EV opposition in the media is ramping up

siteguru said:

I don't watch these, but I'm guessing he's talking bollocks:

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Obvious click bait thumbnail. He can stick that where the sun don't shine.

I did listen to a bit of it. He's talking about an article in the Telegraph, as if the Telegraph wasn't at least as anti-EV as he is himself.

They keep saying, "it's over", like they really really want that to be true, and if they say it often enough they'll make it so.

I look out the window at my kids place and I see 6 EVs out of 15 cars.
I look in the underground car park at my place and I see 50 EVs out of 300 vehicles.
And today I think there was a point while picking up my son from work when I swear I could only see electric cars around me (the green stripe on the number plate is easy to spot from a distance)
This wasn’t the case 2 years ago and in the last year it has reached critical mass in some places.
It’s inevitable now.
Even Tesla has pulled out of the cheap EV market because it’s just going to be too competitive and Elon has other priorities on his mind right now. Which is great news for buyers of both new and second hand EVs

Tesla hasn't pulled out, that was apparently disinfo.

I was counting green stripes on the way home from the shops this afternoon (14 miles), then I realised I was following a 2019 Leaf, which of course has no green stripe!

Rolfe said:

Tesla hasn't pulled out, that was apparently disinfo.

I was counting green stripes on the way home from the shops this afternoon (14 miles), then I realised I was following a 2019 Leaf, which of course has no green stripe!

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I took the smelliest, noisiest diesel bus into Edinburgh today after parking the car in Linlithgow. It was so bad that I got off early and walked the final bit on to Princes street. I had a coffee in the art gallery and spent a couple of hours wandering around the paintings. The number of green stripers is definitely on the increase all throughout Edinburgh on all classes of vehicles. I couldn’t face another diesel, free bus pass or no, so I returned on the fast, comfortable, near silent train, and finally the sanctuary of the fabulous five for the last three miles.

I had a fairly hectic couple of days a few weeks ago. Out late in Glasgow on the Friday, charging all night on the granny to get enough to cope with Saturday, into Edinburgh first thing (Leith), then move to the Canongate after lunch (yes I got parked), rehearsal then concert in the evening. Getting changed for the concert I remarked how chirpy and not-tired I felt despite all that driving.

I remembered the previous concert before Christmas, also in Auld Reekie, and being too tired to bother putting makeup on. But then I thought, I had the MG4 by then. Then I remembered. No parking available. We'd travelled all the way on a smelly noisy diesel bus. The Fantastic Four had been left at home.

I swear the ICE puts out something that leaves you tired for hours after you've been in it.

Rolfe said:

I had a fairly hectic couple of days a few weeks ago. Out late in Glasgow on the Friday, charging all night on the granny to get enough to cope with Saturday, into Edinburgh first thing (Leith), then move to the Canongate after lunch (yes I got parked), rehearsal then concert in the evening. Getting changed for the concert I remarked how chirpy and not-tired I felt despite all that driving.

I remembered the previous concert before Christmas, also in Auld Reekie, and being too tired to bother putting makeup on. But then I thought, I had the MG4 by then. Then I remembered. No parking available. We'd travelled all the way on a smelly noisy diesel bus. The Fantastic Four had been left at home.

I swear the ICE puts out something that leaves you tired for hours after you've been in it.

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Bad vibrations.

I've just had a weekend away in Cheltenham at a Brett Wales Music Festival (Brett plays Wersi Organs and is an amazing Musician), I used my BMW i3, 94ah REX as my transport. It only has around 11 miles of range at this time of year but I do have the option of using the Range Extender (a generator mounted under the boot floor). Using ZapMap I took around 5 minutes to plan my route electing to charge at Hopwood Services, at Beefeater in Cheltenham and again Hopwood services on my return journey.

Outbound journey, I arrived at Hopwood with 8% remaining, straight up to a charger. It has 16 Applegreen, 36 Tesla superchargers and 3 Gridserve rapids. Applegreen chargers drive up, plug in, swipe card job done. 68p kWh, went for a coffee, in 25 minutes I had more than enough to get me to Cheltenham. Sunday morning, plugged in at the Beefeater while I had a Full English, charged 100% ready for my return journey (no queue and therefore no issues with last 10% being slower. Monday morning back up to Hopwood, charged to 90% on Applegreen again, and then back home.

The whole system worked brilliantly, whilst I don't like paying the rapid charger prices, there was little by way of inconvenience. In terms of cost, £1.80 for my full battery from home £5.25 at Hopwood, £23.10 at the Beefeater, £6.30 at Hopwood. Grand total £36.45 or 12.1p per mile, thats great EVeering in my book. Maybe I should start a positive EV Youtube channel to counter the muppet nay sayers?

Rolfe said:

Tesla hasn't pulled out, that was apparently disinfo.

I was counting green stripes on the way home from the shops this afternoon (14 miles), then I realised I was following a 2019 Leaf, which of course has no green stripe!

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True they haven’t pulled out altogether but I doubt the cheaper Tesla is going to be affordable.
the share prices going down must have made them think again about their strategy, but as I say, the competition from Chinese brands at the cheaper end of the scale is going to be gruesome, but I’m not a market analyst.

Either way the fact that the market is becoming more and more competitive is a very clear sign we have passed the tipping point and now EVs are going to get the momentum needed.

I still think the governments are silly to remove incentives this early though.

johnb80 said:

I've just had a weekend away in Cheltenham at a Brett Wales Music Festival (Brett plays Wersi Organs and is an amazing Musician), I used my BMW i3, 94ah REX as my transport. It only has around 11 miles of range at this time of year but I do have the option of using the Range Extender (a generator mounted under the boot floor). Using ZapMap I took around 5 minutes to plan my route electing to charge at Hopwood Services, at Beefeater in Cheltenham and again Hopwood services on my return journey.

Outbound journey, I arrived at Hopwood with 8% remaining, straight up to a charger. It has 16 Applegreen, 36 Tesla superchargers and 3 Gridserve rapids. Applegreen chargers drive up, plug in, swipe card job done. 68p kWh, went for a coffee, in 25 minutes I had more than enough to get me to Cheltenham. Sunday morning, plugged in at the Beefeater while I had a Full English, charged 100% ready for my return journey (no queue and therefore no issues with last 10% being slower. Monday morning back up to Hopwood, charged to 90% on Applegreen again, and then back home.

The whole system worked brilliantly, whilst I don't like paying the rapid charger prices, there was little by way of inconvenience. In terms of cost, £1.80 for my full battery from home £5.25 at Hopwood, £23.10 at the Beefeater, £6.30 at Hopwood. Grand total £36.45 or 12.1p per mile, thats great EVeering in my book. Maybe I should start a positive EV Youtube channel to counter the muppet nay sayers?

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You and me both. I was tempted to do so last night after reading some of the comments on Geoff’s latest video.
But I just don’t have the energy to do it on my own. I wouldn’t mind a collaboration to provide content, maybe that could work.

Rolfe said:

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That really shook me.

They were burning fags indoors and driving petrol cars.

I think the article Geoff is referring to is a simple misinterpretation and late catching up to recent facts. Price cuts are a good thing!

We're still getting back into balance after the car price bubble which made EVs hugely expensive and second hand car prices are still abnormally high.

With high interest rates and high costs of finance, new cars of every type have been selling less well, this is normal in these kinds of conditions. It will change as rates come down - remember 80%+ of private buyers use finance.

Corporate buyers that initially saw EVs as a way to reduce costs have been stung by the twin problems of an immature insurance and repair market and ignorance in the general population about how to best use an EV.

But this is also being to change as EVs become so widespread that awareness rises, infrastructure improves and the market adapts to a large supply of second hand EVs.

These swings are being portrayed as EVs failing in some way, which is absurd. As @Rolfe notes, we have seen the exact same thing with the adoption of previous technologies.

We still don't have a good range of truly affordable EVs (many will land in the next year), these will drop prices still further (new and second hand) and make the cost saving with EVs too big for the majority to ignore.

Yes, people depending on good second hand values for their existing EVs will get burned, but this is always the case with new technology. The first mobile phones cost thousands and were obsolete almost immediately.

Archev said:

That really shook me.

They were burning fags indoors and driving petrol cars.

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Best TV series ever made.

siteguru said:

I don't watch these, but I'm guessing he's talking bollocks:

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He's on my blocked list so I don't even see the click bait thumbnail.

"Borrowed" from a Facebook post which was also borrowed from another Facebook post.

GaryMG4 said:

He's on my blocked list so I don't even see the click bait thumbnail.

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I just keep reporting as spreading misinformation and lies

This is intriguing me. Just this single local-rag report of what appears to have been an EV on charge in a car park catching fire and burning out. (Also picked up by the Sun, but not by the Daily Mail for some reason.)


A single fire appliance attended and was on site for a total of just over an hour. The fire was extinguished using only a couple of water jets. No report of the make or model, merely assuming the car was an EV because it was parked in a charging bay.

The car is a mess and I have no idea how to tell if it was an EV (or a plug-in hybrid) or not. The ease of extinguishing suggests the battery (if it was an EV) didn't catch fire, but the fire crews upping sticks and departing after such a short time rather suggests nobody was particularly worried about re-ignition.

I'm surprised this hasn't turned into a big thing with the EV haters, but it seems it hasn't. I can't find anything more about it.

Rolfe said:

This is intriguing me. Just this single local-rag report of what appears to have been an EV on charge in a car park catching fire and burning out. (Also picked up by the Sun, but not by the Daily Mail for some reason.)

Firefighters rush to 'charging electric car' in flames at sports centre

Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service attended an incident at Selwyn Jones Sports Centre, Ashton Road, Newton-le-Willows in the early hours of…

www.warringtonguardian.co.uk

A single fire appliance attended and was on site for a total of just over an hour. The fire was extinguished using only a couple of water jets. No report of the make or model, merely assuming the car was an EV because it was parked in a charging bay.

The car is a mess and I have no idea how to tell if it was an EV (or a plug-in hybrid) or not. The ease of extinguishing suggests the battery (if it was an EV) didn't catch fire, but the fire crews upping sticks and departing after such a short time rather suggests nobody was particularly worried about re-ignition.

I'm surprised this hasn't turned into a big thing with the EV haters, but it seems it hasn't. I can't find anything more about it.

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Mmmm, old news. Oct 2023. Funny I live in the area, and actually mow the grass in front of the Centre. First I've heard of it. So not world shattering news, apparently.

That's what puzzles me. It should be like catnip to the EV-haters, but it's sunk without trace. I was in an argument with a guy on Twitter and challenged him to find me a reliable report of an EV fire (either spontaneous battery ignition or a fire that led to the battery catching fire) that wasn't caused either by a crash or by a fire that started outwith the car. He came up with this. First I'd heard of it.

I don't think it was a battery fire, but it's all remarkably low-key.

That wheel looks like it could have been a Jaguar I-Pace, I can't make out the start of the registration plate.