alt Hacker NewsEV batteries may be lasting far longer than most buyers expected but are consumers really going to trust the data over the headlines? There has been such a propaganda attack on EVs that it will take a long time to overcome that.
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We had much of the same skepticism and anti-EV propaganda here in Norway a decade ago, when EV's started becoming popular. The usual claims was that the batteries would have to be replaced every five years, the cars would stop working in the winters, the batteries are fire hazards, the power grid won't support everyone buying EV's, etc.. All of which turned out to not be true.
Today the market share for EV's is 98% and they account for the majority of the total number of cars on the road! The people who bough 1st. generation EV's as a number two car a decade ago chose EV's as their main car before long. My own vehicles are 7 and 12 years old and holding up well, despite the 12 year old having inferior battery chemistry compared to modern cars.
Change isn't always easy or smooth, but this one is inevitable.
If batteries are actually lasting, then it's easy to counter the propaganda. Manufacturers simply need to make sure batteries are replaceable and offer guarantees that they'll be replaced on the manufacturer's dime if they degrade.
I'll just caution that new things are often over-built to some degree. Then "engineering" is often how much margin they can squeeze-out while still hitting their warrantee targets.
General Motors built an ignition switch for decades which worked mostly just fine. Then they built one so crappy that they killed a bunch of people. Only to save 25 cents or whatever.
EVs depend heavily on 'early adopter evangelism'. I wouldn't read too much into this.
Although I have had rechargeable batteries in gadgets for decades, I would not like to have an EV parked in a garage beneath my bedroom, juicing up with many kilowatts, every night.
No amount of fire exits would help, I mean, what about my stuff?!?
No amount of insurance would cover personal belongings that could get lost, so that means stress from the stupid EV.
The technology might be generally proven (the EV could be a Toyota Prius variant) but the current iteration could be another Note 7, there is no knowing for sure.
I assure you it is not propaganda or TikTok that makes me wary of EV batteries, or any grudge, it is just that I have a different set of circumstances to the guy with a separate garage for housing an EV a safe distance away.
It took an extra decade for hospitals to allow mobile phones on their premises, they just had a different risk assessment. It wasn't propaganda that made them enforce such a ban.
Hence, although it is tempting to blame 'enemy propaganda', there is a whole spectrum of risk assessment, based on different people and different circumstances, so it will take a while, with battery chemistry essentially static for a decade before some get won over.
In late 2022, I moved into a new semi-detached house in a small project of 33 such houses total. Back then, there was precisely 1 EV here, parked openly.
This has grown to 6 in the meantime. It seems that the segment was growing even before Hormuz, propaganda or no.
The black PR has been very effective. I own an EV and the first question I always get from non-EV people when they find out is "…but what about the range, isn't that a problem?", while the second one is invariably "but what about the battery, I heard it only lasts a year or two and it's so expensive to replace!".
The myths are now strong and it will indeed take a long time to dispel them.