Misdirected anger and logical failures

For the sake of my mental health, I know much better than to read comments online. It doesn’t matter where – Facebook, articles, YouTube, wherever. The only good place to read comments is on evtv.me! The others are almost all full of bad takes and toxicity. But sometimes, I just can’t help myself. I almost want to see how bad the takes are, how far the ignorance goes, how many people are commenting and what, exactly, it is they’re saying. It makes me feel as though I’m keeping my finger on the pulse of public opinion. And right now, my fingertip is telling me that there is an endless supply of baseless dislike toward EV’s, especially Tesla.

I specify “baseless” because there are actually some anti-EV sentiments that I actually have some understanding for. Mandates are one. As much as I love EV’s, I don’t want to be forced to drive one, and I don’t think anyone else should either. I can recognize that EV’s are not for everyone — at least not in the current state of the industry and infrastructure. And while there’s plenty of room for an EV in my “garage”, I also just plain love the visceral, engaging, raw experience of driving my favorite ICE cars. So, it pains me that I find myself in a limbo somewhere between EV fanatic and die-hard gas suck-starter.

The anti-EV (and anti-Tesla) vitriol I find troubling is that which has no basis in logic or reality. That which is expressed not out of critical thought, but knee-jerk hatred for a perceived boogeyman. That which represents misdirected anger toward something vaguely related or entirely unrelated. That which aims not to be constructive, but to be hurtful, often blatantly so. And unfortunately, it’s the majority of what I see “out there.” Many of you will have seen or heard similar things, and I am going to take a bit of time and sound off on a few of them.

“Cybertrucking straight to the scrapyard!”
No, no it isn’t. Hatred toward the Cybertruck almost never comes from genuine dislike for the design, polarizing as it is. People love to say it’s Elon Musk’s childhood drawing that he decided to make his company produce. Maybe it is, so what of it? How many of the people who hate on this wouldn’t do the exact same thing if they had boatloads of money and control of an auto manufacturer? Folks rag on the Cybertruck’s design harder than they do much uglier vehicles than this. They’ve got every option not to buy one, but seem unusually provoked by its mere existence. It smacks of bitter anger that the trucks have been selling and are in demand. It’s also clear that many of those who hate this vehicle or Tesla altogether, actually just hate Elon Musk, now that it’s been revealed which way he leans on some issues.

Anyone who’s actually driven one or ridden in one knows that it’s a nice vehicle. It’s quick, handles well for the size, has a functional truck bed and cabin, and gets things done just fine. And I don’t want to hear about a rear frame section getting pulled off during a tug-of-war when the Cybertruck in question was brutalized prior. That’s just picking the low-hanging fruit of the chronically ignorant.

“EV junk!”
This one is all too familiar. It’s parroted everywhere, usually without any backing. People act like Teslas and other EVs don’t routinely cover the same mileages as many ICE vehicles before they’re decommissioned. Like a 30 minute fast-charging time or the necessity to charge overnight translates into being stranded on the side of the road without warning. Yes, it’s less convenient if you’re not charging at home, but it’s incredibly convenient if you do charge at home, and if I’m on a road trip I am stopping every couple hundred miles for a break anyway. Folks act like a typical road trip is nonstop A to B in an ICE car when really, an EV road trip on a good charging network is not that much different.

Even still, we are 10-15 years into mainstream EV usage. EVs are in their infancy and are shockingly good for how young they’ve been under such heavy development. Battery pack cost has plummeted to a fraction of what it used to be. Range and power has improved, and daily usability has surpassed that of ICE cars for many lifestyles. Dislike them for yourself, fair enough. But it’s counterproductive to try and tell people who are loving their EV that they’ve made some obvious mistake. Some people will try it and go back to ICE, while others will find it works quite well for them.

“EV drivers should only be allowed to charge from solar panels or wind farms!”
Ridiculous. Most EV owners aren’t dancing on the table proclaiming that they are saving the environment by driving one. There are many more reasons to drive an EV than that – cost, cool factor, power, just plain enjoying it. The fact that much of the power used to power EVs and other things comes from coal or oil means nothing when an EV owner’s reason for driving it has nothing to do with eco-friendliness. And not that I’m an environmentalist by any means, but we are using less and less emissions-producing power generation methods in our power grid with every passing year. The idea of changes over time, either in power generation, charging performance, or range, seems lost on folks who parrot phrases like this.

“Tesla recalls!”
They are a relatively new automaker. There are going to be some things to iron out. It won’t be for everyone, but this is what early adoption looks like. It’s like being a beta tester, which in fact is still how FSD is operating. Sure, there might be some bugs, or some trips back to the service center for warranty repairs. You’re also getting cutting-edge tech that the other automakers can’t match because they don’t know how, don’t care to, or simply aren’t agile enough as companies to get it done in any meaningful way. Ever notice that Tesla is the only automaker that isn’t taking heavy fire for not supporting Android Auto or CarPlay? It’s because they’re the only one with an infotainment system good enough to let them get away with it.

Again, I reiterate – much of the Tesla hate these days is from people who simply hate Elon Musk. Nothing changed about Tesla’s products when he opened up about his political opinions, or when he took over Twitter/X. Public opinion of Elon Musk changed, and many people seem unable or unwilling to separate the two. Tesla is still innovating, still making epic vehicles that objective buyers love, and still pushing the industry to be more competitive in ways we desperately need in today’s landscape of effective monopolies and duopolies.

A few final thoughts – I truly feel like much of the hatred toward EVs is not directed toward EVs themselves, but the idea of being forced to drive one or prevented from driving an ICE car. A very legitimate concern, but one that needs to be brought up sensibly lest the speaker appear uninformed or ignorant. Elon Musk isn’t the one pushing that, certain politicians are. EVs exist in the main stream because there’s a genuine market for them, and that’s okay. People who want to drive them have every right and freedom to do so. Those people are also not responsible for mandates. It’s sort of a case of don’t hate the player, hate the game. It’s a free market, and EVs have been able to compete decently well on their own merits in growing numbers every year. I think that’s proof enough that claims of them being “junk” or otherwise undesirable are overstated at best. So don’t waste your breath or mental energy trying to educate the unwilling – the proof is in the pudding, and it can only be denied for so long.