What’s the dumbest thing you’ve heard about EVs?

[PoitNarf]

 

[KDGr]

I wonder what were the discussions when horses were getting replaced by cars ?

Not quite to the point, but there were predictions by urban planners in the late 1800s that the growth of New York City in the coming decades would result in so much horse sh*t for the city to remove that the streets would be unusable.

 

[GoBlue88]

In regards to my Tesla I can’t tell you how many people say to me “I prefer American cars....”

No Joke

Someone once asked me why I bought a car that was built in India.

 

[Paulie]

Bill Shorten’s, Australia next Prime Minister (probably), claims that an electric car can be fully charged in 10 minutes! Yeah right! Not even with our super chargers is this possible.

 

[Valerie A]

I won't characterize this as "dumb", but I have had a couple of people who can't grasp that the car is always "on". Typical conversation:

ICE driver: So how do you turn it on?
Me: It's on already.
ICE driver: Wow! That's amazing - no noise. But how do you start it?
Me: Shift into drive and step on the pedal.
ICE driver: Wow! So after you put it back in park, how do you turn it off?"

I finally came up with the analogy of a light switch - the power's always there, you just have to flip the switch (shift to park and step on accelerator) to make it work. This may not be a completely accurate analogy, but it seems to stop the questions.

 

[clydeiii]

If you charge your car at home, you will experience brownouts. <-- member of a Condo HOA expressing skepticism of people installing chargers near condos

 

[duanra]

I won't characterize this as "dumb", but I have had a couple of people who can't grasp that the car is always "on". Typical conversation:

ICE driver: So how do you turn it on?
Me: It's on already.
ICE driver: Wow! That's amazing - no noise. But how do you start it?
Me: Shift into drive and step on the pedal.
ICE driver: Wow! So after you put it back in park, how do you turn it off?"

I finally came up with the analogy of a light switch - the power's always there, you just have to flip the switch (shift to park and step on accelerator) to make it work. This may not be a completely accurate analogy, but it seems to stop the questions.

Me, on my test drive...

 

[SO16]

I went to my local gas station once and the cashiers have this huge glass window to look outside from. When I walked in the cashier had the dirtiest look on his face and this is the convo that ensued;
Cashier: "What are you doing here?"
Me: "What do you mean?"
Cashier: "You have an electric car, what are you doing at my gas station?"
Me: "I'm.. here to get a car wash"?
Cashier: Still with a dirty look unwillingly ringing up my car wash, "I heard those things take hours to charge"
Me: Explaining the difference of charging at home vs a supercharger
Cashier: "If I can't drive that thing non-stop from here to (enter far destination) then it's garbage to me. Why should I wait hours to charge"
Me: Grab my car wash receipt and tell him to have a good day.

Ever since that day the guy gives me dirty looks. I don't know what's wrong with him. People really believe whatever garbage they read online, or maybe they don't want to admit EVs are better and only believe what they want to believe. Who knows.

Ask him when was the last time he drove nonstop to that destination.

 

[SO16]

That question is not dumb. I can easily put a couple of 5 gallon spare gas cans in my truck if I'm going to drive it to the middle of nowhere and extend its range by about 150 miles.

On that note I guess we could put solar panels in our trunks. It may take longer but we could potentially go much farther than 150 miles.

 

[rpreuss]

All from the same guy (window tinter). They really do good work though, just couldn't quite grasp the EV concept...

Guy: Is this an electric car?
Me: Yep, all electric.
Guy: How many cylinders does it have?
Me: None. It doesn't have an engine, only two electric motors and a big battery.
Guy: Oh, wow! . . . So how big is the gas tank?
Me: It doesn't have one, it only has electric motors and a battery pack.
Guy: OK, but, like, how many spark plugs does it have?
Me: Here, I'll pop the hood and you can check it out. [POP] See, no engine, just a small extra trunk and no engine.
Guy: [CRICKETS]

He then got called away to do something. I don't know whether he ever did get the concept of an EV.

I'm picking um my Model 3 next Wednesday, and I'm going to put a can of V8 Juice in the trunk for that purpose.

 

[SO16]

"You can't drive those in the rain - you'll get electrocuted."

Then I guess windshield wipers are just for show.

 

[Hank42]

One person told me they would not buy an EV because they have no interest in paying for electricity just to run the car.

My friends wife (who is an accountant) refuses to let him charge at home because their electric bill increased significantly since buying his Model S. He has to drive 30 minutes one way to supercharge - maybe she just wants him our of the house more - but she can't seem to wrap her head around how much she spends on gas.

 

[SleeperService]

I'm picking um my Model 3 next Wednesday, and I'm going to put a can of V8 Juice in the trunk for that purpose.

I've been thinking some sort of LED laden flux capacitor set-up would look pretty good in the frunk.

 

[SO16]

I was told that I shouldn't buy a Tesla because it will spontaneously burst into flames, and I'd die. When I told the person that driving on a container of combustable fluid is more likely to catch fire than the battery pack, they responded with, "fake news" and walked away.

Show him this:

https://mobile.twitter.com/PerryNBCBoston/status/1090047011678810118

 

[HankLloydRight]

him: Why do you stop to charge it? Why not just put generators on the wheels and keep going?

One guy asked me why my car doesn't have an electric generator hooked up to the wheel. It would produce electricity as I drive and recharge the battery. #facePalm

I'm just assuming that pretty much every owner (including myself) has gotten this question at least once, if not many times.

My story is like all the others... at a rest stop on I95:

guy: So it's electric?
me: yup.
guy: So there's no gas?
me: Nope.
him: No engine?
me: No engine, but there's an electric motor
him: really, no gas?
me: yes, really
him: So you never put gas in it?
me: nope
him: So no gas tank either?
me: Nope, no gas, no engine, no gas tank
him: <still puzzled>
me: Sorry, I need to get back on the road.

 

[Runnergirl]

On that note I guess we could put solar panels in our trunks. It may take longer but we could potentially go much farther than 150 miles.

And pray for a sunny day

 

[HankLloydRight]

I've been thinking some sort of LED laden flux capacitor set-up would look pretty good in the frunk.

You mean like this? (yes, this is my car):

 

[SO16]

My friends wife (who is an accountant) refuses to let him charge at home because their electric bill increased significantly since buying his Model S. He has to drive 30 minutes one way to supercharge - maybe she just wants him our of the house more - but she can't seem to wrap her head around how much she spends on gas.

I guess I don’t need to ask who wears the pants in that family.

 

[SO16]

And pray for a sunny day

Hopefully pretty common in the desert.

 

[PoitNarf]

I've been thinking some sort of LED laden flux capacitor set-up would look pretty good in the frunk.

I've been slightly tempted to buy this and see if it fits in the frunk:

https://www.amazon.com/Diamond-Select-Toys-Back-Future/dp/B00O52T11S