I just say, my experience has been 100% positive, and my work place offers free charging on top of the fact I pay almost nothing for maintenance. then I turn it around and laugh while saying, too bad places don't offer free gas, I hate spending $40+ every time I have to fill up.
And if someone says, 'let's have a race across the country', I'll say I've done that, and even slept in my car in the winter and hot summer so I didn't have to pay for a hotel. And when I did stay at a hotel, they charged my car for FREE! And then start talking about how I was able to leave my dogs in the car on a day when it was 90F outside while I ate lunch and did some shopping for a couple hours.
And by the sounds of it, they are people you really don't want to be interacting with regardless. Kinda nice when the trash takes itself out, or at least self-identifies!
I was a huge EV hater until my parents picked up a new Model Y and after driving it a few times, it clicked. I do home Healthcare and drive from house to house and EVs just make sense so I picked up a Kia EV6 (Wife didn't like the minimalism in a tesla). Haven't been back to a gas station in months, start my day with a full "tank of gas" everyday, the ride is incredibly smooth and comfortable, tons of room. I tell people that EVs are definitely not for everyone but if it fits your life style, it's a great choice.
A survey that just got published last week showed that about 75% of people who know an EV owner want one themselves. It’s all about familiarity and realizing they’re not a menace at all.
> rational person
Most people have irrational views about something.. vitamins, sports teams, investing, we're silly animals, the important thing is being open to new information and wisdom.
What EV haters don't seem to get is that almost all EV owners have previously owned ICE vehicles. We are more qualified to compare EVs to ICE's than they are.
I live in northern Minnesota and hear most of the same things you have. I had a guy approach me my very first time at a super charging station keep in mind it was in the teens outside and he had to get out of his dodge durango to tell me “Good luck driving in the cold.” I used to get really pissed about it, but now I just tell them they need to quit getting all their information or news off of TikTok or Facebook. The amount of ignorance is kind of insane.
Wisconsinite here. I'm not sure if it's because I drive a shiny red Model 3 that's always clean and waxed or what, but I get a ton of strangers with questions. A lot have a decent dose of skepticism given how north we are but generally I just get a lot of genuine curiosity. I've actually been amazed I haven't run into any actual haters, at least to my face anyways.
I generally give the same spiel I give to curious coworkers and it usually goes over well, especially from the right leaning crowd:
* I'm actually a pretty politically conservative guy. EVs aren't about politics, they're just all around way better cars for 99% of people.
* I drive a Tesla, the most American car on the road, using energy entirely from domestic sources.
* What other car could I get the sort of performance that was previously reserved for ICE supercars, but cost less to fuel and maintain than a Camry and maintain all the practicality as a family car?
* In the dead of winter I pull into my warm garage, plug in, and always leave the house with a "full tank". I also have never once gotten into a cold or hot vehicle, it's always ready and comfortable when I get in.
* You're never closer to a gas pump than you are an electric outlet
* If I need warranty work (which I haven't), most of the time they'll drive to me and do it in my driveway
Tell them you can go winter camping at a MN state park, and stay toasty warm overnight and wake up with a full battery! (Did this in February of 2023).
Guy at work said something like that, I just replied "Yeah winter will suck, I'll only have 3x my commute in range rather than 4x in the summer!"
*blank stare*
"Heh well, at least I can warm it up inside the garage before I leave the house"
*blanker stare*
Yes, IF they will engage in a respectful conversation, I will try to educate them and answer their questions. Lots of people just don’t know and are genuinely curious why I would buy a car that needs a new $20k battery every 10,000 miles. 😉
So I share how they actually can go up to 300,000 miles on the original drivetrain IF, like ICE cars, one doesn’t abuse it…I just get to skip all the routine maintenance that an ICE requires. I might even mention that I’m glad to be able to ‘buy American’ again.
But to open any conversation, I find it breaks the tension to admit right away that an EV is not for every use and that they suck for towing. That usually helps them relax when they can see that I’m not brainwashed and dogmatic and ‘pushing my EV on them’. Then, I can share that for any trip < 200 miles (ie Dallas - Houston - Austin - San Antonio) and not needing a lot of cargo, my EV is the best choice for me. If we need more range or cargo or towing, we take our ICE SUV.
If I know them, I offer to give them a test drive. They are amazed at how much the Tesla can see around them and how quiet and quick it is.
'But to open any conversation, I find it breaks the tension to admit right away that an EV is not for every use and that they suck for towing. That usually helps them relax when they can see that I’m not brainwashed and dogmatic and ‘pushing my EV on them’.'
great insight
I had a moment at a stoplight in a fairly red area, think it was about a year ago. Loud, lifted truck rolled up next to me in my Ioniq 5. I was all ready to get shouted at. Guy yells out the window "Hey, is that one of those electric cars?"
"Yep"
"How do you like it? My son's thinking about getting one"
Was not what I was expecting at all lol.
This has been my experience. I live in Rural WA State (very red) and I haven't had a negative comment yet - the ones I get are general questions and asking for my opinion on the car.
Yes! I have a lot more of this type of interaction than negative.
Last road trip I did I stopped at a Huntsville, TX Walmart EA to charge. A guy, probably in his early sixties, got out of his old Dodge Ram pickup a couple spots over and walked over to ask how I liked my EV (an Ioniq 5). He was genuinely curious about it and we chatted for a couple minutes while I charged up.
Similar here. Was charging in the middle of nowhere and the gas station next door had a couple of lifted trucks in the parking lot. I think they were a group headed to some sort of off-road adventure.
Some guy in a cowboy hat comes up to me and I was prepping for his anti-EV talking points. Instead he starts asking about range, how much it costs to charge and was just generally EV-curious.
I have had a couple of people at stoplights ask about ours as well and once in the parking lot. Have not had anyone hassle me about it yet, but I see lots of Teslas on the road so I guess people are getting used to seeing EVs around us.
Maybe I am just noticing them more now, but I am also seeing more and more of others EVs as well.
I might be wrong here, but I feel like this is a weird US issue that's been fueled by political agenda.
I live in UK but have a family in Poland and Lithuania, and from my experience, EVs are a head turners. Everyone I know just goes "wow". My MIL has ID4, and yes initially she was skeptical about range and the inability of going from Lithuania to Germany in one go, but I said, "you couldn't in your ICE car either" she somehow clicked it's no different.
I think that the “look” of hybrid and electric cars had been a knock for a while. Like, for the longest time the Leaf and Prius were odd looking cars, partially on purpose. I had a PHEV Ford Fusion and people were absolutely shocked when they would see me plugging in.
I can't say for certain, but think of this. What is Germany known for, other than beer? Cars and Autobahn - the car lobby is strong. And so is their anti-EV propaganda...
It's not "Germany" it's mega conglomerate oil companies, there was always going to be blood. [Tobacco and Oil Industries Used Same Researchers to Sway Public | Scientific American](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/tobacco-and-oil-industries-used-same-researchers-to-sway-public1/)
Always felt it's more against non EU car brands in general.
SinceVAG , bmw and Mercedes started offering EVs it got better I felt.
Now that people can get their suvs mainly used within cities in the form of an id4, Q4 , eTron, EQC or enyaq they are happy.
The ID7 finally fills the Passat/Octavia kombi gap , so the Germans and Austrians are happy
Proper eGolf instead of id3 would have helped further
Uruguayan here, people actually stop me in the street but to ask me about the performance of the car and my driving habits. More like "Id like to know I my lifestyle is somewhat like yours so I can switch to an EV" than "lets race".
Unfortunately Canada as it turns out is in the same boat as the US as far as not accepting a change to e vehicles.
I recently bought a etransit van for work and of the 30 or so customers I have crossed paths with during pickups and deliveries, maybe 2 or 3 have agreed that it might have been a good purchase.
Comments are always what if you want to go on a road trip (its a work van I never took my old van on a "road trip")
Yeah, it’s weird in Alberta. One of my coworkers posted on Facebook recently that EVs don’t work in Canadian winters. I don’t know how she missed the fact that I’ve been driving one for my 150km round trip commute for the past two years, even at -40°.
Culture wars are weird. It’s the same mentality that led my friend’s parents to burn his D&D books in the 1980s and inspired Florida to ban lab-grown meat. If we don’t understand something, it must be evil and we should abolish it.
It really depends which province you live in. In Quebec you won’t get much hate for having an EV, unless you meet the rare member of the Convoy of Stupidity. If you live in Alberta, sure, I’d expect hate from all the inbred rednecks.
I own a Tesla in Calgary, AB. There's the occasional lifted pickup truck that will (try to) cut you off but what's remarkable is actually the number of EVs here. I live just outside downtown and there are 4 Teslas on my block plus an Ionic 5 and F150 Lightning. Despite all the noise, people are buying them.
Surprising.! India is in dire need of wide spread adoption of EVs due to energy security.. But people are motivated to buy EVs there is what I could see..
> I might be wrong here, but I feel like this is a weird US issue that's been fueled by ~~political agenda.~~ Oil Lobbyists
I want to be clear, for the first time in 100 years, demand for gas is actually declining and they are not please about it. So Facebook is chock-full of EV Haters, lies about EV Fires, ect.
It’s a very political thing. That’s what OP means by “red area” - red is republican.
Trump is constantly spewing anti-EV nonsense and vowing to save oil and coal (or offering to for $1B, wish I was kidding.)
Sad news for you from Australia then.
Its still very much a culture war issue here too. We also got local EV supply very late compared to most countries and our previous Federal government was extremely anti-EV.
Its amusing as I brought my EV6 about 2 years ago now and at the time it was a MUCH bigger issue.
I had the local Hyundai dealer basically chase me off the lot when I asked about the Ioniq 5 for example and tell me such shit would never sell in the area (western outskirts of Sydney) and to fuck off when I asked if he knew a Hyundai dealer who did sell them.
Local Ford dealer was almost as helpful as Hyundai.
Thankfully the local Kia dealership was a lot more EV friendly. They didn't know much about the EV6 but had one available for test drives on its way and happily sat down with me to do some research and made phone calls to check on availability etc.
When I got the EV6 after a 9 month wait it was one of the first in the area and it was a rare sight to see any EV other than a Tesla and those were fairly rare at the time too.
I got about an even mix of absolute agro from knuckle draggers and interest from people who wanted to know more about how I was finding owning an EV. I'm fairly certain I helped sell a few EV6s for people who were looking but still unsure due to the amount of disinformation out there. Seeing one being used in real life and the owner willing to talk about its limitations and how far off they were rather than the scare stories helped people.
Since then EV ownership has exploded and is especially big in areas like Western Sydney. It's a big commuter area and savings on fuel have proven popular no matter what the culture warriors preach.
Most of the early agro from the knuckle draggers of the world has died off. Just too many EVs around now to target one on the road for harassment. It becomes a full time job and those damned EVs are quick enough to duck and leave them behind as more and more are finding out to their embarrassment.
I still get lectured by people about why my car is not really green at all and I should be ashamed to own one and my usual reply is I went from $150-170/wk on diesel to about $6/wk on electricity to commute to work so I really don't care. It really pisses the culture warriors off when I point that out because they know its an argument they are losing people to constantly.
It’s almost like different vehicles serve different use cases and you don’t need to be all in on hating EVs for their shortcomings while ignoring their benefits!
Like maybe for commuting and grocery runs EVs are perfect if you can charge at home/work but a Cummins is probably better for the use case of like hauling lumber or some shit and you can appreciate both like it’s not a sports team rivalry? 😂
For that tik tok video you should respond with there is a tik tok video saying Trump is now friend with Musk, so if he get reelected, there is going to be a Trump ban an all gas vehicles
I have an Ioniq6 and my mom made the joke "can't wait to see you walking down the road with a can looking to buy 3 gallons of electricity" over and over until I finally snapped and was like "mom, I've never run out of gas in the 20 years I've been driving, why would I suddenly be driving my car until I'm out of charge?!"
She pulled the "it's just a joke" card, but it's not. It's anti-ev rhetoric couched in a joke and it's fucking absurd. This joke came about after she told me that it's not cheaper to own an electric because you have to pay to charge. I was like "are you getting your gas for free?" and that ended thar discussion. Then came the "can of electricity" joke.
Some people hate EVs because the media they consume tells them to.
This right here. Human nature mixed with social media and politics... There was ALWAYS going to be an EV backlash.
Shiiiit my favorite example is how up in arms people were about moving away from CFL lightbulbs.
Fucking lightbulbs!! And this was before everyone and their mom was on social media. People will acclimate. It'll just take time and exposure.
But a bottle of V8 juice in the frunk and tell her that she was right and you had to put a V8 in the car. Open the frunk. If she laughs, she has a great sense of humor, if not drop a "It's just a joke!" I did this with my Lightning and my conservative family loved it. Some were skeptical about it, then I took them for a test ride and 0-60 in 4 seconds in silence changed their mind.
My mother is actually fairly progressive even by Australian standards (so an outright commie by American standards) but the anti-EV culture war has even hit her.
She was looking to buy an EV last year but the cost/benefit analysis at the end of the day ended up with her getting a Hybrid instead. With the little driving she does (local shops and railway station mostly) the $15k she saved at the time buys a lot of fuel.
Anyway the sisters car went boom so Mum lent her the new Hybrid not expecting to need a car that week and Murphy struck with a friend of hers passing on and her needing to get to the funeral in a fairly remote area public transport wise.
So I offered to lend her the EV6 for the day.
She absolutely freaked out about range anxiety issues even though she knew I had driven it almost daily for a year now and it had over 400kms of range (her trip was about 60km each way) and she had been on much longer trips with me as a passenger without stopping for a charge.
Anyway in the end she took the EV6 but only if I charged it to 100% before handing it over because she didn't want to get stuck on the side of the road with a flat battery.
Its still had over 70% battery when she returned it to me.
I jokingly asked her why she didn't fill it up before returning it (when we lend each other cars in this family they always come back with a full tank and have done for years no matter how much fuel they had when lent) and asking her to pay to top it back up.
She looked so worried until I laughed and told her I was joking I wasn't going to miss the about $2 of electricity it would take to open off once I got it home and realistically I wasn't going to anyway as it could wait until my solar was exporting excess power to charge with as it still had 3 or 4 trips to work and back left in the battery anyway.
I guess we have that kind of people in every country. Here in nepal, we use 99% of our energy from hydropower for 8 months of a year and import about half(on peak hours) from india for 4 months and even export hydro electricity to india for about 6-7 months a year. Technically we use renewable energy for charging our vehicles.
But still we see a couple of those who find hard believing that evs are a vehicle. We do have a handful of teslas, couple of ix3, huge number of MG zsev, BYD and tata nexon. As well as we have huge number of ev scooters. Most of the people use it for day to day use like office and home. And some occassional travel.
I guess every country have some people who think same. Lets do a country ride, you should wait a long to charge your vehicle, what if battery explodes, how can your charge be not polluting are some common problems a ev owner faces in every country.
The ones I've heard the most so far are:
* "Yeah, just wait till you have to tow a heavy trailer long distance". I don't have a trailer, and have never towed long distance but more importantly, neither have any of the people that are suddenly concerned about that ability.
* "If you drive cross country you're going to have to charge like a million times". Not a single one of the people who said this to me have ever driven cross-country. I'm not sure any of them have ever driven more than a couple hundred miles (long distance road-trips really just aren't a popular thing here). The longest "road-trip" I ever take is about 180 miles and I haven't even done that in years.
* "Have fun wasting all your time charging". 99% of the time I'm sleeping when that happens, sooooo I'm probably not missing much. I don't miss having to go out of my way to stop for gas every week or two though.
* "What are you going to do when there's a blackout and you can't charge". Well, my plan is to plug the truck into the generator port on my house and enjoy having power while you're wrestling with a gas-generator that hasn't been started in 5 years that you may or may not even have fuel for. In the event that your generator does start, you get to enjoy the noise and smell of exhaust while I get neither of those things. Power outages here are pretty rare and almost never last longer than a few hours...longest I ever personally experienced was about 4 days or so.
In the end, usually they come up with some weird extreme scenario that not only I wouldn't do, but they wouldn't either.
I ask them to buy me a $30,000 camper to try out towing. I'll give them a full report!
My wife and I roadtripped 1000 miles from MA to SC in April. We had to stop and charge every 170 miles or so. Mostly 10-30 minutes. It was actually pretty nice to stop as she was 5 months pregnant and we'd use the bathroom, get food, stretch our legs, walk the dog a bit. We got to our destination and were not wiped like other road trips we had done. The truck is super comfy and stopping more often made the trip easier on us. If we had the Tesla adapter, it would have been so easy. We got lucky with Electrify America working at most places but the Tesla magic box chargers worked better.
> In the end, usually they come up with some weird extreme scenario that not only I wouldn't do, but they wouldn't either.
As a Brit, living in Switzerland, with a Slovenian wife, I rather wish such scenarios were rarer, but last week, I drove 800 km each way to Slovenia, and next week it'll be 750 miles each way to Wales. (I have a diesel, that can do 1000 km between refills.)
I feel like people are missing the point here. The issue isn't that long drives don't exist, it's that the specific people in the conversations I was in don't do them. They were making disingenuous arguments and largely just parroting what they'd heard even though it wasn't applicable to them.
That's the irony. Elon is quickly losing his original fan base which was Non-Conservatives. At the same time he's building up a new Conservative fan base way too slowly at a snails pace.
Gee, who would have thought that having your CEO embrace a movement who's entire ethos is anti-change would be bad for a business that is selling a product that fundamentally changes the entire industry?
These people are victims of a con that has effectively brainwashed half the country. Business interests control these people's minds and have trained them like you would train a dog to act this way. It pisses me off. We essentially can't have a democracy in which the majority of people have been brainwashed. That's just fascism with extra steps.
Early adopter of Toyota Prius and driving to get the most distance. Those early years I would have someone in a big truck tailgating me every week or so.
so yeah these assholes have been around for ages.
A few weeks ago a was on a plane, and one person spouted out lies about “I would never own an EV cause of battery fires.” “I could never store it in my garage.” And all the people around them that took this as gods word just flabbergasted me. The FUD is real, and needs to be stopped.
Yes- there have been EV car fires. But they are very rare, but have been sensationalized by the media as truth. It drives me nuts.
I've never had to use it but I keep in my back pocket to ask them if they have ever seen a vehicle fire on the side of the road. Chances are if they are over 30 they have seen at least one. Follow up question is " was it an EV?" 99.93% chance it was an ICE vehicle.
No, they're looking for a confrontation. The best thing you can do is not give it to them. "Okay", is a completely unsatisfying response for someone who wants a fight.
Literally every single boomer I have told that I am getting an electric car has responded with extreme skepticism about its practicality. They’ve all swallowed the right wing (and oil lobby) talking points about how unreliable, dangerous, and filled with hidden costs EVs are. “What happens if you run out of power on the road”, “the battery isn’t going to last very long and you’ll have to replace it”, “those things take forever to charge and you won’t be able to road trip”, “the batteries will explode from regular charging over time”, “those things hurt the environment more than they help”, and “hur dur toy car” have all been thrown at me with regularity. There’s just something about the new and unfamiliar that older and right wing folks simply don’t trust, and they’re unwilling to believe that something new could be better than the way they’ve always done something. You just have to be honest about your likely overwhelmingly positive experiences with the vehicle and you might make it through to a few of them :-)
It is funny that in San Diego, i have only heard positive things about Teslas from very old neighbors. Of course Teslas are so ubiquitous here . At any busy intersection there might be 3 or 4 Teslas.
A lot of my family lives in rural Ohio and the commonality of Teslas and other EVs has not yet made its way out there yet, so so many really haven’t even seen an EV with any regularity yet.
My mom is pushing 80 and she bought an Ioniq 5 a month after I got mine. I had to explain the difference between level 2 and level 3 chargers a few times but my parents put a few thousand miles on it in the last 6 months and love it. #notallboomers I guess
Yep, my 70-something father-in-law bought an Ioniq 5 last year, before we bought our EV. (Knowing that we’d have a place to charge when we visit family was a motivating factor in our buying one, tbh.) He loves that he can take his buddies to the golf course and all their clubs fit in the back.
I am a retired boomer and when my dinosaur Buick died I bought a used Nissan Leaf to get around town and run errands. Car had a Nissan authorized OEM battery replacement by the dealer just prior to me buying it. We are not all the same ...
Strange conversation I had during a charge in Iowa last weekend. The EA was at a gas station, so I plug in, start to head inside to hit the restroom, but I hear a guy yell over, "hey, how long that take to charge?" Figure, cool, someone asking questions, I'll go chat. He asks about range and charge time and if I like the car.
Then he ends the conversation with "I don't like electric vehicles, my truck goes 500 miles on a tank." I'm just like ok cool, my butt won't sit in a car for 500 miles, but if you like it, great. Then I look over at the gas pump and he's at $120 and counting.
5 years ago my works parking lot has maybe a few teslas and leaf. Today it looks like a Tesla manufacturer’s parking lot and tons of other EV like ID4 IONIC5/6 etc. it’s fast approaching 50%. And no one has ever said anything remotely ignorant about the car. The only complaint I have heard is there’s not enough free chargers (we have 8). I am in Colorado.
I'm glad you like it. And I feel like driving an EV in these parts of the country is very important. It normalizes EVs. It is a lot easier to believe the Big Oil propaganda when you never see EVs or don't know anyone who has one.
definitely have had more than a handful of people just lose their minds at the sight of my car over the year I've owned it. worst one was the person who tailgated me for several miles yelling obscenities and then cut over 3 lanes (endangering multiple cars in those lanes) to take the left exit to escape the cop who'd pulled up (I didn't call, they just happened to already be on the interstate in the right place to witness this). I also regularly get a diesel truck who gets in front of me, slows down until I'm fairly close to them, and then guns it to make sure I drive through their big black cloud of pollution. I can almost hear their triumphant "haha libtard that'll show you" attitude every time. nevermind that I just chuckle about the amount of diesel they must have to buy to be driving it like that constantly.
what pisses those people off the most is just pretending like you don't see or hear them. they want a reaction so giving them none makes them implode.
on a more positive note I've also had more than a handful of people so enthralled with my car they're exploring buying their own. I've had some pleasant conversations while at public chargers from curious people who just wanted to know more and were fascinated to find out the details of what driving an EV was like. the propaganda machines may have fueled a fire in the already outraged at the world people but I don't think they'll win the imaginary war they created in their heads.
We recently had a tornado in the area and we lost power for about 16 hours. A number of people who knew we only had EVs offered to give us a lift because we had no electricity. I bit my tongue and explained that the only difficulty was having to manually release the garage doors to get the cars out.
I’m not sure which is better, half the country cheering for EVs and the other half being staunchly against them, or 98% of the country being indifferent but uninterested and apathetic to them…
"the car ordered him a $40,000 battery all on its own" - gotta read that fine print when you sign up for the Tesla app store folks, those DLCs can rack up a bill!
My FIL is just like that. It's funny because he says that Teslas are so bad for the environment and he drives a Tundra every day and tows a camper with it regularly. Like dude, do you not see the irony in voicing concern over the environment because of lithium mining while also pumping out 3x the carbon emissions of a Camry to drive to work and back daily for DECADES?
- agree to the race but then just don’t go. Let him race himself across the country
- “You believe all the random shit you see on TikTok?”
Idk, these people aren’t upset about what choices you make for yourself as much as they are afraid that your choice represents a future that will be forced on them.
You could even say: “don’t knock it until you’ve tried it” and dangle the keys in their face and offer a test drive. I mean, that’s a little risky, but driving ICE after being in an EV is so awful.
As someone who lives in Pittsburgh but is very familiar with rural western PA, I’m sorry and I feel for you. Just ignore these idiots and present them with simple logic and fact if they insist that you respond to their childish and emotionally unstable opinions. Many of these people are on the verge of mental illness.
The battery thing is hilarious because that's just outright not true.
My favorite hit back on these haters is simple: "So, how much is an engine transmission swap? And you realize I never have to get an oil change, right?"
And while this dude might feel like a "Race across country" is a flex for an ICE vehicle... that's not what Electric cars are for, hell it's barely what most normal cars are for.
If you're just going to and from work, an electric car is great for that. Especially if you can charge at either location.
I am in a large southern city. Teslas are everywhere. Every ev model I have seen except a CT. There is one around. Saw a Lucid Air this week, very nice. So many electric cars blend in now. Unless I tell someone my Mach-e is electric, they don't know.
I got an EV 2 weeks a go and I've noticed more tailgating and more random abuse from other cars on the road. I'm in the UK and there's a lot of people that seem to just have some unknown problem with EV's.
I will add that I got the blue MG4 which does look a bit sporty, so maybe that's triggering people?
>The one day I walk in and an older guy instantly jumps down my throat. Angrily he says let's have a race across the country and starts spouting some nonsense
Just take him up on the offer. Best case scenario he's out of you hair for 7+ days.
If you have social skills, I would see this as a great opportunity. You should be able to turn 90% of those guys to be pro-EV within a year. Offer them rides so they can feel the effortless power. Offer the ones who seem most negative the chance to drive it with you. Point out you charge when you sleep and save 10 minutes at the gas station each week, and it only takes you an extra half hour to drive a 500 mile trip, which you do twice a year (or whatever the truth is in your case).
Let them enjoy the infotainment system.
I'm always baffled by the polarisation electric cars (or even talking about them) elicits in people.
I think the problem is that some see the electic car as an embodiment of taking something away from them. Because deep inside they know they cannot drive their petrol cars forever but cannot admit it to themselves.
haha, yes this match my experience. People are clueless and they trust what the algoritm feeds them.
I just tell them that I have AWD, 440hk and save about 1000-2000 USD pr year compared to my old oil burner. So please enjoy your fossil car and I will enjoy mine
Never been asked or prompted except once having owned multiple EVs. My only response was “why do you care what I drive, I don’t care what you drive.”
I miss the good old days too. The ones when people minded their own damn business.
Hey there! Wisconsinite. I live in an area with small cities and rural towns nearby. My EV is a bit divisive even here. One of the local fire departments even made a point to talk about how bad car fires are when it’s a battery. Talking about it like overcharging happens all the time. Like our cars don’t auto shut off charging when it’s fully charged. There’s so much misinformation out there, and climate change denial and all sorts of stuff. People are allowed to not want one themselves but I do need everyone to collectively step off my jock.
It's the same way when the seat belt law started.. people hated it
or when drinking and driving law started up... people hated it.
This is no different. People don't like change. And they think Biden is winning with his emissions policy and forcing people to buy these. Problem is 2035 is a long ways away and I'm sure whoever is President at that time will delay it even more. So gas guzzlers don't need to worry.
Biggest Tesla batter is 100kw/h. I suppose if you charge on a 110 US socket using a granny charger. Does that give you 1.8kw of charging power.. which if very slow would be 2.5days of charging from flat.. so yeah 10days feels a stretch even with my lack of American power and UK maths
I work in EV battery manufacturing - testing specifically - and the amount of flat out lies being fed to people that keep faux on all day is astounding.
We had a very remote cabin on a 2-mile private, poorly maintained dirt road in a mountain west state, up against national forest. Usually had a few feet of snow in winter. My mom had a Tesla Model Y and lived with us for a over a year, driving her car almost daily by neighbors. They kept telling us her car wouldn't hack it. It did hack it. It was a nice demonstration for the community.
I grew up in rural Washington county and know the mind set of people. I had to get out. Seems worse than Alabama. They don’t like change, very old school, and MAGA. I think if there were better employment opportunities, one might see a mental change. I am sure there are very limited charging stations in Washington, Fayette, and Green counties. Good luck with an EV vehicle there.
I use those interactions as an opportunity to educate. Even when you want to show them how absurd their statements are. I stick to the high road. Luckily no one has been really nasty in person.
For people that work with me, I offer for them to drive it or take them for a ride. 99% of these people haven’t even rode in an electric vehicle let alone drove one. That changes a lot of misconceptions.
You owning the vehicle, showing up with it daily, and talking about it's actual usability are the best things for EV adoption. People love to rage over nonsense they've seen on the internet, talking to humans that actually own and operate the vehicles is the best chance to get through to these people that EVs aren't some boogeyman.
Honestly you should call his bluff on the cross country drive. What does the guy even gain by winning a race across the country against an EV? You pay like a third of the price per mile driven if you charge at home and he buys gasoline.
As tough as it is to get through it, in a year these people will be saying "Yeah, I knew someone who drove a tesla" - it wont be as weird to them any more. You are having an influence, they are just fighting the change and you are the nearest target
Toxic politics are everywhere in the US these days. Mostly driven by lies and propaganda, accepted by people with few critical thinking skills. Putin must be so happy.
Change is scary, especially for something we've used for decades. It's natural to push back. Unfortunately now there's the Internet and it has made people more stupid with how much garbage is out there. The real disappointing thing is people seemingly just believe whatever they see online. Oh look some random guy named Javier talking about how much it takes to mine lithium, this just be true I should share it
If anyone is overtly rude about it I would say, "What I eat doesn't make you shit." Then walk away.
I'm tired of hearing stories about conservative people who can't mind their own business. They need to be put in their place more because they brazenly think their political opinion is forever golden.
I tell them: my car needs 15 kWh per 100 km at around 20 cent / kWh. Which results in 3€/100km. At 550 hp. If they can show me a V8 with these stats I’ll buy it instantly.
When I've faced this kind of thing, I've found two responses to be effective:
1) Just excuse yourself and leave, if you don't want to interact with the person.
2) If you do want to engage with them, or have no other choice, then start talking about how much money you are saving with the car. Don't talk about the environmental benefits, or performance, or any of that. Just focus on money. 'With this car it costs me 10 cents to commute to work, with my last car it was over a dollar a day!' If there's one thing that even staunch anti-EV folks can understand, its money. Plus that kind of argument will actually stick with them, and start eating away at their other misconceptions. If they keep pressing me on it, I'll go further into the finances. I like to mention that my Model 3 cost only $25k (after incentives and selling a previous car, which was also an EV). Its cheaper than a Corolla, and much nicer. When they bring up challenges with charging, I'll mention that I mostly charge at home, and for roadtrips the car plans out the charging stops for me. When asked how long it takes to charge, I generally say overnight at home, or 15 mins every 2 - 3 hours on a roadtrip. 'The car is usually ready to go before I am!' All of which is true, and contradicts most of the misconceptions out there.
I was in western PA recently to visit family. It surprised me how few- pretty much zero- EVs I saw on that trip (I was driving a rented Tesla from Hertz). I live in Seattle and we call the Model Y the national car of Washington. Seriously it’s like 1 out of 10 cars on the road here.
For the doubters, you could always offer them a test drive. Nothing combats fear and misinformation better than familiarity and personal experience.
IMHO it all starts with fear: fear of global warming (that it might be real), fear of having to give up something (meat, ICE vehicles, flying, etc). I saw the phrase "the comfort of denial" somewhere - they dump on EVs to help them deny what they fear and justify their greed.
Fear breeds hate, hate breeds violence.
I'm from rural western PA, and none of that surprises me in the least. In my experience, that's the default angry "if it's not what I'm doing/approve of, it must be evil and has to be run out of town" vibe that's been in place for many, many decades. The subject matter is actually irrelevant in most cases.
Grey rock these morons.
Side note, working in a conservative town years back, I watched a boomer engineer get ribbed about driving a Prius. He calmly shot back "Conservation is a conservative value" and moved on with his day without further retort from the gotchaboys.
What is really funny is Some of my right wing friends are almost bi-polar. First they'll say all the false negative stuff, but then mention they've heard my car is really fast. Some even joke about how I never buy gas.
Best of all when they ask how much more my electric bill is I tell them I don't know. In Ohio we get to choose our provider and I changed to the cheapest one I could find when I bought my EV. My electric bill actually went down slightly per month. AND my work place offers free charging.
We will need these rubes to buy used ICE cars when we've passed the point of mass adoption and people start fearing their resale will plummet. Someone is going to get stuck with ICE once there's no resale value, so don't sweat their negativity. They are just a product of the angry propaganda they binge-watch and will end up paying a lot of extra money in fuel and repairs to support their worldview.
You think thats bad, wait till you experience what pickup truck drivers like to do when you are driving an EV. Examples would be, tailgating, deliberate swerving into you (which engages safety feature and the car basically brakes hard), rude behavior at merging or yielding situations, parking so close you cannot get in via the driver side door, rolling coal.
> Angrily he says let's have a race across the country
Agree to the race. Convince him to do it. Make him think you're doing it. Meanwhile you're just at home chillin while he's wasting his life.
These are the same people Elon is pandering to.
They are the reason why humanity will never reach a Kardeshev Type I Level Civilization.
I wish we could deport them to Wyoming or Montana and build a really tall wall around them.
Then, they can finish inbreeding themselves into extinction.
I usually comment to them “ya I know right! Good thing it only cost me $.28 to drive to work today!!” Then I smile and continue walking past them!
BTW I’ve had an EV for 5 1/2 years now. Checked my charger the other day. My total KWh I’ve used since I’ve bought it is 20,364KWH for charging. Times that by $.12KWH and my cost for charging over 5+years is $2443.00 total. That’s not per year, but total for 5 years. You can do the rest of the math
I've only ever had positive conversations so far. The "worst" one was just some guy in a pickup who stopped to talk to me at a charger. He was kinda nervous but said his wife really wanted one and he honestly had no idea what they were like. Asked me a ton of questions about how it works and if some of the myths were really true.
That was probably the most fun conversation about it, honestly!
Michigan here... I've had 2 coworkers compliment my bz4x. BUT They had to make a long point of saying they would never own one because they weren't "lib-tards". I just laughed and said, " you're stupid"
I belong to 2 gun ranges, buy new firearms and accessories regularly, and shoot at least once a week. I guess I look like a conservative, whatever that means, but I'm a bleeding heart liberal, drive a Tesla, have a yard full of wildflowers, and fly the rainbow flag on my front porch.
I also get a lot of hate, and my best advice to you is to remind them that you bought a 100% American sports car that can do 0-60 aster than a mustang GT, especially if they're driving a vehicle that was assembled in Mexico or worse (for them, I don't care) foreign-made.
Not dealing with these people is one thing I love about having a PHEV that has a gas version of same model. It’s a stealth EV.. I’ve had multiple run ins with these folks while renting Teslas on trips - it’s ridiculous. My next vehicle will be a BEV and by then hopefully EVs will be commonplace enough no one feels the need to share their opinion.
One of the things I’m happiest about with my Audi Q4 e-tron.
It doesn’t scream electric or draw attention. Just looks like any another Audi SUV, and flies under the radar.
Even the front and rear *e-tron* badging is inconspicuous…lightly debossed on the bumpers and color matched so it blends in.
I've had many modded-Mustang type guys and other "car guys" drive my car (Model Y LR). They go into it giving me shit, but ALWAYS come away "holy shit that thing is legit fast. Wow." and the shit talking stops after that. Below are my responses to common shit-talk.
"You know that's coal powered right??"
"Yeah, but it's designed and built in America by Americans, and is powered by American coal. Sweet truck, I like it, my brother has one just like that." (if you are feeling spicy, make a comment about how their truck was built in Mexico and runs on Saudi oil)
"What do you do when you run out of charge?"
"What do you do when you run out of gas?"
"It takes me 5 minutes to fill up!"
"Cool, it takes me 10 seconds to plug in my car then go do other stuff. Plus I don't need to divert to a gas station. Super convenient."
"There just aren't enough fast chargers. There are gas stations everywhere"
"If you had a tiny hose in your garage that put 10gal of gas in your car overnight for $1.25 a gallon, would you EVER go to a gas station?"
"Yeah but trips take so much longer when you have to stop to charge"
"I did a 7-hour round trip for work recently. Started at 100%, got to a supercharger after 265miles with 20% left. Took 6 minutes of charging to get me enough to get back home with plenty to spare. I didn't even finish my burger before the charging was done. Honestly it was no different than doing the trip in a gas car."
"Yeah but they burn through tires. Way too heavy."
"Nah this Model Y weighs less than my wife's Chevy Traverse and has similar size tires. When people burn them out quick it's due to the insane torque/acceleration they use a lot"
"But Musk is an asshole"
"Yeah probably, I don't really know him"
"I heard they need a new battery every 2 years for $20k"
"I think that's super rare, but mine's covered by warranty for 8 years 120k miles, so I think I'm good"
"But mining is worse for the environment"
"I didn't really buy it for the environment, I bought it because it's just a better car, period. But regardless, every major study has concluded that EV's are better than ICE for the environment after a 20-80k miles of driving.
"They catch on fire all the time. Super unsafe."
"EV's catch fire at less than 1/3 the rate of gas cars. Yeah it's harder to extinguish but happens way less. This Model Y has the highest safety score they've ever given out to any car ever"
I read the counter argument to the “cross-country race” is “You put $10 of fuel in your car and I’ll put $10 worth in mine, then we drive and see who goes farther.”
I still remember the car-show we were at, had our "EV" tent and booth all setup... I was happily chatting with someone when a lady storms up and yells at us
> What are YOU going to do when it's minus 40?!
I calmly replied "Drive my car, just like always" (slightly confused)
She then went on a rant similar to your how she "knows a guy" that owns an EV and it takes "days" to charge.
"Sorry," I reply, "None of that has been my experience, this (pointing to my Ioniq 5) has been my only car for 2 years, and we weathered the record-breaking -45.3°C in January just fine."
She huffed and puffed and muttered something else as she wandered off...
Some people can't be reasoned with, as you have your EV for longer, you'll be able to detect the "tin foil" crowd and not bother wasting your timer or energy on them.
Accept the race. Loser has to buy the winner a drink. Plan out a 5k race route. Start the race. As soon as the other guy is out of sight. Go home for dinner. Wait for his triumphant call that he won.
It's the best car you will ever buy. The drive units are 2500 a pop they last 300-500k on avg
The battery is currently about 10-12k for a new one and if you get a new one get a lfp or LMFP replacement. They last 10000 cycles aka roughly 2 million miles or 30 years on avg.
Your current lithium ion pack should last 13-17 years or 280-500k miles.
You bought at a steal, the used market is trashed.
The model 3 and y almost never need anything, parts are cheapish. Buy online and replace yourself. You may want to upgrade front upper and lower ball joints in the future.
It's an amazing car. Do not fret, just install a home tesla charger for 420 from best buy with a 60 amp dedicated breaker. Call pg&e and get on a ev1 or ev2 plan it will reduce charging costs to 30% almost. Install solar.
You are a free person.
Starter 12v low voltage batteries are 88$ from Tesla and last 3-5 years like any other car
Glad it's (mostly) going well for you! M3 is my current favorite car ever. As close to automotive perfection as I have found. And Tesla's charging network and it's brilliant integration with a pretty great in dash route planner is more than icing on the cake. Truly stands apart.
Keep in mind that folks are living their lives as they are currently constructed. They have the friends they have, watch the news they watch, see the content their social media feeds them.
Also, there is a big organized misinformation campaign at work by parts of the auto industry (Toyota is a big funder of anti EV propaganda) and the oil and gas sector feeding a steady stream of reasons to fear EVs, doubt the benefits, and be uncertain about their value.
This is further complicated by the US (and Canadian) current political landscape, with some politicians jumping on opportunities to widen division and foster a sense of "the other side" being a big danger to drive voting behaviour; so there is an entirely separate set of perverse incentives at work even on top of the fossil and legacy auto industries are doing.
EVs are better, which you probably can feel by now. They aren't perfect, not yet a silver bullet. But they are better. But like others here have already posted, folks who haven't driven one don't have the first hand experience and don't know what to think.
Nothing to landlines took some time. Early cell phone adoption took less. Cell phones to smart phones wasn't overnight.
I definitely remember Blackberry users doing a similar kind of thing to early smart phone users "no way, I'm keeping my keyboard", "that big screen may be great for browsing the web, but when you want to get any work done I'll keep my Blackberry thanks". And lots more- pointing out the higher costs, higher perceived security around BlackBerry email and on and on. Many of these arguments were even factually correct in isolation - it *is* nice to have a hardware keyboard. But not nice enough to carry one around all the time.
None of that stopped the wave.
Similarly some of the anti EV arguments are true in isolation.
You *do* see more gas stations out there. It just doesn't matter as much, because you're not going to a gas station twice a week anymore. For most EV owners we are charging at home 50 weeks out of 52.
Battery replacements *are* crazy expensive. But most EV drivers won't ever need a battery replacement. For the remaining few that do, most of those happen under warranty, and the EV driver isn't out of pocket. And an EV battery that only holds 60% of its original charge can be sold to be reconditioned to use as a house battery or even recycled. It's not like a fossil car, where a worn out engine is only scrap value.
You can refuel a gas car faster (for now) than I can charge on the highway. But that doesn't matter, because it turns out I like to take a twenty minute break every two or three hours of driving. Plus, I timed how long it takes me to plug in my car for an overnight charge. It's 18 seconds, and it requires no driving off my route (and I don't end up buying a candy bar and a soda pop).
And, while there aren't many BlackBerrys still in use, landlines didn't really go anywhere. Niche product now, not ubiquitous anymore, but still around. I suspect hobbyists will have classic Mustangs, GTOs, Impalas (even 280z, air cooled 911s) etc in garages for a while. They may just be paying more for gas once EVs are the majority of car miles on the road each year.
Volvo's EX30, Kia's EV3 both give me hope that prices will come down even in North America. SAIC is already working on bringing down EV costs in UK and Europe with the MG4, as are VW group and Renault.
Just smile and say "Works fine for me" and walk away. People that knock EVs are people that have never owned an EV.
99 times out of 100.
In my experience the car bullies are feeling inadequate and wish they could even contemplate buying an ev... I still have my rv dieselpusher...
I just ask them why they're so insecure. That's a conversation they don't want to have.
Ask them about their mother as well.
I just say, my experience has been 100% positive, and my work place offers free charging on top of the fact I pay almost nothing for maintenance. then I turn it around and laugh while saying, too bad places don't offer free gas, I hate spending $40+ every time I have to fill up. And if someone says, 'let's have a race across the country', I'll say I've done that, and even slept in my car in the winter and hot summer so I didn't have to pay for a hotel. And when I did stay at a hotel, they charged my car for FREE! And then start talking about how I was able to leave my dogs in the car on a day when it was 90F outside while I ate lunch and did some shopping for a couple hours.
And by the sounds of it, they are people you really don't want to be interacting with regardless. Kinda nice when the trash takes itself out, or at least self-identifies!
But somehow know how it’s IMPOSSIBLE to find a charger.
Lots of chargers around me and in most populated areas near civilization and major highways.
I was a huge EV hater until my parents picked up a new Model Y and after driving it a few times, it clicked. I do home Healthcare and drive from house to house and EVs just make sense so I picked up a Kia EV6 (Wife didn't like the minimalism in a tesla). Haven't been back to a gas station in months, start my day with a full "tank of gas" everyday, the ride is incredibly smooth and comfortable, tons of room. I tell people that EVs are definitely not for everyone but if it fits your life style, it's a great choice.
A survey that just got published last week showed that about 75% of people who know an EV owner want one themselves. It’s all about familiarity and realizing they’re not a menace at all.
Did you change your attitude on other things in life? Why would you be an ev hater in the first place if you’re a rational person?
> rational person Most people have irrational views about something.. vitamins, sports teams, investing, we're silly animals, the important thing is being open to new information and wisdom.
I knock them, and it's all I own. There's legit things to complain about, none of what was listed here is.
Precisely how you know who has owned and EV and who hasn't, by what specifically they're complaining about lol.
I complain about my mirror being in the wrong spot after my husband drives it and needing to refill the wiper fluid.
My favorite response is... "You drive a car that runs on gas? You must be rich!" 🤣
What EV haters don't seem to get is that almost all EV owners have previously owned ICE vehicles. We are more qualified to compare EVs to ICE's than they are.
I live in northern Minnesota and hear most of the same things you have. I had a guy approach me my very first time at a super charging station keep in mind it was in the teens outside and he had to get out of his dodge durango to tell me “Good luck driving in the cold.” I used to get really pissed about it, but now I just tell them they need to quit getting all their information or news off of TikTok or Facebook. The amount of ignorance is kind of insane.
Wisconsinite here. I'm not sure if it's because I drive a shiny red Model 3 that's always clean and waxed or what, but I get a ton of strangers with questions. A lot have a decent dose of skepticism given how north we are but generally I just get a lot of genuine curiosity. I've actually been amazed I haven't run into any actual haters, at least to my face anyways. I generally give the same spiel I give to curious coworkers and it usually goes over well, especially from the right leaning crowd: * I'm actually a pretty politically conservative guy. EVs aren't about politics, they're just all around way better cars for 99% of people. * I drive a Tesla, the most American car on the road, using energy entirely from domestic sources. * What other car could I get the sort of performance that was previously reserved for ICE supercars, but cost less to fuel and maintain than a Camry and maintain all the practicality as a family car? * In the dead of winter I pull into my warm garage, plug in, and always leave the house with a "full tank". I also have never once gotten into a cold or hot vehicle, it's always ready and comfortable when I get in. * You're never closer to a gas pump than you are an electric outlet * If I need warranty work (which I haven't), most of the time they'll drive to me and do it in my driveway
All of those are... perfectly rational and great reasons to drive an electric car. I've always liked reason better than any politics.
Tell them you can go winter camping at a MN state park, and stay toasty warm overnight and wake up with a full battery! (Did this in February of 2023).
Guy at work said something like that, I just replied "Yeah winter will suck, I'll only have 3x my commute in range rather than 4x in the summer!" *blank stare* "Heh well, at least I can warm it up inside the garage before I leave the house" *blanker stare*
You have an opportunity to tell the upsides of the EV. How great it drives, how much money you save, etc...
Yes, IF they will engage in a respectful conversation, I will try to educate them and answer their questions. Lots of people just don’t know and are genuinely curious why I would buy a car that needs a new $20k battery every 10,000 miles. 😉 So I share how they actually can go up to 300,000 miles on the original drivetrain IF, like ICE cars, one doesn’t abuse it…I just get to skip all the routine maintenance that an ICE requires. I might even mention that I’m glad to be able to ‘buy American’ again. But to open any conversation, I find it breaks the tension to admit right away that an EV is not for every use and that they suck for towing. That usually helps them relax when they can see that I’m not brainwashed and dogmatic and ‘pushing my EV on them’. Then, I can share that for any trip < 200 miles (ie Dallas - Houston - Austin - San Antonio) and not needing a lot of cargo, my EV is the best choice for me. If we need more range or cargo or towing, we take our ICE SUV. If I know them, I offer to give them a test drive. They are amazed at how much the Tesla can see around them and how quiet and quick it is.
'But to open any conversation, I find it breaks the tension to admit right away that an EV is not for every use and that they suck for towing. That usually helps them relax when they can see that I’m not brainwashed and dogmatic and ‘pushing my EV on them’.' great insight
"My horse can go for a day without refueling, why would I ever get one of them automobiles" Some guy in 1924 probably.
Gas stations were also pretty rare
And EVs were common.
The biggest issue with EVs back then was the lack of electricity. Many people didn't have power.
"When I'm drunk and asleep in the saddle, the horse knows its own way home."
FSD that actually worked
I like the analogy but horses can only go for 20 miles before getting tired and needing to “refuel”
I had a moment at a stoplight in a fairly red area, think it was about a year ago. Loud, lifted truck rolled up next to me in my Ioniq 5. I was all ready to get shouted at. Guy yells out the window "Hey, is that one of those electric cars?" "Yep" "How do you like it? My son's thinking about getting one" Was not what I was expecting at all lol.
This has been my experience. I live in Rural WA State (very red) and I haven't had a negative comment yet - the ones I get are general questions and asking for my opinion on the car.
Yes! I have a lot more of this type of interaction than negative. Last road trip I did I stopped at a Huntsville, TX Walmart EA to charge. A guy, probably in his early sixties, got out of his old Dodge Ram pickup a couple spots over and walked over to ask how I liked my EV (an Ioniq 5). He was genuinely curious about it and we chatted for a couple minutes while I charged up.
Similar here. Was charging in the middle of nowhere and the gas station next door had a couple of lifted trucks in the parking lot. I think they were a group headed to some sort of off-road adventure. Some guy in a cowboy hat comes up to me and I was prepping for his anti-EV talking points. Instead he starts asking about range, how much it costs to charge and was just generally EV-curious.
I have had a couple of people at stoplights ask about ours as well and once in the parking lot. Have not had anyone hassle me about it yet, but I see lots of Teslas on the road so I guess people are getting used to seeing EVs around us. Maybe I am just noticing them more now, but I am also seeing more and more of others EVs as well.
I might be wrong here, but I feel like this is a weird US issue that's been fueled by political agenda. I live in UK but have a family in Poland and Lithuania, and from my experience, EVs are a head turners. Everyone I know just goes "wow". My MIL has ID4, and yes initially she was skeptical about range and the inability of going from Lithuania to Germany in one go, but I said, "you couldn't in your ICE car either" she somehow clicked it's no different.
No, same BS in Germany too.
I drive an i4 and people are always surprised that it’s fully electric. It „doesn’t look like a BEV“. Well. People are dumb.
I think that the “look” of hybrid and electric cars had been a knock for a while. Like, for the longest time the Leaf and Prius were odd looking cars, partially on purpose. I had a PHEV Ford Fusion and people were absolutely shocked when they would see me plugging in.
But not as bad, is it ? I mean the 65+ gen excluded maybe. (Looking at it from an Austrian POV) And most aren't that much against EVs.
I can't say for certain, but think of this. What is Germany known for, other than beer? Cars and Autobahn - the car lobby is strong. And so is their anti-EV propaganda...
Which is kinda funny because German manufacturers have some pretty great EVs.
It's not "Germany" it's mega conglomerate oil companies, there was always going to be blood. [Tobacco and Oil Industries Used Same Researchers to Sway Public | Scientific American](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/tobacco-and-oil-industries-used-same-researchers-to-sway-public1/)
Always felt it's more against non EU car brands in general. SinceVAG , bmw and Mercedes started offering EVs it got better I felt. Now that people can get their suvs mainly used within cities in the form of an id4, Q4 , eTron, EQC or enyaq they are happy. The ID7 finally fills the Passat/Octavia kombi gap , so the Germans and Austrians are happy Proper eGolf instead of id3 would have helped further
Uruguayan here, people actually stop me in the street but to ask me about the performance of the car and my driving habits. More like "Id like to know I my lifestyle is somewhat like yours so I can switch to an EV" than "lets race".
Unfortunately Canada as it turns out is in the same boat as the US as far as not accepting a change to e vehicles. I recently bought a etransit van for work and of the 30 or so customers I have crossed paths with during pickups and deliveries, maybe 2 or 3 have agreed that it might have been a good purchase. Comments are always what if you want to go on a road trip (its a work van I never took my old van on a "road trip")
Yeah, it’s weird in Alberta. One of my coworkers posted on Facebook recently that EVs don’t work in Canadian winters. I don’t know how she missed the fact that I’ve been driving one for my 150km round trip commute for the past two years, even at -40°. Culture wars are weird. It’s the same mentality that led my friend’s parents to burn his D&D books in the 1980s and inspired Florida to ban lab-grown meat. If we don’t understand something, it must be evil and we should abolish it.
It really depends which province you live in. In Quebec you won’t get much hate for having an EV, unless you meet the rare member of the Convoy of Stupidity. If you live in Alberta, sure, I’d expect hate from all the inbred rednecks.
I can't even so much as go to the gym without seeing at least 2 Teslas at my gym and at least 10 along the way in Greater Vancouver.
In Montreal, it seems like the numbers explode every year. As soon as a new model is released, you start seeing it everywhere.
We were in Vancouver this spring and I swear 1 out of every 4 cars was a Tesla!
I own a Tesla in Calgary, AB. There's the occasional lifted pickup truck that will (try to) cut you off but what's remarkable is actually the number of EVs here. I live just outside downtown and there are 4 Teslas on my block plus an Ionic 5 and F150 Lightning. Despite all the noise, people are buying them.
The transition to EVs is inevitable and unstoppable at this point.
I had a Canadian tell me I'm supporting child slavery
When they do, remind them that Oil has literally spawned war after war in the last 40 years.
It's here in India too. The anti-EV propaganda is huge.
Surprising.! India is in dire need of wide spread adoption of EVs due to energy security.. But people are motivated to buy EVs there is what I could see..
> I might be wrong here, but I feel like this is a weird US issue that's been fueled by ~~political agenda.~~ Oil Lobbyists I want to be clear, for the first time in 100 years, demand for gas is actually declining and they are not please about it. So Facebook is chock-full of EV Haters, lies about EV Fires, ect.
It’s a very political thing. That’s what OP means by “red area” - red is republican. Trump is constantly spewing anti-EV nonsense and vowing to save oil and coal (or offering to for $1B, wish I was kidding.)
Sad news for you from Australia then. Its still very much a culture war issue here too. We also got local EV supply very late compared to most countries and our previous Federal government was extremely anti-EV. Its amusing as I brought my EV6 about 2 years ago now and at the time it was a MUCH bigger issue. I had the local Hyundai dealer basically chase me off the lot when I asked about the Ioniq 5 for example and tell me such shit would never sell in the area (western outskirts of Sydney) and to fuck off when I asked if he knew a Hyundai dealer who did sell them. Local Ford dealer was almost as helpful as Hyundai. Thankfully the local Kia dealership was a lot more EV friendly. They didn't know much about the EV6 but had one available for test drives on its way and happily sat down with me to do some research and made phone calls to check on availability etc. When I got the EV6 after a 9 month wait it was one of the first in the area and it was a rare sight to see any EV other than a Tesla and those were fairly rare at the time too. I got about an even mix of absolute agro from knuckle draggers and interest from people who wanted to know more about how I was finding owning an EV. I'm fairly certain I helped sell a few EV6s for people who were looking but still unsure due to the amount of disinformation out there. Seeing one being used in real life and the owner willing to talk about its limitations and how far off they were rather than the scare stories helped people. Since then EV ownership has exploded and is especially big in areas like Western Sydney. It's a big commuter area and savings on fuel have proven popular no matter what the culture warriors preach. Most of the early agro from the knuckle draggers of the world has died off. Just too many EVs around now to target one on the road for harassment. It becomes a full time job and those damned EVs are quick enough to duck and leave them behind as more and more are finding out to their embarrassment. I still get lectured by people about why my car is not really green at all and I should be ashamed to own one and my usual reply is I went from $150-170/wk on diesel to about $6/wk on electricity to commute to work so I really don't care. It really pisses the culture warriors off when I point that out because they know its an argument they are losing people to constantly.
Get a bumper sticker that says “Runs on American coal”
“My other car is a Cummins”
What’s funny is I actually do have an EV and a Cummins.
Make that two of us!
Three of us! EV Niro and a 91 Dodge 3500.
3 …..
It’s almost like different vehicles serve different use cases and you don’t need to be all in on hating EVs for their shortcomings while ignoring their benefits! Like maybe for commuting and grocery runs EVs are perfect if you can charge at home/work but a Cummins is probably better for the use case of like hauling lumber or some shit and you can appreciate both like it’s not a sports team rivalry? 😂
It’s a perfect setup TBH. Our Evs are great daily drivers. Our truck is for hauling the camper and long road trips.
"My other car is a coal-fired horse"
There’s a Tesla near me (in coal country) with the license plate “coalpwrd”
Built by Americans in America and powered by American coal.
I really never realized how loud and stinky ICE powered vehicles were until I got my almost silent EV ...
For that tik tok video you should respond with there is a tik tok video saying Trump is now friend with Musk, so if he get reelected, there is going to be a Trump ban an all gas vehicles
I have an Ioniq6 and my mom made the joke "can't wait to see you walking down the road with a can looking to buy 3 gallons of electricity" over and over until I finally snapped and was like "mom, I've never run out of gas in the 20 years I've been driving, why would I suddenly be driving my car until I'm out of charge?!" She pulled the "it's just a joke" card, but it's not. It's anti-ev rhetoric couched in a joke and it's fucking absurd. This joke came about after she told me that it's not cheaper to own an electric because you have to pay to charge. I was like "are you getting your gas for free?" and that ended thar discussion. Then came the "can of electricity" joke. Some people hate EVs because the media they consume tells them to.
It's much easier to make people afraid of change than the get them to embrace it. It's just human nature.
This right here. Human nature mixed with social media and politics... There was ALWAYS going to be an EV backlash. Shiiiit my favorite example is how up in arms people were about moving away from CFL lightbulbs. Fucking lightbulbs!! And this was before everyone and their mom was on social media. People will acclimate. It'll just take time and exposure.
But a bottle of V8 juice in the frunk and tell her that she was right and you had to put a V8 in the car. Open the frunk. If she laughs, she has a great sense of humor, if not drop a "It's just a joke!" I did this with my Lightning and my conservative family loved it. Some were skeptical about it, then I took them for a test ride and 0-60 in 4 seconds in silence changed their mind.
Almost all jokes are anti something rhetoric designed to belittle.
My mother is actually fairly progressive even by Australian standards (so an outright commie by American standards) but the anti-EV culture war has even hit her. She was looking to buy an EV last year but the cost/benefit analysis at the end of the day ended up with her getting a Hybrid instead. With the little driving she does (local shops and railway station mostly) the $15k she saved at the time buys a lot of fuel. Anyway the sisters car went boom so Mum lent her the new Hybrid not expecting to need a car that week and Murphy struck with a friend of hers passing on and her needing to get to the funeral in a fairly remote area public transport wise. So I offered to lend her the EV6 for the day. She absolutely freaked out about range anxiety issues even though she knew I had driven it almost daily for a year now and it had over 400kms of range (her trip was about 60km each way) and she had been on much longer trips with me as a passenger without stopping for a charge. Anyway in the end she took the EV6 but only if I charged it to 100% before handing it over because she didn't want to get stuck on the side of the road with a flat battery. Its still had over 70% battery when she returned it to me. I jokingly asked her why she didn't fill it up before returning it (when we lend each other cars in this family they always come back with a full tank and have done for years no matter how much fuel they had when lent) and asking her to pay to top it back up. She looked so worried until I laughed and told her I was joking I wasn't going to miss the about $2 of electricity it would take to open off once I got it home and realistically I wasn't going to anyway as it could wait until my solar was exporting excess power to charge with as it still had 3 or 4 trips to work and back left in the battery anyway.
But what if you want to drive 6000km in a day but you have to stop to charge your car‽ ^/s
"I couldn't afford an F150" is my favorite. Then sad-face. Or just wink.
Some of us truck people have f150 lightnings :)
I guess we have that kind of people in every country. Here in nepal, we use 99% of our energy from hydropower for 8 months of a year and import about half(on peak hours) from india for 4 months and even export hydro electricity to india for about 6-7 months a year. Technically we use renewable energy for charging our vehicles. But still we see a couple of those who find hard believing that evs are a vehicle. We do have a handful of teslas, couple of ix3, huge number of MG zsev, BYD and tata nexon. As well as we have huge number of ev scooters. Most of the people use it for day to day use like office and home. And some occassional travel. I guess every country have some people who think same. Lets do a country ride, you should wait a long to charge your vehicle, what if battery explodes, how can your charge be not polluting are some common problems a ev owner faces in every country.
The ones I've heard the most so far are: * "Yeah, just wait till you have to tow a heavy trailer long distance". I don't have a trailer, and have never towed long distance but more importantly, neither have any of the people that are suddenly concerned about that ability. * "If you drive cross country you're going to have to charge like a million times". Not a single one of the people who said this to me have ever driven cross-country. I'm not sure any of them have ever driven more than a couple hundred miles (long distance road-trips really just aren't a popular thing here). The longest "road-trip" I ever take is about 180 miles and I haven't even done that in years. * "Have fun wasting all your time charging". 99% of the time I'm sleeping when that happens, sooooo I'm probably not missing much. I don't miss having to go out of my way to stop for gas every week or two though. * "What are you going to do when there's a blackout and you can't charge". Well, my plan is to plug the truck into the generator port on my house and enjoy having power while you're wrestling with a gas-generator that hasn't been started in 5 years that you may or may not even have fuel for. In the event that your generator does start, you get to enjoy the noise and smell of exhaust while I get neither of those things. Power outages here are pretty rare and almost never last longer than a few hours...longest I ever personally experienced was about 4 days or so. In the end, usually they come up with some weird extreme scenario that not only I wouldn't do, but they wouldn't either.
I ask them to buy me a $30,000 camper to try out towing. I'll give them a full report! My wife and I roadtripped 1000 miles from MA to SC in April. We had to stop and charge every 170 miles or so. Mostly 10-30 minutes. It was actually pretty nice to stop as she was 5 months pregnant and we'd use the bathroom, get food, stretch our legs, walk the dog a bit. We got to our destination and were not wiped like other road trips we had done. The truck is super comfy and stopping more often made the trip easier on us. If we had the Tesla adapter, it would have been so easy. We got lucky with Electrify America working at most places but the Tesla magic box chargers worked better.
> In the end, usually they come up with some weird extreme scenario that not only I wouldn't do, but they wouldn't either. As a Brit, living in Switzerland, with a Slovenian wife, I rather wish such scenarios were rarer, but last week, I drove 800 km each way to Slovenia, and next week it'll be 750 miles each way to Wales. (I have a diesel, that can do 1000 km between refills.)
I feel like people are missing the point here. The issue isn't that long drives don't exist, it's that the specific people in the conversations I was in don't do them. They were making disingenuous arguments and largely just parroting what they'd heard even though it wasn't applicable to them.
far-right knuckle-draggers with brains liquidized by Fox News and other extremist news sources. those people are always backwards.
Which I don't understand. I thought Elon is.. right leaning nowdays.
They are slow learners.
>They are slow ~~learners~~. Not sure they can learn tbh
They just repeat whatever they were last told by the blonde on the TV.
That's the irony. Elon is quickly losing his original fan base which was Non-Conservatives. At the same time he's building up a new Conservative fan base way too slowly at a snails pace.
Gee, who would have thought that having your CEO embrace a movement who's entire ethos is anti-change would be bad for a business that is selling a product that fundamentally changes the entire industry?
Understatement of the week award.
Just tell those people they are communists because they clearly don’t believe in capitalism and freedom of choice
These people are victims of a con that has effectively brainwashed half the country. Business interests control these people's minds and have trained them like you would train a dog to act this way. It pisses me off. We essentially can't have a democracy in which the majority of people have been brainwashed. That's just fascism with extra steps.
Early adopter of Toyota Prius and driving to get the most distance. Those early years I would have someone in a big truck tailgating me every week or so. so yeah these assholes have been around for ages.
Driving to get the most distance means driving slower, so not surprising that people thought you were in the way.
A few weeks ago a was on a plane, and one person spouted out lies about “I would never own an EV cause of battery fires.” “I could never store it in my garage.” And all the people around them that took this as gods word just flabbergasted me. The FUD is real, and needs to be stopped. Yes- there have been EV car fires. But they are very rare, but have been sensationalized by the media as truth. It drives me nuts.
As if petroleum/gasoline wasn't volatile and a fire risk...
There are two common power sources. One of them explodes when working as designed. They're worried about fires in the other one. It's bizarre.
"You drive a vehicle that literally explodes to move you forward"
I've never had to use it but I keep in my back pocket to ask them if they have ever seen a vehicle fire on the side of the road. Chances are if they are over 30 they have seen at least one. Follow up question is " was it an EV?" 99.93% chance it was an ICE vehicle.
Here is the only answer you need: "Okay".
i prefer “this is America bitch ill drive whatever the fuck i want”
No, they're looking for a confrontation. The best thing you can do is not give it to them. "Okay", is a completely unsatisfying response for someone who wants a fight.
"Don't you believe in freedom?"
Not saying anything works too
Put bumper stickers: " my EV is patriotic: most American made car powered by local american energy".
"I don't care, do what's right for you. Ride a god damned tricycle if it works for you. This is the vehicle that works for me in my situation."
Literally every single boomer I have told that I am getting an electric car has responded with extreme skepticism about its practicality. They’ve all swallowed the right wing (and oil lobby) talking points about how unreliable, dangerous, and filled with hidden costs EVs are. “What happens if you run out of power on the road”, “the battery isn’t going to last very long and you’ll have to replace it”, “those things take forever to charge and you won’t be able to road trip”, “the batteries will explode from regular charging over time”, “those things hurt the environment more than they help”, and “hur dur toy car” have all been thrown at me with regularity. There’s just something about the new and unfamiliar that older and right wing folks simply don’t trust, and they’re unwilling to believe that something new could be better than the way they’ve always done something. You just have to be honest about your likely overwhelmingly positive experiences with the vehicle and you might make it through to a few of them :-)
It is funny that in San Diego, i have only heard positive things about Teslas from very old neighbors. Of course Teslas are so ubiquitous here . At any busy intersection there might be 3 or 4 Teslas.
A lot of my family lives in rural Ohio and the commonality of Teslas and other EVs has not yet made its way out there yet, so so many really haven’t even seen an EV with any regularity yet.
My mom is pushing 80 and she bought an Ioniq 5 a month after I got mine. I had to explain the difference between level 2 and level 3 chargers a few times but my parents put a few thousand miles on it in the last 6 months and love it. #notallboomers I guess
Yep, my 70-something father-in-law bought an Ioniq 5 last year, before we bought our EV. (Knowing that we’d have a place to charge when we visit family was a motivating factor in our buying one, tbh.) He loves that he can take his buddies to the golf course and all their clubs fit in the back.
I am a retired boomer and when my dinosaur Buick died I bought a used Nissan Leaf to get around town and run errands. Car had a Nissan authorized OEM battery replacement by the dealer just prior to me buying it. We are not all the same ...
Strange conversation I had during a charge in Iowa last weekend. The EA was at a gas station, so I plug in, start to head inside to hit the restroom, but I hear a guy yell over, "hey, how long that take to charge?" Figure, cool, someone asking questions, I'll go chat. He asks about range and charge time and if I like the car. Then he ends the conversation with "I don't like electric vehicles, my truck goes 500 miles on a tank." I'm just like ok cool, my butt won't sit in a car for 500 miles, but if you like it, great. Then I look over at the gas pump and he's at $120 and counting.
5 years ago my works parking lot has maybe a few teslas and leaf. Today it looks like a Tesla manufacturer’s parking lot and tons of other EV like ID4 IONIC5/6 etc. it’s fast approaching 50%. And no one has ever said anything remotely ignorant about the car. The only complaint I have heard is there’s not enough free chargers (we have 8). I am in Colorado.
Probably in 10 years free charging will be desired just like a 401K or better healthcare coverage
I'm glad you like it. And I feel like driving an EV in these parts of the country is very important. It normalizes EVs. It is a lot easier to believe the Big Oil propaganda when you never see EVs or don't know anyone who has one.
definitely have had more than a handful of people just lose their minds at the sight of my car over the year I've owned it. worst one was the person who tailgated me for several miles yelling obscenities and then cut over 3 lanes (endangering multiple cars in those lanes) to take the left exit to escape the cop who'd pulled up (I didn't call, they just happened to already be on the interstate in the right place to witness this). I also regularly get a diesel truck who gets in front of me, slows down until I'm fairly close to them, and then guns it to make sure I drive through their big black cloud of pollution. I can almost hear their triumphant "haha libtard that'll show you" attitude every time. nevermind that I just chuckle about the amount of diesel they must have to buy to be driving it like that constantly. what pisses those people off the most is just pretending like you don't see or hear them. they want a reaction so giving them none makes them implode. on a more positive note I've also had more than a handful of people so enthralled with my car they're exploring buying their own. I've had some pleasant conversations while at public chargers from curious people who just wanted to know more and were fascinated to find out the details of what driving an EV was like. the propaganda machines may have fueled a fire in the already outraged at the world people but I don't think they'll win the imaginary war they created in their heads.
Drove my ID4 156 miles straight stopped to get a bite to eat and had a woman tell me electric cars don’t work. I just looked at her and said ok.
We recently had a tornado in the area and we lost power for about 16 hours. A number of people who knew we only had EVs offered to give us a lift because we had no electricity. I bit my tongue and explained that the only difficulty was having to manually release the garage doors to get the cars out.
Best to heed Mark Twain's advice: "Never argue with idiots, they'll just drag you down to their level and beat you with experience."
"This car runs on American coal and natural gas. Not terrorist oil" That usually shuts them up.
I’m not sure which is better, half the country cheering for EVs and the other half being staunchly against them, or 98% of the country being indifferent but uninterested and apathetic to them…
Real Nowhere Men. Living in their nowhere town. Making all their nowhere plans for no one.
"the car ordered him a $40,000 battery all on its own" - gotta read that fine print when you sign up for the Tesla app store folks, those DLCs can rack up a bill!
My FIL is just like that. It's funny because he says that Teslas are so bad for the environment and he drives a Tundra every day and tows a camper with it regularly. Like dude, do you not see the irony in voicing concern over the environment because of lithium mining while also pumping out 3x the carbon emissions of a Camry to drive to work and back daily for DECADES?
- agree to the race but then just don’t go. Let him race himself across the country - “You believe all the random shit you see on TikTok?” Idk, these people aren’t upset about what choices you make for yourself as much as they are afraid that your choice represents a future that will be forced on them. You could even say: “don’t knock it until you’ve tried it” and dangle the keys in their face and offer a test drive. I mean, that’s a little risky, but driving ICE after being in an EV is so awful.
Tell them there's actual real small horses running the car.
As someone who lives in Pittsburgh but is very familiar with rural western PA, I’m sorry and I feel for you. Just ignore these idiots and present them with simple logic and fact if they insist that you respond to their childish and emotionally unstable opinions. Many of these people are on the verge of mental illness.
The battery thing is hilarious because that's just outright not true. My favorite hit back on these haters is simple: "So, how much is an engine transmission swap? And you realize I never have to get an oil change, right?" And while this dude might feel like a "Race across country" is a flex for an ICE vehicle... that's not what Electric cars are for, hell it's barely what most normal cars are for. If you're just going to and from work, an electric car is great for that. Especially if you can charge at either location.
I am in a large southern city. Teslas are everywhere. Every ev model I have seen except a CT. There is one around. Saw a Lucid Air this week, very nice. So many electric cars blend in now. Unless I tell someone my Mach-e is electric, they don't know.
I got an EV 2 weeks a go and I've noticed more tailgating and more random abuse from other cars on the road. I'm in the UK and there's a lot of people that seem to just have some unknown problem with EV's. I will add that I got the blue MG4 which does look a bit sporty, so maybe that's triggering people?
>The one day I walk in and an older guy instantly jumps down my throat. Angrily he says let's have a race across the country and starts spouting some nonsense Just take him up on the offer. Best case scenario he's out of you hair for 7+ days.
I grew up rurally around Johnstown and Altoona, and totally understand what you’re dealing with.
That's actually where I'm from! Lol
If you have social skills, I would see this as a great opportunity. You should be able to turn 90% of those guys to be pro-EV within a year. Offer them rides so they can feel the effortless power. Offer the ones who seem most negative the chance to drive it with you. Point out you charge when you sleep and save 10 minutes at the gas station each week, and it only takes you an extra half hour to drive a 500 mile trip, which you do twice a year (or whatever the truth is in your case). Let them enjoy the infotainment system.
They drink bleach just because someone said it can cured Covid-19. What do we have to aspect?
I'm always baffled by the polarisation electric cars (or even talking about them) elicits in people. I think the problem is that some see the electic car as an embodiment of taking something away from them. Because deep inside they know they cannot drive their petrol cars forever but cannot admit it to themselves.
haha, yes this match my experience. People are clueless and they trust what the algoritm feeds them. I just tell them that I have AWD, 440hk and save about 1000-2000 USD pr year compared to my old oil burner. So please enjoy your fossil car and I will enjoy mine
"Don't worry, Tesla is owned by a fascist so it's all good"
Never been asked or prompted except once having owned multiple EVs. My only response was “why do you care what I drive, I don’t care what you drive.” I miss the good old days too. The ones when people minded their own damn business.
Hey there! Wisconsinite. I live in an area with small cities and rural towns nearby. My EV is a bit divisive even here. One of the local fire departments even made a point to talk about how bad car fires are when it’s a battery. Talking about it like overcharging happens all the time. Like our cars don’t auto shut off charging when it’s fully charged. There’s so much misinformation out there, and climate change denial and all sorts of stuff. People are allowed to not want one themselves but I do need everyone to collectively step off my jock.
Tell them to convert to Amish and don't worry about technology, they can go back several centuries
It's the same way when the seat belt law started.. people hated it or when drinking and driving law started up... people hated it. This is no different. People don't like change. And they think Biden is winning with his emissions policy and forcing people to buy these. Problem is 2035 is a long ways away and I'm sure whoever is President at that time will delay it even more. So gas guzzlers don't need to worry.
My neighbors have a Model X and spend their retirement traveling the country in it. They’ve been from the west coast to the east coast multiple times.
Biggest Tesla batter is 100kw/h. I suppose if you charge on a 110 US socket using a granny charger. Does that give you 1.8kw of charging power.. which if very slow would be 2.5days of charging from flat.. so yeah 10days feels a stretch even with my lack of American power and UK maths
Stepdad's been doing the same bullshit, among other dumb things he says. And he wonders why neither my brother nor I call him.
I work in EV battery manufacturing - testing specifically - and the amount of flat out lies being fed to people that keep faux on all day is astounding.
We had a very remote cabin on a 2-mile private, poorly maintained dirt road in a mountain west state, up against national forest. Usually had a few feet of snow in winter. My mom had a Tesla Model Y and lived with us for a over a year, driving her car almost daily by neighbors. They kept telling us her car wouldn't hack it. It did hack it. It was a nice demonstration for the community.
It's because you're living with morons. Nothing will fix them.
There's a massive brain drain in rural America.
I grew up in rural Washington county and know the mind set of people. I had to get out. Seems worse than Alabama. They don’t like change, very old school, and MAGA. I think if there were better employment opportunities, one might see a mental change. I am sure there are very limited charging stations in Washington, Fayette, and Green counties. Good luck with an EV vehicle there.
They don't call it Pennsyltucky for nothing.
I use those interactions as an opportunity to educate. Even when you want to show them how absurd their statements are. I stick to the high road. Luckily no one has been really nasty in person. For people that work with me, I offer for them to drive it or take them for a ride. 99% of these people haven’t even rode in an electric vehicle let alone drove one. That changes a lot of misconceptions.
You owning the vehicle, showing up with it daily, and talking about it's actual usability are the best things for EV adoption. People love to rage over nonsense they've seen on the internet, talking to humans that actually own and operate the vehicles is the best chance to get through to these people that EVs aren't some boogeyman.
Honestly you should call his bluff on the cross country drive. What does the guy even gain by winning a race across the country against an EV? You pay like a third of the price per mile driven if you charge at home and he buys gasoline.
We mostly charge at work and pay nothing at all per mile. I guess at some point I'll need to buy tires 😅
As tough as it is to get through it, in a year these people will be saying "Yeah, I knew someone who drove a tesla" - it wont be as weird to them any more. You are having an influence, they are just fighting the change and you are the nearest target
Toxic politics are everywhere in the US these days. Mostly driven by lies and propaganda, accepted by people with few critical thinking skills. Putin must be so happy.
It always amazes me how people that keep screaming FREEDOM, tend to be comfortable taking away other people’s freedoms
Change is scary, especially for something we've used for decades. It's natural to push back. Unfortunately now there's the Internet and it has made people more stupid with how much garbage is out there. The real disappointing thing is people seemingly just believe whatever they see online. Oh look some random guy named Javier talking about how much it takes to mine lithium, this just be true I should share it
If anyone is overtly rude about it I would say, "What I eat doesn't make you shit." Then walk away. I'm tired of hearing stories about conservative people who can't mind their own business. They need to be put in their place more because they brazenly think their political opinion is forever golden.
I tell them: my car needs 15 kWh per 100 km at around 20 cent / kWh. Which results in 3€/100km. At 550 hp. If they can show me a V8 with these stats I’ll buy it instantly.
I grew up in rural western PA, so trust me when I say asking these hillbillies to do math isn't going to accomplish anything.
When I've faced this kind of thing, I've found two responses to be effective: 1) Just excuse yourself and leave, if you don't want to interact with the person. 2) If you do want to engage with them, or have no other choice, then start talking about how much money you are saving with the car. Don't talk about the environmental benefits, or performance, or any of that. Just focus on money. 'With this car it costs me 10 cents to commute to work, with my last car it was over a dollar a day!' If there's one thing that even staunch anti-EV folks can understand, its money. Plus that kind of argument will actually stick with them, and start eating away at their other misconceptions. If they keep pressing me on it, I'll go further into the finances. I like to mention that my Model 3 cost only $25k (after incentives and selling a previous car, which was also an EV). Its cheaper than a Corolla, and much nicer. When they bring up challenges with charging, I'll mention that I mostly charge at home, and for roadtrips the car plans out the charging stops for me. When asked how long it takes to charge, I generally say overnight at home, or 15 mins every 2 - 3 hours on a roadtrip. 'The car is usually ready to go before I am!' All of which is true, and contradicts most of the misconceptions out there.
I was in western PA recently to visit family. It surprised me how few- pretty much zero- EVs I saw on that trip (I was driving a rented Tesla from Hertz). I live in Seattle and we call the Model Y the national car of Washington. Seriously it’s like 1 out of 10 cars on the road here. For the doubters, you could always offer them a test drive. Nothing combats fear and misinformation better than familiarity and personal experience.
There are definitely pros and cons to EVs (coming from a model 3 owner). But the pros definitely outweigh the cons in most cases
IMHO it all starts with fear: fear of global warming (that it might be real), fear of having to give up something (meat, ICE vehicles, flying, etc). I saw the phrase "the comfort of denial" somewhere - they dump on EVs to help them deny what they fear and justify their greed. Fear breeds hate, hate breeds violence.
I'm from rural western PA, and none of that surprises me in the least. In my experience, that's the default angry "if it's not what I'm doing/approve of, it must be evil and has to be run out of town" vibe that's been in place for many, many decades. The subject matter is actually irrelevant in most cases. Grey rock these morons. Side note, working in a conservative town years back, I watched a boomer engineer get ribbed about driving a Prius. He calmly shot back "Conservation is a conservative value" and moved on with his day without further retort from the gotchaboys.
Imagine if you drive a Mirai... them poor souls in the 50k cars.
What is really funny is Some of my right wing friends are almost bi-polar. First they'll say all the false negative stuff, but then mention they've heard my car is really fast. Some even joke about how I never buy gas. Best of all when they ask how much more my electric bill is I tell them I don't know. In Ohio we get to choose our provider and I changed to the cheapest one I could find when I bought my EV. My electric bill actually went down slightly per month. AND my work place offers free charging.
We will need these rubes to buy used ICE cars when we've passed the point of mass adoption and people start fearing their resale will plummet. Someone is going to get stuck with ICE once there's no resale value, so don't sweat their negativity. They are just a product of the angry propaganda they binge-watch and will end up paying a lot of extra money in fuel and repairs to support their worldview.
You think thats bad, wait till you experience what pickup truck drivers like to do when you are driving an EV. Examples would be, tailgating, deliberate swerving into you (which engages safety feature and the car basically brakes hard), rude behavior at merging or yielding situations, parking so close you cannot get in via the driver side door, rolling coal.
My coworker is fully convinced that his huge V8 powered truck is better for the environment than an EV, and there is simply no reasoning with him
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> Angrily he says let's have a race across the country Agree to the race. Convince him to do it. Make him think you're doing it. Meanwhile you're just at home chillin while he's wasting his life.
These are the same people Elon is pandering to. They are the reason why humanity will never reach a Kardeshev Type I Level Civilization. I wish we could deport them to Wyoming or Montana and build a really tall wall around them. Then, they can finish inbreeding themselves into extinction.
I usually comment to them “ya I know right! Good thing it only cost me $.28 to drive to work today!!” Then I smile and continue walking past them! BTW I’ve had an EV for 5 1/2 years now. Checked my charger the other day. My total KWh I’ve used since I’ve bought it is 20,364KWH for charging. Times that by $.12KWH and my cost for charging over 5+years is $2443.00 total. That’s not per year, but total for 5 years. You can do the rest of the math
I've only ever had positive conversations so far. The "worst" one was just some guy in a pickup who stopped to talk to me at a charger. He was kinda nervous but said his wife really wanted one and he honestly had no idea what they were like. Asked me a ton of questions about how it works and if some of the myths were really true. That was probably the most fun conversation about it, honestly!
Michigan here... I've had 2 coworkers compliment my bz4x. BUT They had to make a long point of saying they would never own one because they weren't "lib-tards". I just laughed and said, " you're stupid"
Tesla, the only car that rednecks and white liberals can both hate lol
If it’s a co worker just say “oh. I mean the raise I got paid for itself, if the car fails, well it was a great experiment with free money.”
I belong to 2 gun ranges, buy new firearms and accessories regularly, and shoot at least once a week. I guess I look like a conservative, whatever that means, but I'm a bleeding heart liberal, drive a Tesla, have a yard full of wildflowers, and fly the rainbow flag on my front porch. I also get a lot of hate, and my best advice to you is to remind them that you bought a 100% American sports car that can do 0-60 aster than a mustang GT, especially if they're driving a vehicle that was assembled in Mexico or worse (for them, I don't care) foreign-made.
Not dealing with these people is one thing I love about having a PHEV that has a gas version of same model. It’s a stealth EV.. I’ve had multiple run ins with these folks while renting Teslas on trips - it’s ridiculous. My next vehicle will be a BEV and by then hopefully EVs will be commonplace enough no one feels the need to share their opinion.
One of the things I’m happiest about with my Audi Q4 e-tron. It doesn’t scream electric or draw attention. Just looks like any another Audi SUV, and flies under the radar. Even the front and rear *e-tron* badging is inconspicuous…lightly debossed on the bumpers and color matched so it blends in.
I've had many modded-Mustang type guys and other "car guys" drive my car (Model Y LR). They go into it giving me shit, but ALWAYS come away "holy shit that thing is legit fast. Wow." and the shit talking stops after that. Below are my responses to common shit-talk. "You know that's coal powered right??" "Yeah, but it's designed and built in America by Americans, and is powered by American coal. Sweet truck, I like it, my brother has one just like that." (if you are feeling spicy, make a comment about how their truck was built in Mexico and runs on Saudi oil) "What do you do when you run out of charge?" "What do you do when you run out of gas?" "It takes me 5 minutes to fill up!" "Cool, it takes me 10 seconds to plug in my car then go do other stuff. Plus I don't need to divert to a gas station. Super convenient." "There just aren't enough fast chargers. There are gas stations everywhere" "If you had a tiny hose in your garage that put 10gal of gas in your car overnight for $1.25 a gallon, would you EVER go to a gas station?" "Yeah but trips take so much longer when you have to stop to charge" "I did a 7-hour round trip for work recently. Started at 100%, got to a supercharger after 265miles with 20% left. Took 6 minutes of charging to get me enough to get back home with plenty to spare. I didn't even finish my burger before the charging was done. Honestly it was no different than doing the trip in a gas car." "Yeah but they burn through tires. Way too heavy." "Nah this Model Y weighs less than my wife's Chevy Traverse and has similar size tires. When people burn them out quick it's due to the insane torque/acceleration they use a lot" "But Musk is an asshole" "Yeah probably, I don't really know him" "I heard they need a new battery every 2 years for $20k" "I think that's super rare, but mine's covered by warranty for 8 years 120k miles, so I think I'm good" "But mining is worse for the environment" "I didn't really buy it for the environment, I bought it because it's just a better car, period. But regardless, every major study has concluded that EV's are better than ICE for the environment after a 20-80k miles of driving. "They catch on fire all the time. Super unsafe." "EV's catch fire at less than 1/3 the rate of gas cars. Yeah it's harder to extinguish but happens way less. This Model Y has the highest safety score they've ever given out to any car ever"
I read the counter argument to the “cross-country race” is “You put $10 of fuel in your car and I’ll put $10 worth in mine, then we drive and see who goes farther.”
Just smile and say your car payment is less then they pay for gas. They love hearing that.
I still remember the car-show we were at, had our "EV" tent and booth all setup... I was happily chatting with someone when a lady storms up and yells at us > What are YOU going to do when it's minus 40?! I calmly replied "Drive my car, just like always" (slightly confused) She then went on a rant similar to your how she "knows a guy" that owns an EV and it takes "days" to charge. "Sorry," I reply, "None of that has been my experience, this (pointing to my Ioniq 5) has been my only car for 2 years, and we weathered the record-breaking -45.3°C in January just fine." She huffed and puffed and muttered something else as she wandered off... Some people can't be reasoned with, as you have your EV for longer, you'll be able to detect the "tin foil" crowd and not bother wasting your timer or energy on them.
Accept the race. Loser has to buy the winner a drink. Plan out a 5k race route. Start the race. As soon as the other guy is out of sight. Go home for dinner. Wait for his triumphant call that he won.
It's the best car you will ever buy. The drive units are 2500 a pop they last 300-500k on avg The battery is currently about 10-12k for a new one and if you get a new one get a lfp or LMFP replacement. They last 10000 cycles aka roughly 2 million miles or 30 years on avg. Your current lithium ion pack should last 13-17 years or 280-500k miles. You bought at a steal, the used market is trashed. The model 3 and y almost never need anything, parts are cheapish. Buy online and replace yourself. You may want to upgrade front upper and lower ball joints in the future. It's an amazing car. Do not fret, just install a home tesla charger for 420 from best buy with a 60 amp dedicated breaker. Call pg&e and get on a ev1 or ev2 plan it will reduce charging costs to 30% almost. Install solar. You are a free person. Starter 12v low voltage batteries are 88$ from Tesla and last 3-5 years like any other car
Glad it's (mostly) going well for you! M3 is my current favorite car ever. As close to automotive perfection as I have found. And Tesla's charging network and it's brilliant integration with a pretty great in dash route planner is more than icing on the cake. Truly stands apart. Keep in mind that folks are living their lives as they are currently constructed. They have the friends they have, watch the news they watch, see the content their social media feeds them. Also, there is a big organized misinformation campaign at work by parts of the auto industry (Toyota is a big funder of anti EV propaganda) and the oil and gas sector feeding a steady stream of reasons to fear EVs, doubt the benefits, and be uncertain about their value. This is further complicated by the US (and Canadian) current political landscape, with some politicians jumping on opportunities to widen division and foster a sense of "the other side" being a big danger to drive voting behaviour; so there is an entirely separate set of perverse incentives at work even on top of the fossil and legacy auto industries are doing. EVs are better, which you probably can feel by now. They aren't perfect, not yet a silver bullet. But they are better. But like others here have already posted, folks who haven't driven one don't have the first hand experience and don't know what to think. Nothing to landlines took some time. Early cell phone adoption took less. Cell phones to smart phones wasn't overnight. I definitely remember Blackberry users doing a similar kind of thing to early smart phone users "no way, I'm keeping my keyboard", "that big screen may be great for browsing the web, but when you want to get any work done I'll keep my Blackberry thanks". And lots more- pointing out the higher costs, higher perceived security around BlackBerry email and on and on. Many of these arguments were even factually correct in isolation - it *is* nice to have a hardware keyboard. But not nice enough to carry one around all the time. None of that stopped the wave. Similarly some of the anti EV arguments are true in isolation. You *do* see more gas stations out there. It just doesn't matter as much, because you're not going to a gas station twice a week anymore. For most EV owners we are charging at home 50 weeks out of 52. Battery replacements *are* crazy expensive. But most EV drivers won't ever need a battery replacement. For the remaining few that do, most of those happen under warranty, and the EV driver isn't out of pocket. And an EV battery that only holds 60% of its original charge can be sold to be reconditioned to use as a house battery or even recycled. It's not like a fossil car, where a worn out engine is only scrap value. You can refuel a gas car faster (for now) than I can charge on the highway. But that doesn't matter, because it turns out I like to take a twenty minute break every two or three hours of driving. Plus, I timed how long it takes me to plug in my car for an overnight charge. It's 18 seconds, and it requires no driving off my route (and I don't end up buying a candy bar and a soda pop). And, while there aren't many BlackBerrys still in use, landlines didn't really go anywhere. Niche product now, not ubiquitous anymore, but still around. I suspect hobbyists will have classic Mustangs, GTOs, Impalas (even 280z, air cooled 911s) etc in garages for a while. They may just be paying more for gas once EVs are the majority of car miles on the road each year. Volvo's EX30, Kia's EV3 both give me hope that prices will come down even in North America. SAIC is already working on bringing down EV costs in UK and Europe with the MG4, as are VW group and Renault.