The EV Irony . . . by Eric Peters

Electric cars can reach high speeds very quickly if the car and the government continue to allow it. From Eric Peters at ericpetersautos.com:

Why do people buy electric cars?

It isn’t to save money (ridiculous) or save the planet (fatuous) though some EV buyers believe – in the religious sense – that they are doing one or the other or both.

No. People buy EVs because they are quick and flashy.

We’d find out how quickly they wouldn’t buy them if they weren’t.

Elon Musk’s insight was that very few people want to drive an ugly, slow electric car – and won’t, irrespective of how much money it would save them (and the planet, too). On the other hand, people will spend a lot money on a car that’s quick and stylish.

Musk made one that was both – and electric – using a high-performance Lotus sports car as the basis for his first model. All of a sudden people wanted to buy an electric car. The electric part being the “beard” part.

The subsidies and mandates have helped, of course. But – fundamentally what has made the whole EV push feasible, as a practical matter, is that the EVs being made today are only incidentally electric vehicles. They are primarily high-performance/luxury vehicles that happen to be electric.

Speed really is a question of money. How fast do you want to go? And how much are you willing to pay?

Not just in dollars, either.

The EV owner’s paradox – if he’s thought about it – is that the main attribute he bought the thing for (its quickness, so he could brag about that to other people while preening about how green he is) is the one attribute the law says he’d better not use.

And physics says he’d better not use much, if he’d prefer not to wait, a lot.

“Speeding” is, first of all, illegal.

So why is it being encouraged?

And why is it – at the same time – being discouraged?

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