Increase in Anti-EV Media Articles

Range anxiety… do most people travel 300km plus a day? That's 78,000km per year based on a 5-day working week (x 52 weeks) - the national average is 19,893km (combined for petrol and diesel). Most new EVs can do 300km on a full charge easily. The reality is that range is not an issue for most people if they can charge at home.

The holiday comment is an outlier, I have seen tons of EVs in Dublin airport so a lot of BEV owners don't have a problem. Also, with a little planning, it's not an issue.

Battery degradation - the average annual battery degradation is 2.7%. Therefore, after 10 years you will have lost 27% on average. ICE cars also degrade due to carbon build-up and they will lose power and efficiency - nobody seems to want to talk about that! ICE cars also have around 90% more moving parts than a BEV. More parts = more maintenance, more replacement parts, and more things to fail. ICE cars also need regular servicing and many diesel engines develop problems with the DPF because they are being used for purposes that are not suitable for a diesel engine - such as frequent short spins.

Higher insurance - my insurance went from over €600 on a 2L diesel to €305 on my BEV. I have step back and protected NCB so I have better cover for around half the price. My tax went from nearly €700 to €120.

Terrible resale value - I agree, but a lot of that is down to the FUD, in my opinion.

Patchy charging infrastructure - I can charge my car at home… can an ICE owner fill up at home? I have used public charging 3 times in a year and many other BEV drivers are the same. I agree the infrastructure could be better, but it's not as big a deal as it's made out to be. Charging at home is a game-changer though.

Multiple apps / charging cables - Come on, you're scraping the barrel there.

Price of EVs - They used to be very expensive but they're getting more affordable. My MG long-range was cheaper than an entry-level VW golf.

They aren’t convinced with EV yet. I think a lot of the articles seen as being anti-EV are simply stating the above.

Therein lies the problem. The articles are not accurate and in many cases, they cherry-pick what suits their agenda, or what will generate the most clicks… or they're just lazy copy-and-paste jobs with no real research.

Lol I hear yah...

I accept that. But you can bring a horse to water but you can't make him drink...

If you are listening to Anton and Nadia and taking advice from the both of them. Honestly you have bigger issue in your life than what car you drive

I want to be positive about EVs. I currently drive a 2017 Diesel Skoda which I plan to keep as long as possible, but accept that my next car will probably be an EV. My family probably are probably the ideal target for an EV. Mostly short runs around town with occasional long distance drives to the in laws.

The problem many people have with adopting EVs is the uncertainty and planning aspect of travel. At the moment I get into my car and rarely even look at the fuel gauge. I drive until I see that I might need to fuel up and can do so in countless places across the country. Due to the absolute shambolic nature of our infrastructure in Ireland I cannot do the same in an EV. Having to plan a journey like a WW2 pilot (obvious hyperbole before anyone latches onto this comment) doesn't appeal to the majority of people and until that can be addressed widespread EV adoption will be slow.

The other thing I hear many point out about EVs is battery degradation. Like it or not, that fear is real. I have yet to see compelling evidence that ICE engines suffer the same level of degradation as EV battery's and we are essentially in the infancy of EV adoption (i.e. it will be a while before we see real data on a large data set of battery wear). If this is all a myth and scaremongering then a simple solution for the manufacturers is to voluntarily give lifetime battery warranties. The fact that they don't paints a picture to me. And no, you can't compare it to wear parts of an ICE car when the cost of replacing an EV battery can range from anywhere from €5,000 to €15,000+. And despite the "long warranties" that are often given, as we saw back earlier on the thread manufacturers will weasel their way out of it easily due to small print.

To summaries the barriers to wide spread EV adoption in Ireland:

1. Journey planning. People just want to dive and not have to worry where to stop and charge. It needs to be as convenient to change your car as it is to currently fill up on diesel. At the moment that is a pipe dream. I know we have home charging, but if you forget to charge you car for some reason or there is a power outage and you need to go somewhere on short notice you are **** out of luck. For an equivalent situation for an ICE car you just need enough fuel to go a few miles to the nearest filling station.
2. Price stability. As we have seen in the past year that current EV owners have gotten hosed with the price drops of new EVs. EV sales have dropped 14.2% in 2024 despite them being "cheaper" than ever.
3. Reliability. Battery range/life anxiety is a real concern for many. Until the public as a whole can be satisfied that they won't be landed with a €15,000 bill 6 or 7 years into ownership people will shy away from EVs. Also, people are not satisfied with a battery losing so much range in such a short period of time. ICE's do not do the same.
4. Environmental impact of manufacture. So the figures show that the manufacture of EVs are more environmentally damaging than ICE, the claim is they more than make up for it during their lifetime, but what is the lifetime of an EV? They haven't been around long enough and in great enough volumes to really test that in practice. We can have all the theoretical numbers we want but they aren't worth a damn without solid evidence.

Solve the above issue and concerns without soundbites and people will embrace EVs. Until then ICE will still be king for most.

congrats, i think you have covered almost all of the FUD in one post and made it look like you are being genuine.

Well said, hard make a point here without some one or five jumping down your neck.

I would suggest you look at a phev, some of your concerns would be address with one, while battery degradation won't, the 2.5% loss a year would hardly be noticed on 100km range phev from skoda or VW.

Actually in case of 1.4 TSi or 1.0 6 valve that was not far off :-)

The answer to all the above is if you want diesel features, buy a diesel.

If you want to post and not be corrected. A forum is the wrong place for that.

you are like a broken record 😂

For those on budget

Let's not also address the elephant in the room of the lithium mines in the Congo...

Hmmm... yes, indeed.

I assume you mean cobalt... this is being phased out of batteries but do you know what's critical to the refining of petrol and diesel... I'll give a clue... it begins with C and ends with... obalt.

Spot on @RoboRat Cobalt is used to reduce sulphur content in diesel. More distance driven in a diesel = more cobalt mining.

An EV with cobalt onboard, it's the same cobalt regardless of mileage. It has only mined once and as it's stored in the batteries can be recovered in future.

Reverse FUD for the laugh. What becomes of refinery cobalt sludge, is it incinerated? Pumped as a liquid sludge below ground in Saudi Arabia? Pumped out to sea? Concerned ICE drivers who care so much about the Congo should stop buying fossil fuels immediately :)

Yep, complete hypocrisy. Up there with the spontaneous combustion BS, which was debunked by the Australians.

I'm not bothered, if people are happy to continue propping up the oil barons, knock themselves out. I've got my solar array powering my car 6 months of the year for nothing 🤑

I heard that, along with grade A knucklehead Paul Williams on the panel also. Apparently he won't buy an EV as you "can't go from Dublin to Leitrim without stopping for an hour and a half to charge up".