Felt the rage against EVs

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i3marc

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 25, 2015
Messages
77
Went to a dealership yesterday... the idiot employee told me their chargepoint charger was off limits if I didn't buy the car there, then jokes about how EVs need to "get plugged in all the time".

I can feel the fear of conventional dealerships and the fossil fuel lobby against EVs.

For me, 44k miles after 18 months... and the last car I will ever own. Take that gasoline crap!

http://practicalbev.blogspot.com/
 
i3marc said:
Went to a dealership yesterday... the idiot employee told me their chargepoint charger was off limits if I didn't buy the car there, then jokes about how EVs need to "get plugged in all the time".
. . .
Was that "a [BMW]" dealer or a dealer part of the local BMW business?

The reason I ask is dealerships have a small margin and not a lot of enthusiasm for non-inventory users of the their chargers. They want to sell their EVs so it makes sense they prefer showing their own products on the charger.

Now I have had two incidents: (1) stranger yelled out 'Your car is ugly', and (2) pickup driver showed a finger. Neither one was anything more or less than the lack of courtesy seen too often on the roads. I seriously doubt they knew it was an EV but even if they did, so what?

At work and around town, I take people for a 15 minute 'test drive.' We walk around the car and they get in the driver seat and I'm the passenger. We get a little 'single pedal' time in the parking lot and then head for low-traffic roads. Given enough time, we even go on the local, 75 mph posted, Interstate. It converts them from wondering to "Oh yea! Bob's EV is neat."

The real challenge is to get chargers at local businesses. Best if 'free' but if not, for an affordable price.

Bob Wilson
 
Not tried a dealership to charge yet. I did think about wandering onto a Nissan forecourt and plugging in :mrgreen:

All I have experienced from the great unwashed is looks of intrigue as the i3 is still a rare sight around here.

Constant enquiries from other car park users asking what it is, how it works, how much it costs and how to charge it. Also bewilderment from high revving clutch slipping would be boy racers left standing at the lights.

I'm really happy with my purchase and ICE buying is history I think.
 
One area that might support some real rage is the fact that an EV does not provide any federal or state support for the road infrastructure because it does not use any gasoline. A few states are mulling over dropping theirs and charging based on miles traveled, but I think that the logistics of that would be quite expensive. As cars have been mandated to increase fuel efficiency, and more of them are on the roads wearing things out, not counting inflation, the funds have been receding in real terms verses even keeping up with inflation. It's false economy, IMHO, to not increase that tax, but the emotional impact makes it really hard for politicians to do what's right. We all end up paying, probably more than the tax would because of the damaged tires, delays due to traffic, worn out shocks, and other bits that take a toll on our cars because the money to actually fix, improve, or add roads as needed just does not exist because we are unwilling to charge those who use it their fair share.

IMHO, it's one of those pay me now or pay me later issues, but putting a price tag on the delays as bridges don't get fixed or lanes added, or new roads to account for the real load just do not happen, and people's lost time just increases because the infrastructure cannot support the real load.
 
That's exactly what just happened in the U.K. Previously the annual road fund licence (road tax) had been pegged to emissions levels. It's now being scrapped in favour of a flat rate again.

As you say, tax revenue is drying up which whilst unsustainable, was the whole point of the policy in the first place.

There remains a significant first year tax hit on high emissions cars but this is no disincentive to second and subsequent owners of course.

The solution should have been to increase all the tax amounts equally but retain the lower charge incentive for low emissions cars.
 
It is not just that we EV drivers are free riders on the highways and byways because we don't pay petrol/gasoline taxes⎯we also get state and federal subsidies when we buy brand-new, plus at least in California we can get special permission to drive solo in diamond lanes otherwise reserved for multiple-occupancy vehicles. It is a distorted universe in which, say, the owners of clapped-out Buicks and Corollas are in effect subsidizing the new owners of fancy BMWs and Teslas.
Then, to add insult to injury, we can deliver the ultimate humiliation to red-blooded blue-collared owners of roaring V8 ICEs: by quietly dragging them off at the lights.
I too have felt the rage.
 
I've had a few dirty and confused looks from other drivers. Probably could be for any reason from "your car is ugly", "you don't contribute to road funds", or "BUY AMERICAN!". Funny that many drivers with the last comment don't realize they have more foreign parts in their "American vehicle" than some foreign branded vehicles. If they could stop and talk to me I could tell them a long story about how I lost my job at a tool and die shop because Ford decided to reject our bid on dies for a new Mustang and had them made overseas to save money instead. Sure the companies headquarters are still in the US, but jobs are jobs.

I wouldn't be opposed to some sort of tax to help with the roads, but only if it was a fair tax. The roads in Michigan are the worse they've been in 30 years of driving but that's mostly because our state government is worthless when it comes to allocating the necessary funds to maintain (or better yet improve) the infrastructure. For that reason I'm not sure how a tax on EVs would be fair or whether the funds would actually be used for the crumbling roads.

Maybe some of these ignorant drivers won't realize that EV drivers are trying to have a good impact after the more affordable Chevy B.olt is available and their favorite nephew buys one and has a long educational conversation with them about it. It's silly how people make judgements about things they don't have enough information about.

I've heard about some co-workers griping about me and a Chevy V.olt driver because the company is paying to charge our cars, yet an additional charging station sits idle all day and nobody is stopping them from getting an EV.
 
I see lots of pics taken in my rearview mirror, giggles and thumbs-up shown with mine; but then, maybe its my electric car "affirmative action" bumper sticker.

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Oh, and the Chevy dealer in Manchester, VT is delighted to charge me when I'm in town shopping (at other stores).
 
Had my first negative reaction today. Some barely teenage oik on a pushbike rode past and shouted at me "Rev your engine mate!"

He obviously believes that the lack of an engine to rev is a key indicator of lack of masculinity! :roll:

That said, he did have the ability to determine it was an electric car which interestingly many young children seem to have. In fact, sleeve tugging children whispering, "Dad, there's an electric car" seems quite common. They seem pretty well up on their cars around here. They are probably preparing for thieving them :evil:
 
BUMWA said:
I see lots of pics taken in my rearview mirror, giggles and thumbs-up shown with mine; but then, maybe its my electric car "affirmative action" bumper sticker.
Funny, NotALiberal is my Plugshare username! I received a nasty message from someone already.
 
I don't find any outright hostility but sense more a passive ignorance. Some folk use off-the-cuff cliche'd remarks such a 'golf buggy' but never really want to engage in meaningful conversation about the car and its benefits and drawbacks. I think they really don't want to know and are afraid of their precious assumptions about ICE being confronted, so just don't engage much. But most folk are very interested and inquisitive - more a reflection on an open-mindedness and their IQ I suspect.

"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win" Ghandi.
 
I am new to owning a 2017 Fluid black BEV i3. So far I am loving the car. I bought it as a city car only. I know the use case for this going in. Ive already gotten some looks but no one bold enough to yell out 'shit' like "your car is ugly". - not surprising, there are idiots born everyday. I need to find a sticker that reads, my other car is a Ford F150 because it is. ; -) either way screw what people think!!
 
One of the PriusChat folks pointed me to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0duV_363ndo

Our understanding is they touched up the BMW i3 to hide the fuel filler. I don't know as I only have a BMW i3-REx and the wheel covers are different.

Bob Wilson
 
I'm not sure I understand the point of the advert! Is it "drive using petrol instead of electricity, that's what a real electric car does ???"

When all your advert can do is criticise the opposition, you've lost!

A Mac can't do that! :roll:
 
Their point is a battery-only car can't take a 300+ mile trip without significant delays. In contrast, the hybrid/gasser makes the trip on one tank. Of course the problem is the BMW i3-REx can make the trip with only a few fuel stops of 5-10 minutes.

I see it as the Lexus version of "Meet the Volkswagens."

Bob Wilson
 
Probably a suggestion to Lexus from Mr Trump.

The advert is wacky and makes no sense at all, and that seems to be the future for the USA now.
 
No rage felt here, because no one knows what they are. In New Zealand, i3s are very rare (perhaps 50 in the whole country, with the vast majority of those being found in and around our largest city, Auckland). In my home city of Christchurch in the South Island of NZ, I have a feeling I might be pretty much the only person driving a pure BEV version. There is no Government incentive to purchase, so they are also expensive. Until very recently, you could only purchase the rex, but finally BMW NZ have bowed to pressure and the BEV has just become available. A few Japanese and UK imports are starting to appear on the market as well. The charging infrastructure is currently extremely limited, but expanding every month. However, with 240V power, 16A overnight charging from home on cheap night rate electricity works well.

Road funding comes partly from general taxation, but also either from excise duty on petrol or what is called Road User Charge or RUC on diesel powered vehicles (you have to buy RUC in 1,000 KM blocks). The one concession that the Government has made to electric vehicles in NZ is that they have exempted them from RUC until at least 2021, so once you get over the initial sticker shock of the outlay on an i3 (the equivalent of about US$60,000!), motoring is very cheap from then on.
 
The whole issue of roads financed by gas tax is perverse and promoted SUVs and end of the line monsters like the Hummer.

A degeneration of small business incentives for pickups turned on its head to get doctors and lawyers buying big rigs with makeup on for commuting.

Those funds more than often are also pilfered for the "general fund" and in California will pay obscene salaries of public servants, sometimes greater than those of POTUS believe it or not.

Anyhow... the road business is another business in need of a disruption. Solid environmentally friendly sand compounds and concrete instead of asphalt. But then again who would get to do this stupid endless construction work?

An electric plane is really the solution as above 60 mph one can create their own freeway in the sky but I digress.
 
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