Increase in Anti-EV Media Articles

I was listening to a radio piece about average commute distances and length of time they took.

Didn't hear all the piece, but nearly every average commute I heard was 25km or less.

That is perfect for evs, yet you so often hear people say, " that ev only has a range of 200km, I couldn't live with that".

If you're doing 20 trips of over 200km, and driving from here to various parts of the UK, then clearly an EV isn't for you.

But it would suit the vast majority of people.

I wouldn't fully agree with that. It depends on the OP's budget and needs, but if those trips over 200km didn't exceed 400km and they have access to home/work charging, then they would be a good fit for an EV. They're doing sufficient mileage to make the fuel savings you need to have a business case for the higher purchase price. Apologies if I've missed a post from the OP that contradicts any of these assumptions.

On a smaller scale, we had this debate when looking at a 58kWh or 77kWh battery in our I5. we realised that for a max twice year event, we would be spending an extra €5k or something. Assuming 5 years of ownership, the cost of each "event" where we would have liked the bigger battery would have been say €500. That's an expensive nice to have. The same logic applies to a lot of the "I would like the range" arguments...I'd argue those people would be cheaper buyer an EV, and then renting an ICE once a year if it means that much to not use public charging on holidays.

Yet I've been driving an id4 gtx for 18 months

RTE are getting plenty of 'mileage' out of the sales statistics for their headlines.

First this: New electric car sales up 45%, new diesel car sales down

And 3 days later this: Have sales of electric vehicles stalled or will 2024 be the year they accelerate into the mainstream?

The way I see it, brexit, covid, perfect storm, supply issues of new cars pushed people to the limited supply of used cars in the Irish market.

High used prices coupled with a few global crises meant new cars also got more expensive and dealers saw this and jacked up prices.

People bought them in 22 and 23 regardless.

Perfect storm started to run out of puff and market began to return to long term normality, burning 22 and 23 buyers, some of us like me just keeping cars we were happy to pay inflated prices for, those who still think they need they need to change their overpriced market car in a cooling market are getting into a tizzy.

Anyone that's studied economics understands short run v long run with markets out of and in equilibrium respectively. Except for journalists and posters on boards it seems.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_run_and_short_run

Keep your car people, market will stabilise, there's plenty of people will buy 2nd hand EVs, there is just a stand off going on but there will be blinks.

Some EVs are reasonable now, mid 30s for an id3 type car and early 40s for id4 is not any dearer than an equivalent ICE.

The panicking and hysteria is nonsensical.

When briefly flirting with the idea of changing my Born, on paper it had lost 18k, 42k to 24k offered against a new born and also same figure offered against an id3.

However cost to change in both was 11k and 12k due to price drops.

I don't burst into tears like the fictional woman or run to the papers like the fictional executive who needs his identity protected for his own safety. I just said no thanks, not for me at this time, I have a perfect 22 car I'll be keeping.

It's an interesting study of media sensationalism and the drop in journalistic standards, also of consumer behaviour and sentiment, I'm more interested in that than the actual cars.

Fictional woman now posting on a different thread. Doesn't really ring true there either. But it possible they didn't do any research beforehand, and are unwilling to look for an app to find a charger on route or nearby.

The quality of media articles has been poor for a long time. They are chasing the click bite audience.

I least it didn't burst into flames,🔥

EV drivers should be careful around dangerous currents.

So what minimum range do you think an EV should have for someone with a 50km commute who has kids needing transporting all over the place in the evenings and weekends together with family weekends away, holidays, etc, etc?

I have a degraded Leaf with only 80km range during the winter or even less in very cold and windy weather. It's a pain in the ass for me as I can't even do 2 return trips of 20kms in a single day without having to top up.

I've no issue with EVs and will be replacing the Leaf with an EV of decent range. But I do find it irrating when people constantly argue that anyone with a short commute is just being a contrarion if they claim a short range EV doesn't suit them.

I would have to stop between A and B at present to charge though

That's my position also but unlike others I'm not going to berate others who think a much lower range EV suits them. I'm contemplating holding onto my old Leaf as a local run around for kids to learn to drive in but don't consider it a functional car for my needs even as a 2nd car.

My thing about EV's is we have crossed into iPhone territory. You buy an EV today it feels like its obsolete in 12 months, the new model will have a bigger battery and faster charging. I expect Apple and Samsung to start making cars next, a car is just a piece of tech now, no longer an example of precision mechanical engineering.

Would you buy a 10 year old iPhone? So I don't see the 2nd hand EV market holding much value, past a few years.

This is all before you even get into the ecosystem damage that mining for lithium to make massive batteries is creating

An early leaf is extremely limited in use case it's irrelevant to an discussion on EVs in 2024. Even as an example. The tech has moved on.

I would want to be able to all daily driving on one charge. So that one overnight charge is enough.

If I was doing longer trips on a regular basis, like down the country at the weekend. I would want to be able to do that on one charge. Perhaps I'd consider one quick fast charge on route. If it was my habit to stop for a break in an non EV.

One of the examples given was 7 hrs none stop perhaps twice in the same day. Diesel is the only choice for that. For me.

But who wants a 10 year old iPhone? I can buy a 10 year old diesel now and it'll do exactly the same thing as a brand new one, a few more modern in cabin features but thats it really. The core of the product will be the same. A 10 year old EV will be outdated in charging, battery capacity, range, like all lithium the battery will have degraded and cost the price of the vehicle to replace.

Tesla aren't a car company they are a technology company. The similiarties between Tesla and Apple can't be ignored. Its only naturally though that something we use so much of all day comes under tech now.

The value of your electric vehicle will not hold in the used market atleast until the technology has peaked and by then we'll be onto something else like hydrogen or whatever.

Agree with all of that. I was referring earlier to comments that even a degraded Leaf would suit anyone with a commute of 50km or so or someone who only did 20k km per year as that averages out at only just over 50km per day. While it might if that person didn't have anywhere else to go but work but in reality plenty people would expect their car to have a bit of flexibility to undertake unplanned journeys and cover longer journeys in relative comfort. In short its the absolute nature of some of the discourse that can be off-putting at times

In that case that person doesn't have a commute (daily use) of only 50km. They have daily use of 100-120km. So personally I wouldn't buy a EV that can only do 60-80% if my daily use.

The Telegraph and Spectator are probably making themselves more attractive to Abu Dhabi! https://news.sky.com/story/redbird-imi-proposes-new-structure-to-ease-telegraph-ownership-fears-13055432