Health101

"I want proof!"

There have been people who've read my article on EVs which contains the facts and myths about them, and they reply to me, "I read the article, but these are just statements... I want proof."

One way to find the evidence that supports those statement is to do the necessary research. But that can be time consuming. But there are statements made in my EV article that need only logic to determine the validity of the statement. Here are some examples that require little to no further researching, just some considered thought...

STATEMENT: Electric vehicles (EVs) are less expensive to operate and own than gasoline powered cars.

SUPPORTING EVIDENCE:

1) Electricity is cheaper per mile than gasoline (an apples-to apples comparison can be made if you convert both to BTUs), and electric motors are way more efficient at moving you down the road than combustion engines (a motor wastes very little fuel energy as heat; an engine wastes a lot), and you have but to notice that the average gasoline car gets about 25 MPG and many EVs get 120 MPGe (the "e" means "equivalent", and again, an apples-to apples comparison can be made, and the EPA has done this, and they're the ones who assign those MPG and MPGe figures). Which car uses less gasoline for a 200 mile drive: one that gets 25 MPG or one that gets 120 MPG? Which vehicle would you want?

2) EVs have: no engine with its many hundreds of parts, no transmission with its thousands of parts, no oil changes, no exhaust system, no spark plugs, no fuel injectors, no high heat high pressure cooling system (radiator, hoses), no timing chain, oxygen sensors, muffler, and no belts or hoses to change. None of these...

And the brake system components last a lot longer than they do on gas powered cars because you use them hardly at all (EVs have regenerative braking, which takes the place of the mechanical brakes most of the time). Yes, an EV has an electric motor, but it only has three moving parts, and one never needs any maintenance or replacement, and the other two, if they are of high quality, will also never need any servicing or replacement.

STATEMENT: EVs are capable of being much safer than combustion cars.

SUPPORTING EVIDENCE: EVs have no engine under the hood, nothing that can be pushed into the passenger compartment, so they have a bigger "crumple zone" than gas powered cars. And because of the heavy battery pack being located under the floor of the EV, they have a very low center of gravity, so the chance of a roll-over is greatly diminished, to zero in most cases. And EVs with self-driving capabilities can have safety systems that can not only apply the brakes, but can steer the car out of harm's way. Plenty of Youtube videos of Teslas doing just that on the highway.

STATEMENT: EVs take 12 seconds to charge: 6 seconds to plug it in when you get home, and 6 seconds to unplug it the following morning... less time than a gas station visit.

SUPPORTING EVIDENCE: None needed. This is self-evident.

STATEMENT: And if you can't charge at home, there are plenty of public charging stations with more and more stations popping up every day.

SUPPORTING EVIDENCE: Google "EV charging stations in the U.S." or check out this map.

STATEMENT: Just as cell phones now have "Turbo Charge", the modern lithium-ion batteries in EVs can be charged very fast at charging stations equipped with fast chargers, and there are plenty of them. And there are EVs designed from the ground up allowing for large battery packs, so no "range anxiety" on long trips (especially if your EV automaker provides a worldwide charging infrastructure).

SUPPORTING EVIDENCE: Google "EV charging stations in the U.S." or check out this map.

STATEMENT: It is false that since some EVs charge using electricity from coal-fired power plants, they just move the same amount of pollution and CO2 emissions from the tailpipe to the smoke stack.

SUPPORTING EVIDENCE: Think about it... Since EVs can get 120 MPGe and gas powered cars get around 25 MPG, does it make any sense that both types of cars create the same amount of emissions? Of course they don't. And which do you think is more efficient: 10,000 separate energy generators (gas powered cars) or one energy generator (power plant) fueling 10,000 EVs? And since power plant smoke stacks can be, and are, equipped with pollution scrubbers and CO2 capture technology, and tailpipes can't be, this myth about EVs falls apart rather quickly... no evidence needed to support the contention that this myth about EVs is false.

STATEMENT: I've heard it said, incorrectly, that EV batteries will need replacing after 3-5 years.

SUPPORTING EVIDENCE: Talk to the EV owners who've had their EV for ten years and have not replaced the battery and don't foresee any need to do so in the near future. And to date there has never been an EV that required its battery changed after 3-5 years (unless there was a malfunction within the battery pack of course).

STATEMENT: I've heard it said that if everyone had EVs, we'd overload the energy grid. This is false.

SUPPORTING EVIDENCE: We didn't overload the energy grid when window air conditioners were first available for sale to consumers, and they operated during "peak" hours, when energy usage is at its highest. EVs that are charged at home can be set to charge during "off-peak" hours, when energy demands are at their lowest. And energy companies who supply electricity to American homes and businesses haven't been living under a rock... they are well aware of the growing EV sales in the U.S., and they will make sure to keep up with any increased demand, just as they did when window ACs hit the market. Also, there are many honestly written articles that speak to this issue. But there are also articles filled with misinformation written to misinform the people. Read both categories of articles.

STATEMENT: It's been said that there's no demand for EVs. This is false.

SUPPORTING EVIDENCE: Get familiar with what they look like, and then as you drive around you'll notice that you're seeing more and more of them as time goes by. This is very evident in California. Look in any direction and you will see an EV (mostly Teslas). In March '23, San Francisco had 34% of new car sales as EVs. The average U.S. figure at that time (excluding California) was 7%, and rising fast. Here are some stats (they do not include plug-in hybrid vehicles)...

Obviously there's a demand. But this chart stops at April of '22.
The curve has gotten steeper since then.

China is the world's largest car market. Of all the SUVs, look which one sold best.
Yep! An EV. So for anyone to say there's no demand for EVs is simply not true.

STATEMENT: I've heard it said that EV's are less reliable than gasoline-powered cars. This is false.

SUPPORTING EVIDENCE: See above.

STATEMENT: It's misleading to say that "When there is a power outage, EVs can't recharge."

SUPPORTING EVIDENCE: First, they can be charged if the homeowner has battery backup or a generator. But even gas powered cars can't take on gasoline in a blackout because most gas stations won't have power, and the few that do will run out of gasoline pretty quickly. At least an EV can be charged at home if you have a generator, even a small portable one. Can't do that with a gas powered car. When the gasoline pipeline from Texas to Georgia was temporarily shut down, after about a week here in Georgia, the majority of cars driving around were EVs.

STATEMENT: It's false to say that "EVs are only for the affluent."

SUPPORTING EVIDENCE: Today in the U.S. you can buy a Tesla EV for less than the average selling price of new gas powered car. Right now in California you can get a Tesla Model 3 for less than a Toyota Camry. Yes, there are more expensive EVs, and yes, ten years ago an EV cost north of $70k, but not today. And by 2026 there will be a Tesla compact EV for $18,000. Don't believe this? Wait and see. And even if an EV had a higher sticker price than a comparably equipt gas powered car, it's important to look at the total cost of ownership (TCO), which includes the cost of buying the car, but also includes the cost of operating and repairing the car over the car's lifetime of your ownership. And here, EVs win hands down. (See my first statement above.) And when there is widespread price parity between EV and gas powered sticker prices, it will then be a no-brainer which one to buy. Just look at what's happening in Norway where 95% of new car sales are EVs. As their existing gas powered cars age out, watch the transformation.

STATEMENT: It's false to say, "There's no charging infrastructure for EVs."

SUPPORTING EVIDENCE: Get the phone app "Plugshare" and have a look. Or see this map.

STATEMENT: It's false to say,"Since EVs are silent, there will be more pedestrians hit by EVs."

SUPPORTING EVIDENCE: Have you listened to new gas powered cars? At slow speeds, they're very quiet. But since EVs are quiet by default, Congress passed a law that says that under 18 MPH, an EV must make a sound. So, in reality, EVs are louder than many new gas powered cars.

STATEMENT: I've heard it said, "Cars that drive themselves will end up killing some people!" But EVs so equipt will save more lives than they take.

SUPPORTING EVIDENCE: The National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) has already reported that Tesla's highway self-driving software drives six times better than a human. This software "sees" with eight cameras all around the vehicle at the same time, and it can't be distracted, and its reaction time is better than a human's. So the 43,000 vehicular deaths that occur each year will be greatly reduced when the majority of the U.S. car fleet is computer driven (by top-notch software). Yes, there will likely be some people who will die because of a computer malfunction, but if self-driving software reduces deaths by 97%, while those 1,290 deaths would be a tragedy, what about the 41,710 people who didn't die who would have had it not been for self-driving cars. And there are Youtube videos of Tesla EVs driving on the highway in self-driving mode that prevented accidents that humans would have likely not been able to prevent. I'm not looking at my blind spot 100% of the time... the computer is. And here's some data...

NOTE: Please remember that there are a lot of articles written to instill FUD into the public consciousness about EVs (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt). These misinformative articles are done on behalf of those entities who stand to lose a lot of money due to increased EV sales. FACT: The more EVs sold, the less money they make. And "they" are very powerful industries (think fossil fuel industry for example). And if you're wondering why the mainstream media doesn't set the record straight, and instead supports the lies in those articles, the reason is twofold: 1) Those industries give a lot of money to those media networks in the form of advertising dollars, and you don't bite the hand that feeds you, and 2) EV companies pay no money for advertising and thus have no "pull" with the networks. No proof should be needed to comprehend the motives driven by human nature's worst traits.