Paul J. Heney, the VP, Editorial Director for Design World.
Back in 1995, I started out as an editor for a niche of engineering called fluid power. This motion control technology, broken down into hydraulics and pneumatics, faced some challenges. Specifically on the hydraulics side, there was a bias against the technology because of leakage. Leaking hydraulic fluid is a danger both from a slipping-on-the-factory-floor standpoint as well as an environmental issue.
The industry simply couldn’t seem to get past this scarlet letter (and to an extent, can’t even today), even though the vast majority of leakage problems stem from user error and not the technology itself. People would go on and on about how dangerous the technology was, when that simply wasn’t the case, it was them projecting their own biases.
This reminds me of where the EV industry sits today. No technology is perfect, and I don’t know of an EV evangelist who claims it is. Yet, it seems that we’re constantly up against impossible comparisons. I’m a fairly new EV owner myself, having bought mine in April 2023. I’ve found that people have the strangest arguments against these vehicles, or the most negative associations with them. But as for me, my experience over the past year has been overwhelmingly positive.
Does my battery charge slower in very cold temperatures? Sure. Do I get less range in those cold temperatures? I do. But at the same time, for my particular driving lifestyle of being a work-from-home dad, it’s wonderful. I plug it in when I’m at home, so I never leave the house without a “full tank,” so to speak. That’s something I didn’t enjoy when I drove an ICE.
Read more about Tesla Superchargers here.
I rarely have to use chargers out on the road, but they are plentiful and usually get me back to 80% in a very reasonable amount of time. While me EV is not our go-to road trip car, I did drive eight hours to Missouri with my older son this spring. We simply planned our Supercharger stops to coincide with lunch, dinner, or bathroom breaks. It was a bit of a difference from an ICE, but certainly not unworkable.
But back to the projection. Recently, an acquaintance posted online about how she had rented a Tesla on a business trip. She drove it for two days before noticing that the car needed charging. She drove to the closest charging station (but not a Tesla Supercharger) and realized she needed an adapter. At this point, she had only enough charge to get to a Supercharger with 4% battery left and didn’t want to chance it — so a call with the rental company ensued, and they eventually offered to tow her to the charging station.
The responses to this situation were filled with vitriol and drama about how awful EVs were because of these types of situations. As I read through them, I kept thinking: Wasn’t this at least partially due to user error? Why hadn’t she paid attention to her charging level as she drove for two days? If she’d been driving an ICE and suddenly noticed she was down to E, and then panicked because the nearest gas station was 10 miles away, would that have also been the ICE vehicle’s fault? Would the angry responses have blamed ICEs? Somehow, I think not.
It’s important to keep in mind that some people project so much onto the technology that it’s hard to have real, substantive discussions about causes and solutions. There’s no getting around that kind of obtuse attitude, and we’re best to ignore that noise.
What does work? I’ve found that the key to changing the hearts and minds of ICE drivers is simply to let them take my car for a quick spin around the block. I’ve already made quite a few converts, and plan to continue my efforts.
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