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MYTHBUSTING

The media is full of anti-EV scare stories, most of which have been debunked. Let's take a look at some of them.

DON'T THEY ALL CATCH FIRE?

Every now and then there is a story in the media or a social media post about an electric car on fire. And yet, every statistic so far has shown that fully electric cars are far less likely to catch fire than a petrol/diesel car. Oddly enough hybrids have a higher chance of catching fire yet you never see those in the media...

WHAT ABOUT ALL THE LITHIUM MINING FOR THE BATTERIES?

Another favourite of the anti-EV community - every now and then there will be a post about the amount of lithium that will need to be mined to make the batteries for electric cars, despite lithium being used in batteries to power laptops and smart phones for several years.

It is true that manufacture of batteries is going to use a lot of lithium - however, batteries are expected to last longer than the life of the car, and when they can no longer be used to power a car, they will have a second life as power storage elsewhere (storing power from solar cells for example), and when it can't do that any more then 95% of the battery can be recycled. The lithium only needs to be mined and refined once - it is unchanged at the end of the battery's life and can be recycled. You can't say the same for fossil fuels.

WHAT ABOUT CHILD LABOUR BEING USED TO MINE COBALT?

This stems from a report from Amnesty International. Many manufacturers have signed up to adhere to certain standards and not use cobalt that has not been mined following certain standards.  

That may not sound very convincing but if it really bothers you, there are already EVs available that have LFP batteries, which do not contain cobalt. Examples are Tesla Standard Range Model 3 and Model Y (certain markets) and the MG ZS.

As with Lithium, cobalt is also extensively used in the manufacture of laptops and smartphones, but you don't hear anyone complaining about those!

HYDROGEN FOR THE WIN!

Many petrolheads think hydrogen is the answer. Not sure why as it is still going to be effectively an electric car and not make the sounds that petrolheads love. And it is unlikely to be the answer as, compared to a battery electric car, hydrogen is inefficient and expensive. It is likely to be useful in the aviation industry, but unlikely elsewhere, even for long journeys as battery technology improves.

SYNTHETIC FUELS WILL SAVE US

Not really. Again, not the panacea some would have you believe. Although synthetic fuels are carbon neutral, you are still burning hydrocarbons and polluting towns and cities. Perhaps it will be useful for (very rich) enthusiasts or keep older cars running, but it is unlikely to be suitable for the mass market.

KEEPING MY OLD CAR RUNNING IS BETTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

Yes, probably. There is an environmental impact to producing an electric car. Nobody said they were perfect, just better for the environment than ICE. It is probably better overall to keep running an older car until it is no longer economically viable, though some will say this has a detrimental effect on air quality in towns and cities.

Electric cars are more energy intensive to produce than petrol and diesel cars, but over their lifetime they are expected to use much less. The "break-even" point is coming down all the time as factories become more energy efficient and switch to renewable energy.

The latest research calculates the "break-even" being at around 13,000 miles, which every EV should easily reach unless very unlucky!

THE INFRASTRUCTURE ISN'T THERE

This depends on where you are going. If you mostly drive short distances and are able to charge at home then the state of public charging infrastructure isn't really going to affect you.  If you can't charge at home and/or regularly drive long distances then it will depends on where you're going and how amenable you are to planning your trip around chargers and backup plans.

Some EV drivers will tell you they haven't had any issues and public charging is sufficient. Others will say they have had some problems and it isn't for everyone. This is the sort of thing we would discuss with anyone and be pragmatic about whether their use case makes a fully electric car suitable for them.

ELECTRIC CARS ARE DULL AND SOULLESS

Well, they don't sound as good as my old Aston Martin did, that's for sure. But there are lots of exciting electric cars out there, for example:

  • Porsche Taycan

  • Cupra Born

  • Hyundai Ioniq 5N

  • MG Cyberster

All that said, around 90% of drivers don't really care about their car having a soul or what sound it makes, they just want it to get them from A to B and there are lots of EVs that will do that, with the added bonus of smooth, silent drive and starting from home with a "full tank" every day.

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