EV”s Are For MICRO CITIES!! WHERE YOUR EVERY MOVE IS MONITORED FOR THE BENEFIT OF THIS TYRANNICAL GOVERNMENT REGIMEjosh_weiland
Wait til they shut your shit down bec your social credit score was low in 2023
Welcome the dystopia of electric car control. Thank your local government, electrical supply company and the owner of that site.
“They don’t want you traveling.”
Jeremy.forget.90 wrote:
Hahahahaha..you drank the kool aid. Obviously you believe what you hear and do no homework. Thinking this was all a good idea until now lol good luck with that electric toilet @davidntracy
Battery cars are the biggest hoax since the election of Pappy Bi-duh-n. Zero market demand and zilch infrastructure support. I dare ya to take one of these ???? piles across the country. And don’t dare take the family with you. Your odds of making it look to be about the same as going west with a wagon train. Farce. Scam. Joke. Swindle. Brought to you by the US govt. Figures.
Almost like your Government lied to you about all the false information making it better than when it’s actually about to offer? Nahhh your Government wouldn’t lie to you…
There’s A Class Component To All Of This
America isn’t awful – you’re just a mindless sheep with more money than sense. Enjoy your uber – fucking tool hahaha.
Spend 100k on a car that doesn’t even work. Liberal logic. Mean while rednecks have a 40 year old pickup that’s half rusted out flyin down the road breathing air and sending fuel while the old degenerate laughs at you liberals stranded with a charger handle in your hand.
It’s also worth noting in response to the above comment that I own a bench seat-having, stamped tailgate-equipped, long bed, regular cab, gun rack-equipped, carbureted, straight six, four-speed manual-having 1985 Jeep J10, and I bought my coworker Jason a 1989 Ford F-150 with a 300-inline six and a T18 four-speed stick. So these assumptions folks are making about me couldn’t be more wrong. I address this in the Instagram reel I made yesterday (the same one I posted earlier).
The Sun Article
He said he planned to head to Pasadena and hoped he would reach his destination with enough charge.
David had only traveled 15 miles but the battery’s range was down to nine.
The driver had to pull over as the battery had reached a “dangerously low level,” but he was met with a long line of electric car drivers waiting to charge their respective vehicles.
I ran out of charge because my EV’s range had depleted. That happened.
But I often see websites hide behind excuses like “The facts are true and from primary sources,” when the reality is that editorial fairness goes well beyond that. Media bias is so much more than just about whether you write a true story, it’s about which stories you decide to cover in the first place. I noticed this at a previous employer; our site was running anti-Elon Musk stories far too frequently, in my opinion (and I’m not a Musk fanboy at all). Every time an Autopilot failure happened we wrote a story. Every time Elon tweeted something dumb, we wrote a story. Were these things real? Yes. Were they technically newsworthy? Sure. But every now and then you have to step back and question whether the whole of your coverage fairly represents a situation, and at the old shop it seemed like the whole of our coverage implied that Elon was a dingus and that Autopilot was useless garbage — neither of which are true.
As for the Sun, the whole of its coverage would lead one to surmise that electric cars are awful, and as a regular EV user and car journalist who covers EVs, I can tell you: This is so far from true. Here are some of the stories The Sun has written recently:
Again, these stories may be 100 percent accurate (I doubt it, but let’s roll with it), but that still doesn’t mean the coverage isn’t deeply biased. Again, it’s not just about whether a publication writes a true story, it’s about what they choose to cover in the first place.
It’s also about providing context, and that’s what both The Sun and the reel commenters seem to be lacking.
My Nissan Leaf Situation Is Hardly A Microcosm For EV Ownership At Large
My Nissan Leaf does not in any way represent a typical EV ownership experience, and in truth, I could have easily avoided being stranded. My reel was meant mostly to criticize Electrify America, a company whose chargers are known for being dodgy. For me to arrive at a station and see three out of four chargers broken, and two cars waiting to juice up, was frustrating. I think anyone would have been a bit annoyed in that situation.
But not only did I get out of that situation unscathed thanks to a local charger that worked just fine (but was a bit slow, partly because the Leaf’s Level 2 charging is limited to 3.3kW), but I could have avoided that conundrum quite easily.
First off, I knew that my Nissan Leaf’s range was severely limited. I should have planned accordingly, and there are a number of apps out there to help me do that. EV Navigation, for example, accounts for elevation change, which was a factor in depleting my Nissan Leaf’s severely degraded battery pack perhaps a bit more quickly than I’d anticipated. PlugShare is a very common app that, had I been more used to charging on the road (I generally charge at home and at work), I’d have already had in my arsenal, and that would have told me that the three Electrify America plugs were broken.
In large part, me being stranded was my own doing. Were there some chargers broken? Yes. Does my EV only have 15 miles of range due to severe degradation? Yes. And if you just reported these facts without context, as The Sun did (for the most part), then sure, EVs would seem like a pretty bad proposition.
View this post on Instagram
But the car cost me $1000 (after a rebate). That’s dirt cheap. And its battery degradation is due largely to poor thermal management, and is not at all indicative of the degradation you can expect from most modern EVs (earlier EVs like my BMW i3 also had issues on this front, to be sure).
The truth is that I got stranded not because EV batteries are crap (modern EV batteries have been shown to last much longer with minimal degradation) and not because our infrastructure is that awful here in California, but because my car is a dirt cheap junker, I did not plan properly, and this particular Electrify America station wasn’t well maintained.
A $1000 Nissan Leaf at one faulty Electrify America charging station does not represent EV ownership as a whole. Not by far. So Instagrammer cwhiten11, you can relax with your comment:
Ya’ll better share TF out of this video before they delete it. This is EXACTLY what we all been saying.
I’m not deleting that clip, as it did happen, though I know it’s being unfairly weaponized to push an anti-EV agenda.
What’s The Takeaway, Here?
I want to be clear that, hidden in some of the rather alarming language, there are some valid criticisms of EV ownership in these comments.
Regardless of what these “experts” are telling the sheep, EV’s are basically only good for shorter commutes… dependable extended range commuting is not a valid option at this time and this happens more frequently than most people realize. I drive by a large charging station a couple times per week and it is full of vehicles without anyone near by… where are the drivers of these vehicles at at 5a??? They are not eating or shopping while the cars are charging…
Electric cars or one of the biggest . You’re not saving any money 25 $30 to charge your car takes an hour I’m gonna blow right past you in my fossil breathing dragon. Under five minutes to put gas in it at the end of the night. I’m home with my family and you’re out there Dicken around. Looking for a charger. Congratulations she just became a statistic of the government.You are now a puppet.
Addressing the issue of the Sun and it’s ilk (on both sides), I THINK what these outlets are really doing is feeding readers desire to feel moral outrage, superiority, and and group association. It’s not really about information. One of the things I really like about Autopian is I feel like I am reading stuff written by people who really enjoy sharing the stuff they are writing about with the readers. Maybe it’s just me.
I’m surprised that you were surprised. The anti-BEV forces are becoming increasingly rabid and unhinged. Unfortunately, you waved a chunk of red meat in front of them and they jumped all over it. Lesson learned.
I guess my only question is, if DT owns and can drive a BMW i3 with a new battery why have the Leaf at all? Seems like $1000(after rebate) wasted.
My guess is: he’s a car guy who wanted to try it out, it was a cheap, so he did.
A large part of this is just Instagram’s comments sections being horrible in general. I’m sure there are worse comments sections somewhere, but I generally find Instagram’s comments sections to be a toxic cesspool of scams and blanket-hatred of random things.
Not sure why this is either. Even YouTube comments – supposedly considered pretty bad – are generally better than Instagram comments IMO. But I do think your video isn’t as much indicative of there being legions of angry EV haters, as it is just Instagram comments being hot garbage in general.
David, really sorry people are so shit.
I ran BBSs back in the olden old days and the community and chat were the primary lure, same as social media today. The discourse had trolls but absolutely NOTHING like today. I can’t even fathom how quickly I would have thrown all the modems in the dumpster, set the server on fire and cancelled the phone/ISDN lines if I’d ever had a single thread I opened to moderate that looked anything like what I see all day every day today.
I’ll paste here what I said the other day regarding comments on a different subject (still applies):
“When it comes to the wars the world fights (however you want to categorize them) one common cause in all is a growing global indulgence in ignoring (and often outright denying) the humanity of others, especially those we are in conflict with (or just perceive ourselves to be in conflict with). That can be writ large as we’re witnessing in Israel and so many other places in the world today or can be on the small scale of a single website. The consequences are generally terrible and on the small scale, such as this site, do no good and generally further harden people to defend whatever position they hold whether justly or not.”
Moving to a new planet w/out people. Or just strap me to a rocket. Or hit me in the head and tell me it was a rocket.
Meh… this is typical of the anti-BEV crowd. They’ll cherry-pick something and then use that as a false premise for basically saying “All BEVs are bad”
It’s been that way ever since the Tesla Model S went on sale. Prior to that, the Prius and hybrids were public enemy #1 for these idiots.
And who are these idiots? I suspect they are people or are related to people who earn a living in the oil industry or in an oil industry related field. And in some cases, I suspect they’re paid shills.
When it comes to BEVs, there are a lot of big groups that have reason to ‘hate’ BEVs and Tesla. Aside from the oil industry, there is also the legacy car industry that never wanted to get into selling BEVs on any large scale… and plenty of execs at legacy vehicle makers are quietly pissed that they’re being forced to now.
And dealers HATE BEVs since they need less service, Tesla doesn’t use dealers AND selling/servicing BEVs means they have to invest in a bit of charging infrastructure as well as having service staff that have had some training in that area.
Long-time mechanics are also no fan of BEVs since they don’t have a lot of knowledge and equipment needed to services BEVS
And the pushers of the “hydrogen economy” also hate BEVs since BEVs have effectively killed any chance hydrogen had on making it on any large scale.
Politicians who get a lot of political donations from the oil industry and legacy car makers will also be no fan of BEVs since they don’t get as much bribe money from BEV makers.
And then there are people who just don’t like change. And BEVs represent a lot of change which they won’t like.
So that mostly covers why there is such a big anti-BEV crowd that is getting increasingly more desperate.
As a tool for a VERY specific job, that Leaf is a bargain. Nothing can touch that thing in terms of running cost and comfort for a cheap commuter. 15-20 miles of range is pushing it, though. If I could get an old EV like this that had 50 miles of range with some confidence that it wouldn’t degrade terribly over 5 years, I’d commute every day in one. Obviously, this only works if you have charging at home/work and are cool with having more than 1 car.
It amazes me what makes “news” today. A short clip about a frustrating situation with ZERO context warrants an article?! These are the types of “journalists” (at The Sun) that are just screaming “take my job, AI!”
Maybe less the journalists and more the leadership of the Sun, but yeah, I think they’d love to see AI take over. Clickbaity crap is cheaper than real journalism, but AI-written clickbaity crap is even cheaper. I assume the actual journalists are a mix of new people who aspire to one day be real journalists, people who need a paycheck of some sort even if they don’t like it, and genuine idiot hacks.
I was going to buy an EV, but now that I know it’s really just a grand conspiracy to control my movement after they shut off all the power I think I’ll pass. Thanks David!
I think they need to go back to breathing diesel Range Rover fumes again
With people like this, ever accusation is an admission.
Think about how stupid the average person is.
Now think that that person is average. And about one-half of everybody is dumber than that.
Now read those people’s comments on your EV.
Whenever you’re confronted by thousands of crazy people you just have to take a step back and remind yourself that there are billions of people total.
It’s times like these I’m reminded of Red vs Blue’s real life vs the internet. It is still so relevant today. Think half those commentors are 12 year olds that just died in fortnite and are waiting in the lobby.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0grFFAxySw&ab_channel=RoosterTeethAnimation
So, David gets shit on for driving an EV. Most people don’t know that the first electric car was built nearly 50 years before the Benz Patent-Motorwagen. The first “real” EV, the Floken Electrowagen came out a few years after the Benz. Electric cars are not new, and in the 1890s, a fleet of electric cabs serviced London. Electric cars have been side by side with ICE cars for 150 years.
Your Leaf is proof that EV’s depreciate at a rate much much higher the ICE cars and the cost per mile to drive them is not fully understood and very likley higher than ICE cars. Its also proof that the environmental impact of EV’s is unknown because throwing away a 70,000 mile care is not very good for the environment.
His Leaf is proof that poorly designed cars die prematurely. Plenty of ICE engines and transmissions do the same thing but nobody writes “think” pieces (a term I’m using very loosely here) about it because it’s just accepted.
The takeaway here is that old Leafs are bad, not that old EVs in general are bad.
When an ICE car engine fails the car is not totaled out
No, the Leaf is not proof of anything as a whole for EVs.
Its absolutely miserable battery life is an extreme outlier because it has no active cooling system at all, unlike basically every other modern EV.
The official Nissan battery management system is “Hope you don’t live anywhere hot or cold lol.”
It’s a car that’s cheap because it has a broken drivetrain. A broken-engine S-class would also have similarly terrible depreciation.
I think you should ignore this evidence and go buy an electric vehicle
Yeah, I will continue to ignore extreme outlier “evidence” and buy EVs.
Both of the EVs I’ve sold have had very low depreciation ($1000-1500/year).
And the one I have now is worth more than I paid for it a year ago.
And regarding your other original comment, a 70,000 mile Leaf would have long ago passed the break even point for emissions vs a similar gas vehicle because it has a relatively tiny battery, so it didn’t have as big of a manufacturing emission deficit to overcome in the first place.
Absolutely. In the same way that the POS 90s Taurus I had as a first car is proof that all ICE cars are slow and unreliable junk that basically fall apart in under a decade.
This whole open air prison conspiracy theory blows my mind. Literally since the beginning of humankind we have been clustering to support each other and make life, well, livable. The nuts that think this is the new agenda to lock us in “pod” cities and control us literally have to ignore thousands of years of humans as a social animal.
Woof. I’m tired of getting notifications from that post as well! Someone made a comment that some Tesla stations use diesel generators as backup energy sources, which, uhh… defeats the entire point of EVs? When I pointed out that this is still a pretty efficient way of generating locomotion, I’ve now been called an idiot libtard about 100 times from replies. Yeesh. Some people don’t like facts.
For those who care, the math is actually kind of interesting. Based on a few sources I found, a large-scale diesel generator generates about 14kWh per gallon of diesel (several sources claimed a 2250kW generator burns 160gal/hour.) A Model 3 gets 4.17 miles per kWh, so this theoretical “diesel powered Tesla” gets 58mpg. I’m sure there’s some charging loses, probably ~20%, but that’s still 46 mpg, which isn’t a lot worse than most TDIs get. Of course, only a fraction of the power to charge a given EV over its life is this scenario, so the actual efficiency numbers are much higher, but even in this worse case scenario, it’s still a pretty good way of turning diesel into distance.
EVs have their issues, sure, but it’s an interesting case study.
Stationary power may just have a real moment here soon. The grid cannot support all of the juice needed to charge everything with a wider adoption, so we’ll need to get creative. That Karno fuel-agnostic unit Hyliion is developing is pretty neat. It runs on 20-some fuels and boasts great thermal efficiency. They claim it is cheaper than grid power. Hydrogen fuel cell makers are pivoting to stationary power generation as well. Should get interesting!
If these people are truly this upset about the lithium and cobalt mines I have bad news for them about the extractive industries supporting the rest of the US economy. Like where do they think gasoline comes from, do they not realize what regimes are benefiting from the sale of that?
I’m not sure that most of these are actually people.
Fox news told them not to think about things like that.
More bad news for the know-nothings: Many EVs already don’t even use Cobalt anymore. More than half of new Teslas don’t use it, some Mach E’s don’t use it. Lightnings are moving that direction, etc.
But guess what DOES use Cobalt? Gasoline refining.
Womp womp.
Nearly all electronic device batteries too.
Just discovered this option: have your Leaf trailered to San Francisco and get the battery swapped! Maybe Ample will do it for free in exchange for the publicity on The Autopian:
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/03/ample-opens-5-ev-battery-swapping-stations-for-bay-area-uber-drivers.html
Is this where all the Jiffy Lube guys will end up when there’s no more ICE?
“I’m sorry we cross threaded the high-voltage connector to your battery.”
Okay, first things first. “You, Your, You’re”. If you want people to take you seriously, please use proper grammar. I cannot believe how frequently that turned up in these comments. This sort of flame war is why I abandoned social media. Commenting on The Autopian is the closest I get anymore. All else is just garbage.
Second, I love this argument about “them” shutting off the electricity to strand everyone. Do they think gas pumps run on magic? When the power is off we’re all in the same boat, but my EV will have an advantage while sitting in the resulting traffic jams – I can idle without using my motive fuel so when your tank runs dry please push it to the shoulder so I can get by. There’s a NG backup generator at the house so I’d like to get there for a cold drink and a recharge.
Third, yes – EVs do not fit every use case. This does not mean they will never work for anyone ever. New tech takes time and it improving all the time. Just this month a company opened a new factory to mass produce solid state EV batteries. Huge leap there.
I drive a Bolt and have no desire to go back to gas. My wife drives a PHEV because her ’17 Leaf just reinforced her range anxiety. Now our daughter drives that same Leaf and it gets her around town and to classes just fine. Our son drives a gas car because that’s what was available when he started driving. It’s a 5-speed too, and he loves it. He has that love for the ICE and all that goes with it. This mix of vehicles works out well for our family. YMMV.
My sister once asked me “What happens when you run out of electricity?”. I asked her when was the last time she let her cell phone die. Charging an EV requires a change in refueling habits and the closest comparison is how we all keep our phones charged. I’ve never had a problem with this and my car is the family vehicle and gets the most use. Should I find myself stranded (as she was implying), a tow truck to the closest (functional) charger is the most sensible answer and I pay about $10 a year for road services on my insurance. I’ve needed to use that twice – once for a flat tire, once for a busted axle – both of which could happen on an ICE just as readily as an EV.
I sell cars for a living, primarily Priuses. Just picked up the twin to David’s Leaf. Black 2012 (this is one with the shitty early battery). I got it online at one of our wholesale auctions. It was well under $1k. It landed yesterday morning. And it runs. And it has at least 45 miles range. The Leaf it just a great cheap starter deal for someone who wants to dip their toe in EVs. This one was a donation car. The parking brake is stuck and the prior owner gave up on it. I got one side free and the other will be done today. New rear brakes/calipers on the way. Might just keep it for local driving. My daily driver is a 2007 Prius with 460k. I want it to hit 500k before giving up.
We have sold several Leafs and they are a great deal. Might even swap the battery if I feel the need to take on Another project.
Sorry you have to deal with the lunatic fringe David.
tom in maine
Cool project! Also, kudos for putting that many miles on a car! Holy crap! As for feeling sorry for David, I absolutely do not. He lobbed that one up there for the crazies with his original post. Now, if he did it on purpose to see how many dumb comments he could get, then he is a genius. It made for some entertaining reading!
I am just going to say the downfall of humanity happened in Sept 2006, when Facebook dropped the .edu requirement to join and let all the morons onto the internet to share their dumbfuck opinions. I wish we could go back.
The canonical date is May 14, 1984, when Zuck was born.
Bold of you to assume the morons didn’t have access to .edu email accounts.
In all seriousness, think about how good social media could have been, and how poorly it turned out.
“High brid” is a new one for me.
There are two cohorts here.
* the they’re/you’re/their confusers are real Americans with 3 brain cells between them.
* the good spellers are Albanian trolls paid by Russia.
America is in real trouble when those folks have megaphones with no filter.
Also I note that David used “our infrastructure” referring to California. More proof he’s gone Hollywood. Welcome!
I thought that speeling was suspicuous.
“Suspicuous” is an amazing word/typo and I am stealing it.
high brid and low brow.
I think the issue is that electricity is invisible so it seems like magic. And who makes magic? Witches, that’s who. You’re just not going to get people to come around on witches.
Magnets, how do they even work?
Nobody knows!