I know we are in the land of the pacific north west, where passive aggressive behavior and extreme sense of entitlement is the social norm. As someone from a position of privilege (White Male, much like seemingly most of the EV owners) I do understand where this mindset comes from. But I have to admit - - I find many of the mindsets and attitudes of EV owners to be really quite gross. Its making me reconsider upgrading to a tesla, and go back to an ICE - - because I dont want to be associated with EVers. Here are some of the mindsets Ive seen on this forum and others which are causing me to consider abandoning EVs for good: 1. Privilege and entitlement around charge spots, parking, etc. If somebody leaves their leaf in a spot after charging, this somehow angers the EV-privileged. And furthermore, some EVers feel entitled to park at an EV charge spot even if they are not charging at all. This leads to hilarious entitlement battles. .. And by hilarious, I really mean pathetic. This sense of entitlement runs deep: EVers seem to hate flat-rate billing for a charge, seemingly because someone else might get more value for their dollar. Surely most folks with a $30k auto can afford a $5 charge session. 2. Mocking those driving ICE vehicles. Not everyone can afford an EV. NO REALLY: many folks cant afford ANY car payment, let alone a higher one. Additionally, EV vehicles are only really functional for folks with short commutes and access to charge locations. They just WON’T work for a majority of the commuting pubic. Show some respect for those who just use the tools they have. Remember, your EV was delivered and towed and serviced by people all with ICE. 3. Waving some questionable environmental flag around which somehow makes you feel good. The environmental impact of processing all this lithium isnt really understood very well yet. (see Unclean at any speed, IEEE spectrum, June 13) You may not agree with that article, but surely you agree that its not fully understood yet. I’m not talking folks with piles of solar panels (see #1, #2), but it’s not a cut and dry case for every usage. Regardless, environmental elitism perpetuates environmental racism (See It takes green to be green, North Dakota Law Review, Vol 85, 2009). 4. Doing active promotion of long-distance EV trips, when todays vehicles are VERY POOR at this. The average speed of a long-distance leaf at L1 charging speeds: Its faster to walk. While this is fine if you want to do it, promoting it seems short-sighted because it makes EVs look so dysfunctional next to an ICE. Im not trying to start a fight here - everyone is welcome to do whatever they want.. but I thought Id share some of my feelings on this matter, with hopes that we could have a polite conversation about some of these things - -maybe at a meta-level?
Posted on: Wed, 22 Jan 2014 20:05:13 +0000
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