James May still isn't convinced by electric cars

James May has owned numerous EVs of different kinds, including two Teslas and a couple of hydrogen fuel cell Toyotas, but he still has major reservations about them.
The former Top Gear host turned Grand Tour presenter explains why battery-electric cars don't work for everybody, why the charging infrastructure is so far behind where we need it to be and why he still uses a diesel VW Polo for longer journeys.
You can watch our full 90-minute podcast with James May (episode 200) on our KZbin channel, or listen wherever you get your podcasts.
#jamesmay #topgear #cars
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[@ads998]

That has to be by far the most balanced commentary on EVs vs ICEs I've come across in quite some time. James May is just so fair-minded, eloquent, and comprehensive in his thinking. I find this topic uneccessaily fraught and littered with ideologues on both sides of the 'debate'. This really is the most sensible discussion I've heard on the topic for quite some time.

[@everydayjumblist]

Agree 100%. So much modern discourse is dominated by small groups of people stood at the extremes screaming abuse at each other. We need more James Mays.

[@hamsterminator]

Agreed. I recently bought an EV and absolutely love it. However I recognise it fits an extremely niche lifestyle- and I have a Diesel Van as a backup. It's laughable the amount of "Won't it explode?" "Don't you need to rewire your house to charge it?" "Aren't you destroying the planet driving that?" nonsense I was presented by from people who don't drive them though. It's a good bit of kit- in many ways superior to my previous petrol car. But then the comparison is a bit like an electric drill vs a screwdriver. In a city- makes sense. On a desert Island, it doesn't. Which is better? Depends.

[@Renegade040]

@@hamsterminatoragree 100% what you said, but James's comment, if the tech says the same is just plain stupid, why do they say that in there argument about EV's. Of course it will keep improving, look at the last 5 or 10 years.

[@long_view]

Completely agree.

[@BlazeFirereign]

Clicked on this dreading a daft one-sided argument, because that's how most EV commentary goes. But it's James May, so I shouldn't have been worried. As an EV "evangelist" - I love my car, and I preach that (some) EVs are brilliant to drive - my position is the same as May's. Even in a Tesla, charging is nowhere near ideal. And outside of Tesla, it's rubbish. I'm an optimist, and I think we'll get there. But today it, undeniably, only works if you can charge at home, and if you're willing to put up with a bit of extra planning and hassle on longer trips. For many people today, they're suitable, and I hate that some of those people are put off by the FUD spread by petro-sexuals and certain parts of our "media". But EV evangelists will all too frequently gloss over the problems.

[@zollotech]

James is spot on. I’ve had 3 EV’s and own both EV and Gas/Petrol cars. When we drive around town the EV is great. When we take a trip we take a gas car. Very common sense talk.

[@eyesodd]

Let me guess, company cars right? No one is silly enough to buy 3 EV's out of their own pocket, correct?

[@odisy64]

id rather road trip in an electric, teslas chargin infrastructure is common enough and its way cheaper than gas. id rather save a few hundred bucks than an hour of extra charge time.

[@cannavaras]

@@odisy64 The nonsense that we would need millions of chargers :D I have anti EV rhetoric wrapped up in pretend pro EV comments. This video is a shocker.

[@jacobvanhalteren7452]

@@cannavaras He's actually being rather optimistic considering the electrical grid is decades away and there just arent enough raw materials available atm.

[@jacobvanhalteren7452]

@@odisy64 for the moment but for anyone without a Tesla they are planning to over triple charging rates.

[@hooloovooloo]

Very well-reasoned comments. I’ve owned an EV for almost 5 years now and if anyone ever asks me if they should get one I always say, “It depends what you need it for.” I’m fortunate enough to have a driveway and 99% of my journeys are shorter than my car’s range. An EV makes sense for me but not for everyone of course.

[@darwiniandude]

Very sensible perspective, as I'd expect from a super-intelligent shade of the colour blue.

[@hooloovooloo]

Kind of you to say so; you’re clearly a highly-evolved person, Dude!

[@jimmyfaherty8588]

He barely touched how the infrastructure can’t support even 50% of people using EV. Not to mention, the horrible strip mining for cobalt.

[@zed351]

"I’m fortunate enough to have a driveway..." Exactly and that is the issue for the vast majority of future drivers who don't.

[@hooloovooloo]

I agree 100%

[@albal20051]

Former CTO of an EV charging company here: James hit it on the head. Most people would be happy to own a quieter, more responsive vehicle that is cheaper to run. However, it's only cheaper for people with home charging who don't have to rely on public charging. There are some real elitist 'fanboys' when it comes to EVs, they don't seem to understand that spending up to 2 hours in a queue for a public charger because you aren't lucky enough to have charging at home and at work just isn't a practical way to live. Try telling your boss, your customers or your patients that you will be anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours depending if you can charge your car.

[@Johny40Se7en]

"However, it's only cheaper for people with home charging who don't have to rely on public charging. There are some real elitist 'fanboys' when it comes to EVs, they don't seem to understand that spending up to 2 hours in a queue for a public charger because you aren't lucky enough to have charging at home and at work just isn't a practical way to live" 👆That should be in the brochures of all BEV's...

[@Fitaroy]

Great point. I often think that governments who are pushing for ev ownership would be better off working on making solar power systems and batteries cheaper for their people. Encouraging evs and pushing out internal combustion vehicles without a proper charging infrastructure is putting the cart before the horse a bit.

[@Johny40Se7en]

@@Fitaroy Or installing more hydrogen infrastructure so people will actually buy the cars...

[@Fitaroy]

@@Johny40Se7en people should decide whether ev is right for them. Not the government

[@Johny40Se7en]

@@Fitaroy "people should decide whether ev is right for them. Not the government" And why you telling me that?...

[@DonLee1980]

very real and balanced talk. May was always the most honest and sensible one.

[@jofujino]

I think the only part I was surprised he didn't bring up is the charging is dependent on the charger working (an increasing and significant number of chargers are broken and you can't tell on the app). Also, there's other videos about charging EVs and the chargers "work" but their fast charging doesn't work and you have to switch to one of the other chargers to get true fast charging. There's also some problems with people just parking in the EV charging spots (worst offenders in New York are city and county owned vehicles). I think though that if we keep going, even though it's not a consumer friendly tech today, (and push hard enough via government regulation) the gas stations are going to have to read the writing on the wall and convert some of their space to EV chargers or risk seeing an erosion in their business. The average EV customer could even be more profitable than the average ICE customer for them since gas stations have tiny margins on gas and large margins on their convenience store and I can see EV customers spending more in the convenience store because they have to kill more time. Albeit it may still be less profitable at the end of the day because of the slow turnover rate. Ideally, we could use an app like AirBnB to maybe rent someone else's home charger to charge up your EV on road trips. But unfortunately most homes do not have fast chargers, so there are still major problems with this if they can't improve charging speeds.

[@hagestad]

only thing more real would be admitting that electric engines are not really that low maintenance. In teslas they seem to be doing about the same as small capacity petrol engines - about 100k miles or less. There is a known case of the guy that did over 2 Million km on his tesla model s. he had electric engine replaced 14 times. no joke.

[@arsss233latvietis]

That is if you opt to change the electric motor. You could just have it rebuilt. I'm sure now that the first 2 years of the model 3s are out of warranty that will become a more popular route.

[@hagestad]

@@arsss233latvietis Im pretty sure those windings are all in resin and tesla does not provide any data on those. Or the spare parts for that matter. I guess its possible to rebuild it but i wonder would it be any cheaper.

[@arsss233latvietis]

@@hagestad I'm sure once they get to eastern europe people will figure it out. At the end of the day it is a lot simpler than an internal combustion engine. Only problem is with right to repair and if people will be allowed to work on what they own. I want to see a world where a 2017 model 3 is treated like a beater e46 in 10 years. Model s is already getting in to the 7 series depreciation range.

[@johngarnham5772]

A lot of common sense there as ever from James May.

[@johnturner4400]

Certainly more than can be said for many of the comments here!

[@notverygoodguy]

It does sound sensible but I struggle to relate the charging issues to my own lived experience. I have had only BEV cars since 2017 and fairly regularly do six or seven hour journeys and I don't seem to find myself being inconvenienced by charging. In fact I'd say I spend far less time waiting for my car to fill up than I did when running petrol cars. Charging at home helps of course.

[@Renegade040]

No, it's that stupid statement, he lost me when he said, if the current tech stays the same, of course it wont. And that millions of charging stations, total rubbish.

[@Yorkshireasaurus]

Really?

[@arsss233latvietis]

@@Renegade040 Why is millions of charging stations rubbish? If you count the at home charging stations it is about what you would need for a country the size of UK. And to charge all the cars you would still need at least a 50% increase in power generation, and at least double the grid capacity. Total ev adoption makes sense for a country like Norway where there is an energy excess, but for the rest of the world you would need accompanying colossal infrastructure projects even with any tech advancements in battery tech.

[@ronaldmelia1172]

I am living on the South coast of England and I am from North Manchester, so it stands to reason this is generally my journey a few times of the year. I am about to take delivery of an EV. My journey North will not change, I have my favourite stopover generally half way which is around 125 miles and takes on average 2.15 minutes each leg of a good day. After two hours of driving my legs are killing me am in need to a leg stretch. My EV will charge in 18 minutes from 0 to 80% in the right conditions, which means that I complete my journey in the exact same way as my ICE car. The big way it changes everything is that my daily commute to work which is 98 miles. My EV should be able to do this in two drives between charging at home, meaning that the cost of my Journey is around £2.50 per day. Whereas my Polo 1ltr is £13 per day. My fuel budget is £320 per month, so If I have need to top up on a public charger at £0.75p Per KWH then this is something that still sits in my budget, so for me it is a no brainer. What you do, what suits you is something that will need to weigh up. What could change soon is the advent of the Solid State Battery from what I have seen that would be a game changer because they would be cheaper to produce, safer in the event of a collision and are far more efficient in delivery of the power so they would double the range of EVs overnight and on the right charger would charge in 5 minutes. My brother on the other hand has listened to all the crap about electric cars and is absolutely against them despite his daily commute of 6 miles.

[@markconrad9619]

"charge anxiety" is spot on. Imagine a scenario where you can only "practically" charge your phone at home...this would be a pain to say the least. The EV industry definitely needs some catching up but I I think it's heading in the right direction.

[@simont531]

But I do only charge my phone at home?

[@TF2Scout..]

I charge my phone at home

[@johncummins3860]

Keeping you at home is all part of the plan !!

[@markconrad9619]

@simont53 No, that's why we don't have "charge anxiety" with our phones.

[@cffmailbox]

Imagine 170,000 trouble free miles and being told by people with 0 or close to 0 telling me how it is. I’ve never had a dead battery.

[@SonikDethmonkey]

It is so rare to hear an intelligent discussion on both the strengths and current weaknesses of EV’s. Bravo.

[@Renegade040]

That was a very unintelligent discussion, try and work out why.

[@kevinashurst634]

@@Renegade040 and I suspect suitably edited.

[@SmartMart1658]

We already have more charging stations than petrol stations here in the UK. James is talking rubbish saying "we need a million EV charging stations". Electricity storage is NOT a problem now with current EV technology. The Lucid Air can do up to 520 miles on a single charge and the average daily commute is 20 - 30 miles. You can charge an electric car "ANYWHERE" where there is electricity - and you CANNOT charge a ICE vehicle "anywhere" - you have to find a fuel station (whereas in an EV you only need to find an electrical outlet eg., the nearest house). Electricity is more prolific than dirty fuel stations. I charge my Tesla Model Y at home and every day I have a full state of charge ready for up to 331 miles (WLPT) range. Cost to fill up at a supercharger is around £25 compared to £100 for my old dirty diesel. Cost to charge at home is a lot less - and when I get my solar panels this year it will be free. I used to be a "petrol head" but now I own an EV I will never go back to an ICE vehicle. They are faster, cheaper to run, low maintenance, more reliable, and better for the planet.

[@xwarped83]

@@SmartMart1658YOU have a home where you can charge your EV, not everyone lives in a home. A lot of people live in rental apartments that don’t have chargers, where are they supposed to charge their cars? Sit at a charging station for 30 minutes before going home from work?

[@David-wf1hr]

To be fair James did say "Anywhere" when referring to refueling an ICE vehicle which is similar to saying you can charge your EV "Anywhere" There is a wider availability of electrical sockets than fuel stations for sure. When a lot of those sockets are above ground level or not close enough to put your ev next to it no longer is anywhere. Of course once fuel stations close the gap will shrink. I have an ebike and I can take my battery out and charge it indoors that's closer to Anywhere there is a socket.@@SmartMart1658

[@willymack5677]

He’s such a well-spoken, well-reasoned human. What a legend. Always with mindful and pertinent insight. I especially love listening to him discuss history. He’s got a passion for learning and teaching. In another life, he’d have made a brilliant Professor.

[@Biosynchro]

I am glad that he isn't a professor, because he wouldn't be reaching as many people if he were.

[@mfahrertraining]

He is a teacher, he has tough as all lots. Just not from a school class room

[@malcolmmitchell6529]

Consequently, he must be taken off air immediately!

[@malcolmmitchell6529]

?

[@miamitten1123]

Also, the colbot mines and children and disadvantage people mining them. Soon it will be a ethical issue.

[@ScrapKing73]

His opinion is more positive, and more nuanced, than the title would suggest IMO.

[@Sarevok_Wins]

Quite so. His trouble wasn't with the EV battery or design flaws, it was with lack of charging stations for the most part lol.

[@alexfoxy]

Classic click bait title 😊

[@lc9245]

@@Sarevok_Winsthey are all connected though. It blew my mind how many electrics were selling in places like South East Asia where the grid is shoddily built, charging station is non-existent and electricity is still produced mostly through burning coals or unreliable hydropower. This is all not bringing in the point he made about EVs that they are large and bulky because of the charging infrastructure which is caused by battery technology not being mature enough to charge fast or hold onto enough power etc… EVs are awesome but we are all not quite there yet, yet there’s a push to transition to them “no matter the cost”. Which seems a little too premature in my opinion. I would rather have more electrified vehicle in the form of public transport.

[@user-hz6fj9xy4y]

@@Sarevok_Wins But given current battery tech, you would require an obscene amount of charging stations.

[@Uajd-hb1qs]

Finally, a logical and unbiased take on the power sources for cars. The only thing James didn’t bring up was the fact some people physically couldn’t own an EV. My parents live in a terrace house with no driveway or garage and they can’t legally run a charging cable over a public footpath for safety reasons. There’s many properties like that in the UK as well as highrise flats and apartments with no private garages. People who live in these places couldn’t run any kind of chargeable electric car even if they wanted to.

[@zed351]

Due to the density of housing in the UK I argue that the vast majority of current car drivers can not charge at home or work. There is going to be a major issue when the ban on new ICE car sales comes into effect. We know how poor the UK is at major infrastructure projects.

[@Uajd-hb1qs]

@@zed351 They rush ahead with approving major projects and schemes and watch it inevitably fall flat on its face when it either goes millions over budget or problems develop that weren’t even considered. Been like it for years in this country.

[@logitech4873]

​@@zed351 The vast majority can obviously charge at home. All that's needed is the infrastructure and laws to support it.

[@9402PAULR]

Very sensible conversation from a person that knows what there talking about

[@steenseersholm1439]

He knows all about gin.

[@CrazyPanda688]

He thinks electricity is a mystery though

[@pxidr]

@@mablesfatalfable6021 You never heard of battery recycling apparentely. Nor the new battery chemisteries like LFP that doesn't require cobalt or nickel. You are not an expert too!

[@allentechpt9026]

@@pxidr Battery recycling is not economical. It's expensive and very energy intensive to breakdown an EV battery. So much so, it's just easier to mine for more materials. The same is true in general for recycling. So much stuff we toss into the recycling bin just ends up being shipped away where is then dumped, like e-waste and plastics. It's too costly to recycle, but we create NIMBY programs to give us the illusion of renewal.

[@eyesodd]

He knows what he's talking about, but he's on his 6th EV 🤔

[@GeordieAmanda]

A very balanced consideration, I thought. I agree with Mr May pretty much 100%. I'm off to fuel up my V8 now though...

[@Bader1940]

LOL. I really have just done that. In 3 minutes. Faced with uninspiring EVs and Jaguar (my long preference) dropping ICE I have just bought a 17 year old 5.4 V8 Merc SLK as my backup fun car and cannot see why it would go, barring total mechanical failure. Nothing sounds like it. I feel sorry for generations who won't experience such things. A good balanced view from May here.

[@GeordieAmanda]

@@Bader1940 Funnily enough, the V8 I just filled up was a Jaguar. It turns dead dinosaurs in lovely noises.

[@C.Fecteau-AU-MJ13]

Filled up my 70 series TDV8 GXL LandCruiser ute this morning... Cost me nearly two hundred and fifty Australian dollaydoos. And she wasn't quite empty 😭 Lucky I can write the tax off or it would hurt like hell. I don't understand people who use a vehicle like that as their daily wheels. I only have it because literally nothing else can do what I expect that beast to get done.

[@C.Fecteau-AU-MJ13]

@@GeordieAmanda those Jag V8s make a dirty, dirty noise... They should be sold as an aphrodisiac, guaranteed to excite testosterone and drop panties.

[@C.Fecteau-AU-MJ13]

@@GeordieAmanda Those Jag V8s make a dirty, dirty noise. I get too excited whenever I hear one

[@steve-marsh]

Brilliant James! I could listen to this guy for hours on any subject

[@h-j.k.8971]

Britain has, like in so many other things, fallen badly behind with its charging network.

[@grahamggg7527]

Love listenening to James and he's always quite sensible. One other significant con that James may not have mentiond because he's rich: it's currently difficult or impossible for people who live in aparment buildings in large cities and park on the street to charge their vehicles (and not pay the significantly higher cost of using public chargers).

[@arau8310]

I'm not sure if this is relevant to the discussion but one other con at least in the US is the cost of insurance for EVs. Ordinary shops cannot repair them so only the manufacturer can get parts and work on them. Maintenance and repair tends to be much more expensive than the equivalent ICE automobile so insurance rates are much higher.

[@matthewjackman8410]

He did mention it at 4:55 quite specifically. He even pointed out it isn't a concern for him because he is rich.

[@HawkGTboy]

And if they do manage to charge their car in the city some lowlife will just steal their charging cable for the copper or to resell it on eBay.

[@seanbeach1976]

This is also why once cars become fully-automated, the majority of people will simply use a subscription service and the cars will live in giant carparks.

[@JohnSmith-wj2wd]

Not to mention, there is pretty much no "banger" second hand market for EV's since the battery packs are the most expensive part of them. Once they go out the car is basically worthless. So anyone with a low income could never afford one since the value of the batteries alone is way higher than any cheap ICE car is.

[@GreyFoxNinjaFan]

James is right that the issue is not EVs themselves, it's the battery technology right now. Electric motors make total sense. Henry Ford said that if he's just asked people what they want, they'd have said 'faster horses'. It's the same problem.

[@JuergenQingdao]

Fun fact: The average car owner of my country (Austria) drives in average 270km a week. A week! So no, range indeed is not the problem.

[@jakewillits4678]

Range is indeed the problem. Range is indeed the problem. Range is indeed the problem. Range is indeed the problem

[@rogerphelps9939]

@@jakewillits4678 No. Not with the right battery capacity and charging infrastructure.

[@organickevinlondon]

@@jakewillits4678 the average UK motorist only drives 140 miles per week, its hardly like being in America or Australia is it.

[@Deanonroof]

That was both extremely sensible and enjoyable! Thanks James.

[@mitchellclark1]

Toyota was heavily criticized for sticking with hybrids for so long, and now everyone is realizing that hybrids are very sensible. At least here in the northeast US, some dealers are struggling to sell their electric cars now.

[@mervinprone]

They’re soul crushing to drive, usually underpowered with their CVTs. The only exception is the hybrid max, in the Lexus RX500h.

[@HiyasuJ]

​@@mervinproneToyotas are perfect commute tools

[@oojimmyflip]

Ive always liked the Prius you can even follow a youtube video to replace the NiMH battery pack and it costs about £1500 for a diy owner to buy one brilliant. a used Prius with a flat battery is worth buying if you easily follow a youtube video and puit in a new battery yourself. more cars should be like this.

[@mtx1212]

Sticking with Hybrids because they lack most of the fundamental technologies to compete in the BEV sector. I mean, just look at the BEVs Toyota/Lexus released so far -- horrible horrible range, last-gen software, outdated battery tech, and grossly overpriced because they had to source tech and components from external vendors thus can't keep the cost down

[@mervinprone]

@@mtx1212 they’re developing a solid state battery so that’s their focus at the moment. Time will tell if it pays off.

[@rogermouton2273]

James May is such a smart man. Refreshing to hear someone speak rationally about the pros and cons of EVs.

[@jcrbama]

Unsurprisingly, a very balanced and accurate discussion about the advantages and drawbacks of both. I've owned an EV, Tesla Model 3 and it was as an interesting experience. I enjoyed it in a lot of ways, was frustrated by many things covered here. Comically enough, when I let go of the EV, I purchased a full size truck with a V8.

[@friedpicklezzz]

Glad to hear a balanced voice. On my third EV now. Yes, range is still an issue. I feel batteries need to improve to store about 50% more for the same price. I don’t mind the charging time, but yes more charging stations would be nice in some areas.

[@rogerphelps9939]

Batteries are now £50 or less per kwh. That means you can get 100kwh, good for over 400 miles in summer, for £5k. vThat will be less than the cost of an ICE with its attendant gubbins.

[@smj6491]

This was a very intelligent discussion about EV's.

[@darekmistrz4364]

Yes, it was respectful, but I fail to see intelligence here.

[@Yorkshireasaurus]

Really?

[@positronundervolt4799]

Neither do you apparently​@@mablesfatalfable6021

[@SmartMart1658]

We already have more charging stations than petrol stations here in the UK. James is talking rubbish saying "we need a million EV charging stations". Electricity storage is NOT a problem now with current EV technology. The Lucid Air can do up to 520 miles on a single charge and the average daily commute is 20 - 30 miles. You can charge an electric car "ANYWHERE" where there is electricity - and you CANNOT charge a ICE vehicle "anywhere" - you have to find a fuel station (whereas in an EV you only need to find an electrical outlet eg., the nearest house). Electricity is more prolific than dirty fuel stations. I charge my Tesla Model Y at home and every day I have a full state of charge ready for up to 331 miles (WLPT) range. Cost to fill up at a supercharger is around £25 compared to £100 for my old dirty diesel. Cost to charge at home is a lot less - and when I get my solar panels this year it will be free. I used to be a "petrol head" but now I own an EV I will never go back to an ICE vehicle. They are faster, cheaper to run, low maintenance, more reliable, and better for the planet.

[@user-vx7vi3vq1c]

@@SmartMart1658You’re the reason people hate EVs. They don’t actually hate EVs, they hate people like you who demand everyone to think…just like you do.

[@marshallhawkes785]

90+% of trips made by everyday individuals are under 250m. I’ve had a Tesla for almost a year and only charged at a super charger 2x. While he has a great point, there doesn’t need to be equal amounts of charge stations as gas stations, as everyday someone wakes up to get in their car it’s full. Therefore, every home in a way is a gas pump. But definitely need more charging stations in remote areas for those on long distance trips

[@timmot123]

Good interview, I agree, public charging is and will likely always have its limitations but in the end we have to stop buring fuel and electricity is the way forward so this is probably the price we have to pay

[@FJRudman]

The recharge anxiety is so true, I was recently given a Tesla Model Y rental as I was in a couple different cities for work. Holy damn it was genuinely frightening trying to find a charger, let alone a fast one, that was actually working with less than 10% charge left in the battery. I must say I really enjoyed driving it and really would consider owning one, but if/when you’re on a tight schedule and need a quick and reliable way of “topping up” the car in a pinch, at the moment it’s not a good way to go

[@rogerstarkey5390]

Where were you? The outer Hebrides? . Tesla alone has over 160 *supercharger* locations in the UK (plus destination chargers) and when you navigate to "a destination" will tell you where they are en-route, which one to use, how long to get there, how much charge (and range) you will have when you arrive, how long you will need to charge, and when you hit "navigate" will warm the pack to improve speed, plus it will indicate the facilities available. . As for "A couple of different cities", presumably you were in the area for "a while"? In which case the trick is to graze charge on a "slow" unit and top up while you "do something else". Then, assuming you were in "a couple of different (unspecified) cities in 1 day(?) they weren't going to be *too* far apart to allow actually making the appointments? Since you have about 300 miles in a Y, which equates to 5 hours average UK driving you would be "going some" to use that in a day without encountering somewhere to charge? I mean, did you stop for lunch? . I speak as a mobile service technician who may travel "between a couple of different cities" in a day, but always finds time for a 30 minute (or more) break at some point. It's "difficult" to do more than 200 miles in a day if you're actually being productive, spending time "on site". . Oh... As for finding one "working"... Tesla chargers have an "up time" of 99+% and your chances of finding a complete 8-24 charger site down are virtually zero. (Did I mention *they indicate the state of the chargers on the map* ?)

[@AdrianMeredith]

I had range anxiety for at most two weeks after buying my Tesla you soon realise there's no such thing. The nav computer is very good at estimating real range. If it says you can make you can make it. In any case superchargers are everywhere now

[@user-vx7vi3vq1c]

@@rogerstarkey5390Not everyone must live and think like you. Stop being an authoritarian.

[@FJRudman]

​@@rogerstarkey5390yeah um I'm in New Zealand haha. The number of charging stations are increasing, but the problem here is there are a lot of third party charging stations (hence the "not working" comment). And there were a couple stations the car directed me to simply didn't exist, which was not fun especially as I was not a local. And no, I wasn't in each city for "a while", I work in TV. Not sure how much you know about that industry but deadlines are not lenient, work days can get upwards of 15 hours depending on the project, and distances traveled can wildly vary on each job. On this particular occasion it happened to be a very long day with a lot of ground covered. So the combination of being in a unfamiliar place with unreliable charging stations that either didn't work or didn't exist, coupled with working in a full-throttle industry where the deadline was two hours ago is the reasoning to my original comment. Have a good day :)

[@FJRudman]

@@AdrianMeredithtotally agree, and with a good plan there shouldn't be a reason to run out of charge and be stranded. Having said that I live in New Zealand where superchargers aren't as common - we're still catching up down here!

[@billyhighfill]

Imagine logic and reasoning taking center stage. Well done boys. If only politicians could come to anything close to this 🏛️😯🏛️🏛️

[@SmartMart1658]

We already have more charging stations than petrol stations here in the UK. James is talking rubbish saying "we need a million EV charging stations". Electricity storage is NOT a problem now with current EV technology. The Lucid Air can do up to 520 miles on a single charge and the average daily commute is 20 - 30 miles. You can charge an electric car "ANYWHERE" where there is electricity - and you CANNOT charge a ICE vehicle "anywhere" - you have to find a fuel station (whereas in an EV you only need to find an electrical outlet eg., the nearest house). Electricity is more prolific than dirty fuel stations. I charge my Tesla Model Y at home and every day I have a full state of charge ready for up to 331 miles (WLPT) range. Cost to fill up at a supercharger is around £25 compared to £100 for my old dirty diesel. Cost to charge at home is a lot less - and when I get my solar panels this year it will be free. I used to be a "petrol head" but now I own an EV I will never go back to an ICE vehicle. They are faster, cheaper to run, low maintenance, more reliable, and better for the planet.

[@CM-vv8cv]

@@SmartMart1658 Classic EV evangelist ignorance. First off, there may be more charging stations if you count home charging, but if you compare that to how many people are catered to by charging points vs petrol stations, that's a HUGE gap. I have a driveway, I think EV's are great, I could charge one at home, wouldn't be a problem, I will likely buy an EV in the next decade or so (though, it'll be parked next to my Mustang GT, because being a petrolhead is a passion, not something that just vanishes when convenient.) Does everyone share my fortunate situation? No. Many people can't even park on the road directly in front of their house, the infrastructure required to bring home charging to everyone is insanely expensive and would indeed require millions of charging ports, unless you're ignorant to the situation of people who aren't as privileged as yourself. Many people have cheap hatchbacks, often used, and refuel them in minutes. Electric cars are barely as affordable, although I like some options such as the Fiat 500e, that's still a car many in this country can't afford. Currently, EV charging stations are not perfect, and they're growing increasingly expensive too, for many people working two jobs, the time is not workable. The fact is, for millions of people in this country, your situation is alien to them, and wouldn't work for them. They DO need to charge away from home, they DO lack time, they WOULD struggle with charging stations that grow increasingly busy. They are faster if you buy expensive, although I have yet to see Top Fuel drag racing become Top Battery racing. They are cheaper to run if you're wealthier and can afford one, which many can't. They're better for the environment (if you ignore the effects of lithium mining, and the way electricity is made), but so is a Bus, yet you don't take that, do you? You've done nothing but prove what we already know, for some they're ideal and can work, but for those some - they think everyone shares their situation with the ignorance we've grown used to in EV evangelists. More investment in public transport would be better, not shoving everyone into an EV. James is spot on.

[@bigglyguy8429]

@@SmartMart1658 You're talking cost, while getting subsidies and tax breaks. Once your EV is charged per mile and by weight you'll be crying for your proper car back

[@iamsuperflush]

@@bigglyguy8429 Lol if you actually paid the fully unsubsidized price for gasoline, you'd be paying $12-$15 a gallon

[@bigglyguy8429]

@@iamsuperflush Pay by weight... by mile or km... ready for that? Is ya? Is ya?

[@Thunderbuck]

I respect Mr May’s point about the need for MUCH more available charging. Much of that infrastructure needs to go where there is significant “dwell time”, i.e. places where people are spending significant time like restaurants, hotels, workplaces, and shopping centers. This can serve to reduce the demand on DC fast chargers and free them up for those who are traveling longer distances. EVs are already an order of magnitude better than they were even a decade ago. Range, charging speed, and cost have all improved considerably. There’s no reason to think this progress is going to halt now that there’s a valid market out there.

[@colin_a]

Very well said.. He sums it up so well... "the ambition is way ahead of the technology"

[@NosferatuandFriends]

I've waited in line 15-20 minutes to refill the tank on my car before. Imagine how long the wait would be if everybody had EVs even with 30 minute charge times. Only 24 hours in a day.

[@twjackson94]

Dont have to. there was a video recently of a cold snap causing 24 hr lines at a charger. I think it was in chicago. EVs dont do well in cold weather. They can even discharge themselves.

[@dizzy_derps]

It's a chicken and egg thing. If everyone had EV's there would be more charging stations. It's not as if the first ICE cars appeared and there were immediately fueling stations on every corner.

[@NosferatuandFriends]

@@dizzy_derps But there are fueling stations on every corner and I've still had to wait 20 minutes before.

[@oojimmyflip]

The problem is that the goverment are expecting the private sector to pick up the bill for millions of EV chrgers, there is no local council funding because they are all bankrupt or skint , the infrastructure is just not going to be there in time.

[@stefanpredl6849]

@@twjackson94 which all would have been avoided if most of them just put the charger into the nav so it can preheat

[@ThorfinnSkullsplitter-fz7ff]

Good to see you James! Miss you and your crew from back in the Top Gear days. Cheers!

[@pioneer7777777]

Fairly good points. I personally feel like the bit of inconvenience of waiting for charging occasionally is worth the ability to vastly reduce fossil fuel burning. The savings really add up over the hundreds of thousands of small journeys. I save about $500 per year running my EV vs a gas car. Over a driving career (age 20 to 75), at a 7% return that's $236,000 of savings. Times that by two for a couple. That really adds up.

[@ricciobrown2937]

You are not looking at the entire picture. Your ‘savings’ (and more) are simply the money you need to spend for EV premium (battery maintenance and purchase price vs ICE cars). At present, EVs make financial sense only for a small minority of households with very specific needs and , most importantly, with abundant means.

[@dogsbodyish8403]

Very reasonable and well reasoned description of the state of play at the moment. But I would add that battery technology is developing faster than has been previously assumed, which may point to a brighter/nearer future for BEVs. ...Though infrastructure (generation/distribution and recharging points) is lagging behind - so the large-battery requirement will persist for a while...

[@yafmaverick]

Worst thing about this is not infrastructure or time to charge, it is idiocracy of having to download an app and register and do all kind of fiddling for each charging point, and the pain in the ass of not being able to download the app if you’re using the car abroad (ex. Rent a car) because your phone’s app store is in different country than the one you’re in. It only, and only, makes sense if you’re using the car in the city and you have your own charger at home connected to a residential battery storage which is connected to solar panels, which all together costs more than the car and you just can’t justify the price. It literally nothing makes sense.

[@darekmistrz4364]

I think that EU already put a regulation that each newly published charging point should be able to accept a normal bank card as payment.

[@allentechpt9026]

@@darekmistrz4364 I just want to pay cash.

[@notverygoodguy]

Sadly that is the beauty of the Tesla Supercharging system. You rock up in any country, plug in and drive away. Tesla charge your payment card based on the ID of the car you plugged in. I presume this is the same for non Tesla's at superchargers but I don't know.

[@rbnhd1144]

And someone always has a dam answer to try n prove you wrong, so full of hope, so full of themselves thinking they are smarter, its always a frustration conversation as we all have different needs., I truly dont have a cell phone so that's another expense for me, Huhhhh.

[@darekmistrz4364]

@@notverygoodguy unfortunately non-Tesla experience on SC is exactly the same like any other on non-SC.

[@eddcosterton5531]

To charge 50kw battery in 3 mins would take 740amps at 600v, which would necessitate a cable about the size of your leg, multiplied by the number of charging points at any one site, times by the number of sites within range of one transformer i.e. not possible currently

[@calj2405]

Let's imagine that 99% of cars turned electric tomorrow, do we really think the UK power network is capable of supporting that?

[@asicdathens]

The 350kW charging cables are liquidcooled to be sensible in diameter. And CCS2 goes up to 700 kW with reasonable thickness cables

[@wimjansenarch]

And where is the electricity coming from? Imagine every carowner charging his car at 18.00PM....

[@didierpuzenat7280]

Why would you need to charge in 3 minutes ? At home you have all the night, and on a trip after more than 2 hours of driving a 15 minutes break is just safe.

[@didierpuzenat7280]

@@calj2405 I cannot speak for the UK, but in France according to the grid regulator (RTE) the answers is definitively yes. Just because a car is parked most of the time, so the charge can take place when electricity production is higher from demand, and it is already the case because electricity is cheaper when demand is low.

[@Blubbaization]

How can he say that even supercharger network is not enough? I live in germany and I own a Tesla, I usually drive past like 4 to 5 Superchargers till I have to actually use one of them, if you have one single charging card as a backup this like doubles (if you take ionity and enbw into account for example), so I realy dont understand this nonesense. Chargingstations around the Autbahn are literally everywhere. Charging time, yes I understand this, I have to charge like 20-30 minutes and I am fine with this but I understand that this is too long for many ppl. I would also like to see around 10-15 minutes and I am sure in the near future this will be the case.

[@solentbum]

I remember having severe range anxiety in the past , late on a Sunday afternoon in rural Wales, there were no open petrol stations to be found. It was perhaps my fault for not planning ahead. An advantage of EV chargers is that the majority are available 24/7, and easily found. Things change all of the time.

[@marky147]

I am just awaiting arrival of my first EV, and have found it quite the minefield researching to see if it would work ok for me. It is eally nice to see a conversation without entrenched views from each side or another. The only reason I'm getting an EV, is that the majority of my miles are done within a ~30m radius, and I am able to have a charger fitted at home. Were my travel habits as they were prior to 2018, involving the majority of them being done on the motorway. I'd be getting another ICE.

[@mjaymo]

Try charging outside of the Tesla network. Utilisation has increased so much that you often find 20 minute waiting times to charge your car for 20 minutes to do 200 miles. (If you have something that charges at over 200kwh)

[@AbrahamArthemius]

The biggest evidence of this sh*tshow was Car Expert's latest video on how awful the charging experience in the US. They were trying to charge their Rivian for a video on charging but queues upon queues on hours on end just makes it not feasible, some people had to resort to sleep on their car, some people deliberately park their car & not put the charging cable fully just to get that parking space, and so on. At the end, they just switch the Rivian with the RAV4 Prime (Plug-In Hybrid) to do the video instead.

[@davidwhiteman4649]

Correct. We have a Tesla Model 3 and a Volvo C40 recharge. On the few occasions we have driven the Volvo beyond its 210 mile range finding a fast, working charger without a queue has been a shitshow. We don’t bother doing journeys of more than 150 miles in it now. Having said that Tesla superchargers are getting busier and busier as they haven’t built them fast enough to keep up with Model Y sales. We queued at a French service station for the superchargers and observed two guys almost come to blows when one them felt the other had jumped the queue. Who needs that hassle on top of a 14 hour drive across France? That’s why we are going back to hybrid when the EV leases finish.

[@thefiestaguy8831]

Still far too long. I can literally go to a fuel station, fill up my entire tank, go for a piss, browse the drinks aisle for a bottled drink, go and pay in and have done all that in 5 minutes or less. Imagine standing around waiting for 20 minutes for someone to pick you up, or waiting 20 minutes for your food to cook - it's a long time when you want it now. Now imagine waiting 20 minutes sat in your car waiting for it to charge, and that's only a partial charge, and that's if you even get to the charger before someone else does.

[@mikeh2006]

What puts me off is the initial cost and silly depreciation. The fact that the batteries are terribly expensive so buying a car out of warranty seems risky. And the fact you need to wait for ages if someone is already on a charger you need. Luckily I have a drive so I could have a charger fitted, but not everyone has a drive. If my ICE car needs work, I can do it on the drive and get parts pretty cheap. I'm not brilliant with electronics though and I have little knowledge of electric motors, so fixing an EV would certainly be more of a challenge to me

[@michaelking8573]

There's plenty of Tesla chargers and if you are able to charge up at home with a 300 mile range on mine only needs to get charged at a public charger only 4 times per year. It also tells you how many chargers are free in real time.

[@andljoy]

The idea is not to get your into an EV , the idea is to get everyone onto the bus.

[@origaminefretami3480]

Finally, someone with common sense. EVs will never work for everyone, and thats not the plan anyway.

[@stephenhoskins1532]

The real question to ask is why are we allowing a government to ban our existing form of ICE transport ? If they can get away with that what is next?

[@stevengagnon4777]

I was looking for this comment. Well the governments will be able to get away with alot more once they get the poeple off the roads and hyways. This is of course the goal...restrict movement and ultimately restrict freedom. They hate GOD ! They will do anything to harm his Sheep !

[@squeaksvids5886]

The biggest issue with EVs is charging them at home if you live in flats or a row of terraces and you have to park the car in the road. I nearly tripped over a cable that had been left across the path at night.

[@reneeandchrisforever]

You don’t get it. These are not for poor people. They are for the elites. A way to control who gets to move around freely and who doesn’t.

[@richardsawyer5428]

Exactly. If that were me, the little charmers round my way would nick the cable and flog the copper.

[@FFVoyager]

Yes, terrace housing and flats without access fo an EV charger will become less valuable property in the future. Homes with charging (and solar) will have a much better resale potential.

[@Elgsdyr]

I live in a flat and there are charging points right outside my window. It's a simple and relatively cheap technology so I don't see why it shouldn't become available everywhere.

[@thefiestaguy8831]

You are the exception. I live on the edge of London... almost NONE of the newly built flats where I live even in a 10 mile radius have fast chargers outside of them. Most building developers spend a fortune building the flats, they don't then go and plant 5 EV chargers outside at tremendous cost to them in the vain hope that anyone who can afford the price of the flat might also then have a spare £30k to waste on an electric car. @@Elgsdyr

[@ahorton6786]

He touched on an important point, EVs are OK as a second car for rich people.

[@OneWheelMan]

They're also great as an only car for not rich people.

[@cmdrdredd]

@@OneWheelManno they aren’t. They are inconvenient at best.

[@ZombieSlayer-dj3wb]

Basicllay a toy

[@sirhenrymorgan65]

@@OneWheelMan No, they aren't. EV are extremely expensive and they only make sense if your have the luxury of home charging. For many people who are lower income, they have no access to private home charging because they live in apartments or have shared arrangements.

[@MrPokination]

@@OneWheelManif the hypothetical tiny electric car with a 100 mile range actually existed in western countries then yes, they would be great but so far these tiny people movers are exclusively sold in small pockets in various different markets spread across the globe. the english speaking world is left with the expensive bevs that just don't make sense to own as a daily driver

[@MichaelSeibert]

I guess the best way to solve this, in my view, is this: Everyone who can already make the BEV work in their everyday life should. Everyone who is stuck in a town with no public infrastructure and so on - wait a bit longer. The former group is probably about 50 % of the nation. The latter will continuously shrink.

[@rogerphelps9939]

Hope so.

[@MoneySavingVideos]

In a gasoline car 100% of fueling is done on the highway. In an EV 90% of fueling is done at home at night.

[@jedoka]

If the majority of your journeys are within the range of an electric car then they make sense - however if you do a lot of long distances or cannot charge at home then they are almost impossible to justify currently. Why not let people make their own mind up what suits them and then let the technology catch up over time.

[@usefulrandom1855]

The thing is the majority of journeys are well within electric car range. 18 miles per day is the average distance driven, if you can install a homecharger or plug in at work it makes total sense. No ability to charge at home/work then Tesla is next best bet if near a Supercharger. If not then it makes little sense as other charging networks are way more expensive.

[@HammerHeart3229]

'Why not let people make their own mind up what suits them and then let the technology catch up over time.' Because people in positions of power (I.e. Politicians, scientists, experts etc) are telling the public that we're in a climate emergency, the world is going to burst into flames very soon and the end is nigh unless we all switch to clean energy and electric cars. Although I agree with what you're saying though, let the individual decide what is best for them in the meantime until the technology is more viable!

[@12alocin]

Problem is that EV evangilists won't let you "Make up your own mind", they demand that they are correct, and you must buy an EV now!@@HammerHeart3229

[@environm3ntalist549]

have you ever heard of the tragedy of the commons? Individuals are inherently selfish and relying on individuals to make decisions in the public interest for everyone else wont happen. That's why we need wider intervention on individual decisions.@@HammerHeart3229

[@Redmenace96]

For the govt. to get involved and mandate economic change has never worked in history. It will be a fiasco and cause more damage than it cures.

[@cikame]

Something i've noticed is that rich people don't tend to talk about the cost. I know i'm missing something because whenever i look it up i get the answer "EV batteries last around 10 years and it costs £7-9k to replace them", i've heard of battery subscription services and apparently some manufacturers have a warranty on their batteries for 7-10 years, but screw buying a 2nd hand EV if you have to replace the battery in 2 years. I've probably spent around £2k on repairs for my 2004 Polo.

[@TheLastCrusader22]

My dad (and me, to be fair) have never spent more than the rough equivalent (not being British) of 2500 pounds on a car. The house I was raised in is worth a fair bit less than most (all, really) modern EVs cost (my dad having paid the equivalent of about 30 000 pounds for it in 1995). In short, EVs are fantasy to me as well as to most ordinary people from the countryside I know. Not to mention range issues, I mean here in Scandinavia you're likely looking at half the officially stated range during winter time, if that

[@CarShopping101]

£7-9k for a battery replacement is not realistic. There are a couple videos on KZbin about battery replacements for the Hyundai Ioniq 5s in Canada that were very slightly damaged and the dealer quoted $60k CAD (including labor charges) to replace the batteries. $60k CAD is about £34,593. I've also seen battery replacements for Teslas here in the U.S. and the quoted prices including labor start in the low $20k range USD. $22k USD is about £17,119.

[@darekmistrz4364]

@@CarShopping101 You are talking about new vehicles. It's the same estimate like new engine for a BMW that you bought off the salon floor last year, it will be about the same price (20k for low power one, and 60k for high power one)

[@cikame]

@@CarShopping101 I remember that couple in Scotland whose battery was destroyed by "rain damage" and that was £30k or something, no idea what that was about.

[@SimTrackDays]

On Point.@@CarShopping101

[@bjrnerlingchristophersen1148]

You forget one thing. You go to petrol stations all the time. You charge mostly at home. So you go to charge when you need to go more than 250 -300 miles. How often do you do that? Most people 3-4 times a year. The problem is not there for home chargers. So what we need is home chargers for those who live in apartment buildings.

[@patty109109]

Yep, for anyone who has owned an electric car this is such an obvious counterpoint. It’s amazing more people don’t appreciate it. We do over 100 miles/day on our model 3 including all winter long. Almost all charging is done in the garage.

[@grahamf695]

Being able to charge at home is wonderful - no more time wasting trips to the petrol/gas station, no more petrol or diesel dribbled down the side of the car, or on my hands... A relative lives in an apartment and he has been able to install a charger in the underground car park. Still I appreciate that not every one who lives in an apartment can do this.

[@matthewd6306]

EVs make sense for people that can charge at home and rarely road trip more than 200mi a day. Which is probably half of American Adults.

[@ejr5480]

I miss these guys shows! They were great, especially all the trips.

[@Markycarandbikestuff]

Guy i work with has an electric Peugeot, he only lives two miles from work and has a charging point at home so works well for him, it's a 2020 (i think ?), recently the equivalent of the engine management light came on, said "charging system error", took it to the dealer, fault was some kind of charging module, bill for repair was £3000, and it was just out of warranty (or the warranty didn't cover the part/repair ?), he kicked off as the car had done less that 8000 miles, after a bit of arguing Peugeot agreed to repair it as "good will", apparently though it's becoming a common issue. As these cars are becoming a bit older the massive repair bills will start to come in.

[@rbnhd1144]

And the bills will be Big, electronics are not cheap even for ICE Vehicles.

[@peanuts2105]

Two miles to work? I would walk or cycle! I draw the line taking the bus because nobody wants to be a bus wanker

[@FFVoyager]

2 miles from work? A bicycle would work for him!

[@Markycarandbikestuff]

@@peanuts2105 I would walk too TBH, to be fair he did have a bike crash years ago so i think he has bother with his leg. My point was though if he lived 40 miles from work and only had street parking the electric car probably wouldn't be practical.

[@thefiestaguy8831]

That's what happens when you buy an EV, and a French one at that.

[@stephenauty2402]

No mention of the National Grid. 20-30 million cars being charged daily (not to mention another 10 million vans and 3 million lorries) , we don't have the cable for it let alone the surplus power to go down it. Yes night time charging is great but very soon that will become more expensive than the day...not sure people realise the amount of energy required to charge an EV. A gallon of diesel or petrol has an immense amount.

[@theoneandyt]

In the day the national grid is busy powering all of Britain's businesses and industry - the energy involved is vast. At night this drops significantly, leaving plenty of space to charge EVs while power stations and wind turbines keep generating. If everyone charges in the day I can see it being an issue, but at night it's likely to be fine.

[@stephenauty2402]

@@theoneandyt Correct but lets say we have 20million EV's all charging at night and all drawing 50KW , that's 1TW of electricity or 1billion watts and that isn't including vans and other light commercials. We don't need to worry about lorries , heavy plant etc because they will be running on diesel for many more years, same goes for aircraft that need to carry more than 1 small person more than 100miles. I understand wind farms are being built out at sea in huge numbers which is perfect but a TW is an incredible amount of power. Electric motors , internal combustion engines and even batteries have not really changed much in 100yrs , they've become more efficient certainly but our lifestyles dictate we will be using all of them for many more years. I'm 53 and since a child we were told oil would run out very soon !!

[@theoneandyt]

@@stephenauty2402 But why would they all want to charge on the same night? That's like predicting all petrol cars decide to fill up with petrol on the same day... theoretically it could happen, but it never will because most cars end the day with fuel in the tank. And fuel would simply run out at petrol stations. Your maths stacks up, but the scenario is totally implausible. Average journey length in the UK is under 10 miles a day - even if EVs of the future only have an average range of 200 miles (which they won't) that's many days where people have no reason to charge. And finally, home chargers are 7.4kw.

[@stephenauty2402]

@@theoneandyt I meant 50KW/hrs ( 7.4kw for several hours) , I thought you would know that. Time will tell regarding EV's but things have a way of correcting themselves and EV sales have pretty much stopped dead for various reasons (issues with charging being one as stated in this video) The mining of Africa by China on a monumental scale and the destruction of the environment caused by that is enough to stop me buying anything powered by Lithium. I have an 18yr old Mercedes estate and I'll be keeping it as long as I can, it does 650miles on a tank and takes 3mins to fill up.

[@theoneandyt]

@@stephenauty2402 @stephenauty2402 Ah OK, well if you're talking about KWh the UK already produces over 325TWh energy each year - add my point about most EVs not charging anything like every night and the fact a chunk of charging is off peak.... This isn't a problem. I respect you wanting to keep the old car for longer, that's got environmental benefits (although if it's diesel many asthmatics might disagree!). Mining of lithium and cobalt etc isn't just in Africa, it isn't just by the Chinese as big British/American companies are often leading the race, it isn't just used in EVs but many many devices we take for granted (including normal cars). The sad thing is it hasn't learned the lessons of oil and the exploitation of the earth and communities continues. I hope if you get to buying a new car you'll reject combustion engines, based on the terrible issues with the oil industry which we got used to turning a blind eye to. Trouble is, what do you do then? Maybe everyone needs a bike.

[@stevep927]

I own a Honda Accord hybrid which utilizes gasoline and a battery in a seamless manner. Close to 50 mph in a full size sedan with ample power. This is the way to go

[@andrewhotston983]

It comes to something when listening to a few minutes of carefully considered conversation is a rare and wonderful thing. Excellent interview.

[@kevinashurst634]

listen very carefully to what he said. This has been edited.

[@SmartMart1658]

We already have more charging stations than petrol stations here in the UK. James is talking rubbish saying "we need a million EV charging stations". Electricity storage is NOT a problem now with current EV technology. The Lucid Air can do up to 520 miles on a single charge and the average daily commute is 20 - 30 miles. You can charge an electric car "ANYWHERE" where there is electricity - and you CANNOT charge a ICE vehicle "anywhere" - you have to find a fuel station (whereas in an EV you only need to find an electrical outlet eg., the nearest house). Electricity is more prolific than dirty fuel stations. I charge my Tesla Model Y at home and every day I have a full state of charge ready for up to 331 miles (WLPT) range. Cost to fill up at a supercharger is around £25 compared to £100 for my old dirty diesel. Cost to charge at home is a lot less - and when I get my solar panels this year it will be free. I used to be a "petrol head" but now I own an EV I will never go back to an ICE vehicle. They are faster, cheaper to run, low maintenance, more reliable, and better for the planet. If I couldn't charge at home eg., if I lived in a flat then I would drive to my local Tesla supercharger and fill up there - same process as filling up at a petrol station. Anyone leaving a charging cable across a public footpath will be liable for any accidents as a result of such stupidity. There are however simple solutions to this problem - you may be able to apply to the council to have a charging cable channel cut into the pavement - see Fully Charged episode titled "A shareable, beginners guide to electric cars with Maddie Moate | Fully Charged" and wwwDOTchargegullyDOTcom

[@andrewhotston983]

@@SmartMart1658 Rubbish. From your very first sentence. You've been brainwashed.

[@davidwhiteman4649]

Like James May we have both. We have a Tesla Model 3, a Volvo C40 electric and a little petrol Hyundai i10. The real world range of the three cars is 270 miles, 210 miles and 430 miles respectively. This makes the little Hyundai much more relaxing to drive as you simply don’t have to “think” about range. We do drive the Tesla to the Alps a few times a year and at best I would describe that experience as “OK” but at worst a “massive ballache”. When the French farmers recently blockaded the highways we were stuck in solid traffic through back roads and nearly ran out of battery in the Tesla. We limped into a supercharger station on 1% battery remaining. Anxiety levels were through the roof. So much so that we have decided to replace the Tesla with a diesel or a hybrid when its lease ends.

[@realbangau]

According to EV fans, such emergency will never arise. I had an EV, and I think they are great but it has many limitations and freedom of traveling really depends on your charge and charger availability.

[@philliptemple9841]

I got stuck in the French blockades turning a 4 hour journey into an 8 hour trek and had no problem with my Telsa. It automatically rerouted me at each obstacle and I charged each time with no trouble. The thing about electric cars is that you can be stuck for hours in traffic and you don't use any energy. If you don't move then you don't lose "fuel" like a normal car stuck in traffic. btw when you hit 0% you still have a 40km reserve. My last range anxiety was coming back from a ski resort where there are no chargers and in theory I wouldn't be able to make it back on the charge I would have. I trusted my Tesla and because of it being downhill the regen braking meant I got to the charger on the way back with 25% battery still left! Phillip.

[@JumpinJackF]

How many people do you think will drive "to the alps a few times a year" - from the UK? This is an irrelevant use case for 99.99% of the people. Just get a Diesel for those trips if you really have to do them by car and have range anxiety. For me, such trips would just be a pain in the ass in any kind of car.

[@philliptemple9841]

@@JumpinJackF I can do cross country with my EV no problem but then I don't live in the UK any more. I've heard about how catastrophically bad things are there and yes you are better off with a diesel. With Sunak cancelling the push towards EV I cannot see things getting any better there this decade. Phillip.

[@jakewillits4678]

The duranged pro ev culists insist to me to tell you that you running out of battery simply is indeed not a problem. 🤡💩

[@patty109109]

I am on my fourth plug in car. 98% of my charging is at home. We’re putting 40k+ miles on our model 3 per year without issue.

[@mikenco]

The truth about what is stopping MOST people getting an EV is the ridiculous price. A small cheap car like a Vauxhall Corsa should be CHEAP, not 30 grand! In 2022 6.7 million used cars were purchased compared to 1.6 million new cars.

[@farmerned6]

As there's never going to be (on current rate of progress) Practical EV Farm/Plant/HGV's (Practical in Farm terms is 3-400hp CONSTANT Load, that can work harvest hours (18 hours min) and recharge in a field) what's going to power them?

[@darekmistrz4364]

A cable. There are already farms that use electric equipment and many of these devices/vechicles are simply powered by a long cable. Farming is pretty easy because it's done in one specific location where infrastructure can be prepared. There are orchards where a cable infrastructure is set up and electric fruit gathering vehicles are powered by cables.

[@solrubrum]

A cable? Hahahahahahaha! This is by far the most ignorant, or possibly insane, comment I have read in 2024.

[@kevinpeters5000]

This seems like a weirdly specific, fringe use case. I suggest we would be better off concentrating on the millions of cars on the road first where we can have the biggest impact. As the technology improves we can start applying it to additional use-cases. That said there are already some options available from the likes of JCB and John Deere that may suit SOME use-cases.

[@solrubrum]

@kevinpeters5000 cars and freight trucks only account for 9-10% of yearly emissions depending on the country. It's insane to focus on that and not the other 90%. 40-50% comes from energy production. If we greened the Sahara, we would have global net zero emissions without changing anything.

[@dansanger5340]

@@solrubrum That would be crazy. But, cars and trucks are not the only thing they're focusing on. There has been massive investment in wind and solar, to the point that solar is now the cheapest form of new bulk power generation there is. There's also been lots of investment in energy storage, including batteries, where there's a lot of overlap with EVs.

[@johnhaynes9910]

Totally agree with James, the real problem with EVs is the time it takes to recharge them rather than their range or lack of.

[@jackmorganfiftyfive]

The lack of range gets in the way when once a year you want to make a longer journey or you occasionally want to tow a trailer. When you are well off and subscribe to the 15 minute city then EVs are perfect.

[@johnhaynes9910]

@@jackmorganfiftyfiveMmm... Not quite sure what you are saying there. My main point is wholly about the time it takes to recharge, EVs themselves I have no problem with apart from the weight of them :) I was sitting at a supermarket petrol station the otherday, it was busy and they had card payment on the pump so a pretty slick operation with fast turnaround of probably 4 mins a sale so one 'refuling station' was servicing 15 customers per hour as opposed to 2/3 per hour for EVs. I don't know the number of petrol stations/pumps that exist but whatever it is we need x5 or x7 the number of working chargers for EVs and that doesn't make economic sense.

[@TheCreamRisesToTheTop]

But that’s only a problem on long road trips. Daily use you have a full battery every single time you leave your house.

[@johnhaynes9910]

@@TheCreamRisesToTheTop Yes if you have a drive and can plug it in every night but where we need EVs most is in the city where for perhaps over 50% of people don't have that luxury. No problem in the 'burbs' :)

[@Israelipropaganda]

@@johnhaynes9910 You are aware most ev's are charged at home overnight at very cheap rates.

[@Art-is-craft]

The real issue is that governments are trying to force electric cars to market instead of allowing them to develop on their own. Imagine governments decided to get behind mobile phones in the early 1970s and punished those with landlines.

[@ozturert]

In Norway, having an EV is a boon. Especially if you have a home charger (or can charge at office). On a long trip, you just have a 30-min break every 2-3 hours which I'd do with an ICE anyway. Plus, I need long range only 3-4 times in a year.

[@adonisnetworks]

We barely scrape through most winters on our powergrid , there's no way the extra transmission infrastructure and electricity generation will be in place for 20 to 30 million EV cars! In a 100 years let alone 10 to 15 years time.

[@MrAdopado]

Are you talking about the UK? Look at the information that comes from the people who run the national grid in terms of generation. Don't make assumptions without checking some real numbers. Actually generation, though challenging, is the somewhat easier part. The bigger challenge is localised infrastructure. It would be helped by a pro-active government but don't hold your breath on that one. Ironically it is often red tape rather than costs which is holding things up.

[@glennet9613]

In Switzerland they are putting chargers in village car parks and rest stops on freeways, not just fuel stations but the ones with just toilets so you are never more than a few kilometres from a charger. It sounds as though Britain is wedded to the old fashioned fuel station model but chargers don’t need large underground tanks which need refilling, all you need is to be near a power line.

[@timrothwell33]

"It sounds as though Britain is wedded to the old fashioned fuel station model". No, it's not. Chargers are situated in a large variety of places.

[@glennet9613]

I have watched this and several other videos about EV’s in Britain and they constantly moan about the difficulty of finding a charging station, having to go out of their way, broken chargers etc. and having to use an app of charging locations to plan their journey. One guy made a big deal of driving from John O’Groats to Lands End in his EV.

[@timrothwell33]

@@glennet9613 that's because the people who just go to an EV charger and charge don't make videos

[@thetriumphsprint]

It sounds simple. All you need is to be near a power line? The electrical power grid is designed to deliver certain voltages to a particular area. Industrial areas tend to have large substations situated nearby, so they can deliver high voltages to site, to be transformed, to say, 440v 3-phase. Village car parks and the like don't have the need to draw that much power, so infrastructure was installed to suit. So, to provide a few high speed chargers, say at 200-350kwh means infrastructure must first be upgraded, from the charger, all the way back to at least the nearest substation, which itself may need upgrades.

[@glennet9613]

I live in rural Switzerland and I notice that a couple of chargers have been installed in the car parks in most villages, including ours. I don’t believe two chargers in even a small village will be putting a significant extra load on the village supply. When I drive along the freeway most of the parking area signs, every forty km or so show that there are chargers, usually four, and if I stop for a pee they are usually empty.

[@paul23238]

I rented a model 3 for a couple weeks to test it out. I sold cars for a living and worked for several major car companies so I know cars. The model 3 is a superior car in most ways and except for luxury, the car is not built tough enough, lots of rattling over bumps, hard ride but that will come with time. Overall it feels like a massive go kart. For charging it very cheap, like $3 overnight for 75% tank. The gas savings are substantial. Two things you would worry about, running out of battery then having to sit for 30m to charge(you'll have buyers remorse because fast charging is almost as expensive as gas, like $25 and 1 hour for 50% tank) and more importantly battery degradation. battery replacement is around 9-15k depending. Overall I would buy one for city use. I wouldn't recommend one for highway and long distance driving. Battery will just drain quickly. Own one and if you're going on a long trip rent a dinosaur ICE vehicle. I think that's the path.

[@hacob2004]

I think changing the term from range anxiety to charging anxiety is the perfect description of what's going on. It's the uncertainty of so many things when you need to recharge that's the real issue. 1: You have to hope that the charging stations are perfectly lined up for your trip. If they aren't then you are needlessly charging too often and wasting time. 2: Every charging session can be a wildly different experience because there are many factors at play. EVs charge at different rates depending on the current state of charge so you often don't receive the maximum charging speeds that are quoted by manufacturers. The charging curve is also heavily dependent upon the temperature of your battery which is negatively affected by both hot and cold temperatures. You really need to live in a California like climate to have the goldilocks conditions required to charge at maximum efficiency. Even still, most EV buyers don't know anything about charging curves and will pull into a 350kw charger in a vehicle that can only accept 50kw and effectively block up the station. 3: You are also dependent on the reliability of the charging station itself which varies wildly depending on who operates it. Non-supercharger networks are notorious for being having problems with even being able to start a charging session. Constant payment failures, handshake failures with the car, and full-on outages are not uncommon at all. It would be ridiculous to an ICE driver to be required to have an app to fill up at a Shell station or whetever but that is often required at EV charging stations. Even the Tesla supercharger network, which is by far the best in the world, is unable to provide the full power that the car is able to accept if the station is full because the chargers share power and only have so much that can be provided in total at one time. 4: Home charging alleviates much of this, but you are then dealing with charging that takes many hours to complete. What happens when you get home from work and with a relatively low battery that you plug into your level 2 charger that will finish charging 8 hours from now and you suddenly have an emergency of any kind that requires more range than is currently available? Are you supposed to drive to the nearest fast charger and hope it works and still sit there for 15 minutes to be able to reach your destination? 5: Fast charging continues to get more and more expensive. It is not uncommon for fast charging to be an insignificant savings over gas and yet you don't get the benefit of a 4-minute fill up. I'm an early adopter type that understands the cons of this and might be willing to deal with it for the pros of an EV, but there is no way that any of this is ready for the mainstream yet. As James mentioned, the adoption rate of EVs far exceeds the buildout of the infrastructure necessary to service it. This is a market that needs to be allowed to mature naturally, but emissions standards and tax credits are creating a problem that is going to hit hard in the near future.

[@oliverreedslovechild]

James said his diesel Polo will easily 450 miles on a tank. I've hired a diesel Skoda Fabia which had a 1450 engine that was about 6/7 years old from a local firm that rents out older cars and that easily did roughly 650 miles on a tank. I've got a heavy right foot and the first time I hired one it covered 850+ miles in six days, around the West country, hardly any on a motorway and averaged 69 mpg! When my present lease is finished on my Skoda Kamiq 1.0, nice as it is, I'm going for an older diesel car.

[@billgreen576]

I can get close to 1000 mile with my Volvo V60 diesel 2 litre.

[@billgreen576]

@@foppo101 That is just too emotive. The children I see are all vaping like crazy so don't tell me my high mpg is damaging their lungs. The evidence for that is very weak indeed.

[@os3990]

You do realize good mpg means lower emissions right...?​@@foppo101

[@snviper]

It doesn't matter. My tank is full every morning. For medium trips I supercharge less than 10 times a year and for very long trips I take the plane.

[@billgreen576]

@@foppo101 Are these children who seem to be vaping themselves to an early grave?

[@queden1841]

In the Netherlands the power grid can't handle people charging their cars when they come home from work at the end of the day 😅

[@bigfist255]

That what I said once there's to many people charging overnight ,it won't be off peak anymore ,ipso facto it's gonna get expensive.

[@Deanonroof]

This is a silly concern - one of the (many) reasons EVs are great is because we don't need to charge them immediately upon arriving home. Dynamic charging will have huge benefits for the energy system - spreading demand over the evening, soaking up power when it's cheap and dynamically responding to grid dynamics as required.

[@mcbean1]

@@Deanonroof Please, have you not spent any time around other humans? of course we don't need to charge them immediately upon arriving home, but that is exactly what they will do, with an expectation that it starts charging.

[@bmw803]

I bet the Dutch power grid is far superior to our worn out antiquated shit grid in the U.S. we could have a brand new grid years ago, but we wasted our $$$ on useless wars. Iraq and Afghanistan would have paid for it easily

[@nonegone7170]

The grid can't handle it because power companies have been scalping the grid and the people for decades now. Isn't privatization just swell?

[@ka0t1k1]

My concerns with electric vehicles are 1. Faulty batteries totaling the vehicle 2. Authoritarian control over the charging network 3. They can lock me out of my car and its features at any time 4. Lengthy charge times

[@Spideynw]

Basically, anyone that can’t install a home charger, is traveling, cares about the environment, wants to tow stuff, wants a vehicle that doesn’t depreciate massively, wants cheaper insurance and repair bills, wants safety, wants to quickly fill their tank to 100%, wants a vehicle that doesn’t lose range over time, doesn’t want a stupid EV.

[@kevinpeters5000]

This sort of balanced, well reasoned discussion about BEVs makes me sick. I much prefer we just all pick a side and then selectively choose anecdotes and data to support our cause and stick to it at all costs.

[@brunorivademar5356]

Exactly. And the fact is the data does not look good on EV's. Indeed it looks absolutely terrible no matter how hard people try to justify EV's

[@kevinpeters5000]

@@brunorivademar5356 Right on brother! You've obviously already picked a side and are going to stick to it. Now, tell us what data you're going to selectively choose in order to prove your point!

[@sittinandthinkin]

I like the idea of electric cars. It will take some getting used to. I don't like government forcing transition numbers and dates on industry and society. The transition from horse to gasoline automobiles involved finding the way amongst diesel, steam and electric. It involved the development of technology and harvesting resources like steel, lumber, oil, and rubber. Very little of that was done by government dictates. It was driven by people saying "We want this", AND business saying "This is what we can do." Furthermore it all took decades to develop.

[@didierpuzenat7280]

Ever heard of climate warming ? Anyway, no government is "forcing" you to buy an EV. But sure, buying a *new* ICE car will probably be banned in 2035, because a car in on the road for at least 15 years and we need net zero by 2050.

[@TheLastCrusader22]

Batteries are an inherently unstable resource though. Unstable as in, the materials used to create them come from appallingly exploited workers in Africa, and as in they are fantastically unreliable in cold climates like the one I am used to. Good luck getting half the official range of a Tesla where I'm from

[@100xasd]

Yup, best would be if governments just stopped forcing anyone and just let you choose for yourself.

[@GDM22]

@@TheLastCrusader22 That is rubbish, LFP batteries which are used by Tesla in their RWD models, BYD in all models, and increasingly by other manufacturers use no cobalt. Australia is the biggest supplier of Lithium, Africa doesn't feature in Lithium, Copper, Nickel or Phosphate production which makes up the main ingredients. Not sure how cold it is where you come from but Bjorn Nyland does comprehensive range testing in Norway at highway speeds, the Model 3 was recently tested at around -4 degrees and he got around 72% of range under open road driving, the least efficient type. He advised in summer this would go from 440km to 600km range.

[@GDM22]

@@100xasd Are governments forcing anyone?

[@michael1]

Yeah he's spot on. We'd be fine with an EV for 95% of our driving, SO nipping to the shops and work. Me going to the climbing gym 3x a week. We'd probably only have to charge once a week, if that. I could even do the slightly longer visits to my dad's care home in an EV without having to fret about charging at his end. But a few times a year we go further afield and then the recharging thing would suck. At the moment the etiquette for phone charging is that you can visit someone and plug in your phone - but for an EV? That's pushing hospitality - or you have to start trying to figure out the cost - or find a charging station. The car ends up being a pariah, especially if your journey to or from can't be done in one go. Hydrogen makes the only sense really because it copied the existing model of petrol and diesel cars. And, the truth is, we do so little mileage in our petrol car that the payback in reduced costs if we bought any newer car - whether it was a more efficient petrol or diesel or an EV would take at least 10 years probably closer to 20 to realise. The environmental impact from buying a newer car is going to be of that order too before it breaks even with using petrol - unless you have really high mileage per year - and we're around 5k. I've seen people a decade or so ago on youtube, like a salesman or something who more or less showed that his fuel savings made his EV free - it paid for a brand new nissan leaf - but that's not typical and would certainly not count for us. For similar reasons it would make no sense for us to own 2 cars and have the EV for some journeys - it would all be making our environmental impact much bigger than keeping our existing car - and not really saving us any money for 10-20 years. The same was true of our old TV, it wasn't efficient, but when a new TV was £1k then it made no sense to buy a more efficient one until the old one broke and you had no choice - although to be fair TVs have dropped significantly too in price which has made it easier to be greener and break even on running costs. But EVs costs are actually rising not falling. Thus, there's no point us getting a newer car or one that's EV no matter how much it appeared to be cheaper to run day to day, or better for the environment - it's not, not unless someone gave us the EV for free. Which is what British gas did with our boiler, they decided making our running costs more efficient was worth the government paying to replace our boiler. Unless Ford or the Government decide that us using an electric car is worth them providing one and they provide it, we'd get no real saving making it worthwhile. Eventually, of course, we'll have to buy a newer car anyway, but it's difficult to see at the moment that that car would be an EV. Not the least the used cost of them is higher, there's a big question over the battery when you buy used, the insurance is now higher - the recharging issue on long journeys would be a big stumbling block We'd get a small petrol car - and really, in the scheme of things, our low mileage, small car, one car, is dwarfed by some of our neighbours who have a drive with 3 or 4 cars, SUVs, they're flying off on holidays 2 or 3x times a year, maybe have 2 or 3 pets. If one of them bought an EV it would probably just increase their footprint and certainly wouldn't make it lower than ours with a small petrol car.

[@relativityboy]

"All those things coincide, it's rubbish!" I love that he's willing to say that. But, as someone who's a night owl with a 30 hr personal day cycle, I still make time to sleep about 8 hours of every 24. I *could* go longer, but more frequent sleeps are just fine. The fit is "good enough" And I think that's what people who don't have a problem with how EVs work now are saying. The fit is "good enough". And I think they're right.

[@jjZ41962]

A very sensible interview. Clear explanation where the pain “sits”. As an EV driver, privately owned, I recognize the long loading times but then again I have all the time in the world so I don’t mind. On the other hand is driving an EV very comfortable and very economical. The Tesla Supercharger network is quit dense here on the mainland so not a problem at all. Charging at home with solarpanels is ofcourse free.

[@marguskiis7711]

Are you god having all the time in the world?

[@MrPrajitura]

aaand you completely missed the point. it may be fine for YOU, but YOU have a privileged position of not giving a sh*t about loading times, and charging at home with solar panels. but the problem is you are a single person (or household) whereas the EV is being pushed to everyone when there's a very small demographic in your position compared to rest of the populace. Would you be thinking the same if you were living in a crappy apartment complex having to work 2 or 3 jobs just to make ends meet? The ICE has evolved across more than 100 years but greedy lawmakers and car manufacturers scared shitless on Tesla's growth on the stock market are now trying to push a paradigm shift in a fraction of the ICE's development time while the tech is simply not there.

[@jjZ41962]

@@MrPrajitura So? What seems to be the problem? Most propably the people living as discribed by yourself can’t afford a car anyhow.

[@hacob2004]

@@jjZ41962Every time I see someone talk about how it works perfectly for them and then someone explains how it wouldn't work for them the original person replies that they're probably too poor for one anyways. Get a better argument. You can buy used Teslas for $25k now. They aren't the fancy luxury items you think they are.

[@jjZ41962]

@@hacob2004 Life is a bitch..

[@The-Rest-of-Us]

Great commentary by James May as usual. The state of battery technology in combination with charging infrastructure is most people's gripe with EVs. On the other hand it should be pointed out how insanely fast it's been developing in the last 10 years. Remember that we've pushed combustion engines and their infrastructure to perfection for over a century. So while I agree with James at this specific point in time, I think that in decade or so we might be looking back at these discussions with amusement.

[@chargeriderepeat7024]

And the huge elephant in the room is we don't have anywhere near enough grid and we will never have enough grid for trucks

[@jober112]

James spoke to it but didn't quite say it. The biggest problem with EV adoption isn't the tech, its the drivers mind set. The industry is trying to blame the charging infrastructure. Rather than drive your car to empty and fill the tank, let it charge when not in use. For most people this will be home and work/school. Charge your car like you charge your iphone. A level charges 30 - 40 miles over night, which is a good median for daily drive time. Parking garages used to have coin meters at every spot, we can put GFCI outlets at parking spots. It isn't as much an infrastructure problem as it is a cultural problem.

[@didierpuzenat7280]

I cannot speak for the UK or the US, but in France and all adjacent countries I have been driving very long distances (more than 1000 km) since 2018 with my model 3 without any inconvenience. A 15 or 20 minutes charge after more than 2 hours of high speed driving is just a 15 to 20 minutes welcomed break. And 95% of my charges are at home, so no waiting. So sure we need more home charging and more fast charging, but it is not a challenge at all compared to the benefits especially the reduction in CO2. Fighting climate change will be *far more difficult* in other domains, ground transportation is definitely the easy part of the job since we have alternatives. Finally, the end of ICE does not mean all ICE vehicles will be replaced by EVs. In cities, public transportation, bicycles, or even just walking are far better solutions. And between cities trains are just perfect. So from now to 2035 (probable ICE ban) and 2050 (net zero goal to meet the Paris agreement) we need more charge points (from 3 kW to 300 kW) but also more public transportation, more bike lanes, more walkable cities, more proximity shops and services, etc. Cars will be part of the equation, perfect for low density places, and they will all be electric with batteries, just because there is no zero emission alternative.

[@zakr1187]

All good points except for the reduction of CO2

[@didierpuzenat7280]

@@zakr1187 You don't think using EVs reduce CO2 emission or you don't think our children need a livable continent ? Just as a reminder, the Paris agreement to keep global warming under 1,5 degrees already implies a local warming of 4 degrees in Europe. And we will very probably fail to reach the Paris agreement, so now the best scenario is probably +2 globally and +6 in Europe. Rich people will adapt, normal people will endure, but vegetation and most animals will just die, so just bad news for our children.

[@C.Fecteau-AU-MJ13]

I would argue that they are useful at cleaning up the air in cities (if widely adopted, which isn't a viability at the moment, or in the foreseeable future), but will do nothing for "climate change" and potentially could be worse overall. Cleaning up city air is a desirable goal, but in my opinion CO2 emissions don't represent the most dire environmental issues at hand. I think that has to be the problems our oceans face, plastics and the sheer amounts of toxic chemicals that have permeated basically every ecosystem there is. Altering them, potentially irreparably. I think CO2 is a distraction from tackling the real issues at hand and giving ill informed rich people a source of righteous indignation to virtue signal on. Just a personal opinion Not saying emissions aren't a massive problem, just that they're not even in the top ten most pressing environmental emergencies we face. The science is also dodgy as all hell, I'm pretty scientifically illiterate (compared to the pros) and even I can see it's being leveraged for underhanded agendas. I'm not anti EV, just being realistic here.

[@C.Fecteau-AU-MJ13]

@@didierpuzenat7280 The Paris agreement is a farce... It's dogmatic and places the responsibility in the wrong hands I want to see a future for my children too, but the way we're going about it is almost certainly making things worse. Plus, as I said above, I just don't believe CO2 is the biggest challenge at hand. The climate science doesn't stand up to scrutiny and neither do EVs even if the reduction of emissions is the goal. We should be doing everything in our power to reduce pollution, but we're going backwards and looking in the wrong places. I think

[@didierpuzenat7280]

@@C.Fecteau-AU-MJ13 No, there is absolutely *NO DOUBT* that the CO2 produced my humans is causing global warming. We are in 2024, the science is clear on that. But you can believe want you want, Earth is flat, God had created Earth 6000 years ago, etc. It does not matter because people in charge are educated and ICE vehicles will be banned, even if corruption from some automakers postpones the ban of a few years to maximize immediate benefits at the expense of your children.

[@Martin-dz7gy]

The thing is, you can't fill up petrol car at home. A large number of people will recharge their cars at home. The public chargers will be used only by some people without access to home charging or people doing road trips

[@FFVoyager]

This is the point that May misses, he simply scales up his use of a car to 'the whole' market and presumes that everyone drives like he does - they don't. The average car does under 30 miles a day.

[@Kraven83]

At home charging is harder for half of the country's population... the ones living in cities, in condos and without a garage.

[@thefiestaguy8831]

"You can't fill up your car at home". I guarantee you I could get a jerry can from the boot, walk to my local fuel station (800 metres or so away), fill it with Diesel, get back home, put said Diesel into the car, and still have time to cook a Sunday roast from start-finish before the EV's even got half a charge on the battery. Most people don't have fast chargers and they use the plug socket, which is a snail's pace charge. It also doesn't work for people who live in apartments, or those who have on-road street parking who might have to park their car the other end of the road from their house due to the parking limitations... what are they supposed to do? Buy a 100 metre long charging cable and trapse it down the pavement to their car?

[@DevinDTV]

​@@thefiestaguy8831Oh yeah that sounds super convenient, just like plugging in your car at home. Totally.

[@supersploon4177]

⁠@@thefiestaguy8831When you let it charge over night it doesn‘t matter if it takes 3 min or 8 hours, it‘s standing there anyway

[@bobvance-]

I think an under looked boon of electric cars is the ability to charge at home, which you typically never do with a gasoline vehicle. Once the home infrastructure becomes better, charging at night will be the majority of electricity consumed for BEVs. Which is great because the majority of power consumption is during the daylight.

[@AlexAlex-oz7ym]

The major issue with having more super charging stations is there is not enough available power for them. You just cannot push that much power through the existing electric grid infrastructure.

[@rkan2]

4:40 - I cannot fill up my gas tank at home though... Unless I have a barrel...

[@TheLastCrusader22]

A liquid is not a gas mate

[@nathanwiens108]

Why can't you fill up at home? Someone can bring you a 5 gallon fuel jug and you can pour it into the tank. Or you could fill one up and leave it in your garage for emergencies. How about those of us who don't have a garage or a drive way to plug our cars into where we live?

[@singular9]

I always keep a gas tank just in case at home. It's the smart thing to do.

[@stefanpredl6849]

Would not want to do that again its a mess

[@John64125]

But that’s a different point. The issue is range limiting the potential of the car. If you want to travel 500 miles how do you overcome the need to recharge? You can’t. You have to objectively compare cars irrespective of what power them along. In many ways EVs are inferior due to the reasons James lists.

[@blxtothis]

It’s not just battery technology there’s more of an issue with the generation and supply of enough electricity, we are being told to conserve things now to spare the grid, let alone have Gigawatts of demand for EVs. They bare great to drive full stop.

[@darekmistrz4364]

I'm not sure who tells you to "conserve" to "spare the grid" but the message isn't complete for sure. There are peak times but at night electricity is basically sold at less than production cost. Also converting roughly 50% of cars on the road to EV, would increase total yearly consumption by about 10-12% without even taking into consideration that ICE cars also use electricity in other forms.

[@sebastiansandvik825]

Electricity supply is an issue on the local level for chargers, but not for the grid considering the rate of adoption. 100% electric cars in the UK would mean less than 20% additional electricity demand, which is about the current rate of decline over 12 years. Add in record levels of wind and solar being added and this is no issue at all.

[@PistonAvatarGuy]

@@sebastiansandvik825 Solar is during the day, car charging is at night, that absolutely is an issue.

[@sebastiansandvik825]

@@PistonAvatarGuy Fairly small one. Consumption is higher in the day too. As long as there is demand there will be supply, and EV's are one great way to even out variations. Many modern EV's can put energy back into the grid as well. Storage options in general are getting more and more common and economically viable.

[@PistonAvatarGuy]

@@sebastiansandvik825 Solar on it's own is already a massive problem because of the duck curve. EVs would only exacerbate that problem. No one is going to plug their EV into the grid in order to have it drained of energy, people have to work basically every day, they need their car to be ready to go in the morning. Storage on a scale that's necessary for the solar + EV system to work would be absolutely ridiculous in scale and would be horrifically expensive. You'd basically need everyone to have a car with a large battery, along with an even larger battery storing their solar energy in order to charge their car at night. This would not only be an environmental disaster, but it would likely strain resources badly enough that it would never be affordable enough to adopt on a large scale.

[@ConnbineHarvester]

The KZbin algorithm still can't understand that I love motorsport and depise Clarkson, May and Hammond.

[@williamkelly5176]

I tend to agree re the balance. As a Buzzhead, an EV advocate in other words, they cannot come fast enough. The battery tech is arguably the issue but that hasn't stopped some every clever wonks from valuing Tesla at multiples of Ford (!!) and whilst they may be wrong, they might also just be right. My next car will be an BEV for a few reasons. I am lucky enough to own extra cars for those long trips that seem to worry everyone, I have had a few BEVs on test and without a home charger range anxiety, sorry charge anxiety, is limited to availability at the fast charger down the road from me (we have so few BEVs that it's not an issue) and once I have a home charger I truly believe that I will never run out of range often enough for it to become an issue of meaning in my life. For me it's the performance, the unshackling of taxes levied on fuels, the performance, the delight in the the new tech and the performance. It might not work out, but if it doesn't the alternate future looks like what? A roll back and continued carbon dioxide build up (a debate on it's own)? No. The motoring sector needs to roll electricity tech out all over the place, and as it touches our lives in our commutes I suspect more and more dollars will go into ingenuity. It's fascinating, and I am not going to bet against it.

[@user-cq1pk2ox2x]

Still have to look at where the the battery material comes from. There is no where " clean"

[@cikame]

EV's don't eliminate pollution, they just push it down the line.

[@ButterfatFarms]

lol What's this false premise that EVs are about reducing all types of pollution? What a silly gotcha notion. 😂 That's not why they're being mandated by a date certain. They're being mandated to reduce specific kinds of pollution, the greenhouse gas emissions that ice vehicles produce, which contributes significantly to climate change. The pollution that remains, the emissions from mining, and pollution that is produced to mine the minerals, and any pollution produced in the manufacturing of the batteries etc is localized and more easily managed. While ice vehicles are emitting and leaking different types of pollution everywhere they go by the time they're old enough to be scrapped. Every parking lot you pull into, every single space is stained with oil. oil runoff from rainwater and irrigation pollutes everywhere. Where as the pollution that electric vehicles produce is in the mining and manufacturing of it, and recycling of it at the end of its life. During the life of the vehicle it's a much cleaner vehicle, it doesn't directly emit greenhouse gas emissions, all types of electrical generation produce far less greenhouse gas emissions, it doesn't leak oil all over the place, they don't require millions of oil changes annually and all that waste oil to be recycled and dealt with and it's pollution and leakage and spillage, and they don't require hundreds of thousands of gas stations across the nation with tanks in the ground that are all leaking and polluting etc. They may not be a clean vehicle there certainly a hell of a lot cleaner than what's on the road today. The pollution being highly concentrated in specific moments in their life cycle, mining, manufacturing, recycling, where it's localized and can be contained. Unlike ice vehicles that just shit all over the environment everywhere they go for their entire life cycle. Like my 22-year-old Honda does.

[@thehairygolfer]

@@ButterfatFarms 2 points. 80% of evs are powered by coal. Plus the methane released from mining coal. Also they have just said that tyre wear is far more dangerous than CO2. ICE is cleaner than EV and that is a fact you can't get away from.

[@AkioWasRight]

@@ButterfatFarms It doesn't matter if CO2 emissions are localized. It all end up as greenhouse gas that theoretically impacts the entire planet. Also, it's not much cleaner. A typical 80 kWh produces as much as 16,000 metric tons of CO2. 16,000 metric tons is the equivalent of driving a 4 cylinder car 6 years. 6 years is already the majority of an EV batteries expected life. That doesn't even include end of life emissions or the emissions from charging. That doesn't even include the rest of the car, it's just the battery.

[@ButterfatFarms]

@@thehairygolfer lol get real, in the United States the single largest source of electricity production is clean burning natural gas that we have such an overabundance of its priced as a waste product. Unlike the rest of the world. Thus resulting in cheap electricity too. The breakdown on electric production in the United States is 39.8% Natural Gas, 19.5% Coal, 18.2 Nuclear, 21.5% Renewables (total), 6.9% of Renewables being hydroelectric, the other 15.3% non-hydro sources like solar and wind. While 0.9% of electricity is produced from petroleum or other sources. Of the coal fired power plants in the United States 88% of them were built between 1950 and 1990 with far fewer since and it's unlikely that any new coal power plants will ever come online in the United states. Instead we're adding natural gas capacity, solar, and wind. Meaning the current 19.5% of capacity that is coal today will do nothing but conrinue to dwindle as those plants go off online. Their capacity replaced with more natural gas power plants, solar and wind installations. Perhaps some nuclear not likely Hydro as its time has sort of passed considering the vast alterations that are required to natural landscapes and rivers to make it happen at any scale.

[@AlexParkAndRide]

Mr May forgets a little detail called poisoning others with his exhaust for a ounce of his perceived convenience during a journey. The society generally accepted these externalities as a price of progress when there was no other way. But now there is, and no one should bear the health and well-being consequences of others' decisions when there are better alternatives.

[@ianthomas5955]

Batteries are great for powering cameras and computers. Unfortunately, if you're trying to propel a mass of around two tons using electricity, whichever way you cut it it's going to cost you. And cost you plenty. If you happen to be a lottery winner, that's fine. Another problem that has emerged is insurance. Insurance companies, never noted for their naivety, have suddenly realised how expensive EVs are to repair, so many firms are refusing to insure them. As an example, An American owner of a Tesla S Plaid had a minor front end collision. He posted online his five-page estimate from Tesla to carry out repairs - $14,100. A guy with an online motoring channel paid £120,000 for a new Porsche Taycan last year and upon first renewal, he has found that no insurance company will touch it. The best price he's been offered against a new petrol car is £25,000 - so £95,000 depreciation in 12 months. Still, I suppose it's worth it to, er, "save the planet."

[@mellarner8253]

What I got from that is that electric motors are best suited to being a stationary object permanently hooked up to the grid.

[@mormantu8561]

2:00 This is assuming no technological progress is made on charging. And this will probably happen as it already is, happening. But James has a fair point and it will probably take a while (understatement) before we get to a complete charge in 3 minutes. But what James forgets is that we are seeing a paradigm shift in when we provide our cars with energy. What I mean is, we're now slowly having more and more chargers at home, work, parking spots, etc. Basically anywhere where you will park a car. So if you charge your car regularly a bit, you don't need those 30 minute charging sessions. This obviously does not work on big trips, but those few big trips should not be an argument against EVs.

[@94SexyStang]

What bothers me is, Hybrids are VERY reliable and have a proven track record.....yet the industry "skipped" past them entirely!! Switching to hybrids first, would allow EVERYONE to get their feet wet with EV.....while STILL having gas....and bring the price of batteries down at the same time! Let's get real, the problem with EV is not range, it's battery cost.

[@urtzios]

Only Toyota and maybe Honda ever made them reliable. I very much like E class plugin, but not out of warranty. Laferrari tiny battery costs 250000k and needs replacement every few years.

[@simonm9923]

The scandalously marketed ‘self charging hybrids’ are nothing but ICE cars, they cannot move without burning fossil fuel. Slightly more fuel efficient maybe but still emitting plenty of CO2……

[@ButterfatFarms]

​​@@urtzios good grief using the Ferrari LaFerrari's outrageously priced quarter million dollar "tiny" battery that requires replacement "every few years" as your go to talking point to argue batteries are still too expensive is extraordinarily hilariously disingenuously stupid point of argument. Excuse me while I don't take you seriously. 😂 Get real every new Tesla comes with an 8-year manufacturer warranty on the battery. How long were you planning on keeping the f'cking thing? The RWD Model 3 is $39k, that's all that matters the price of the car or the lease cost unless your some fool who's going to be owning it for over 8 years and taking your chances on how long the battery will really last at that point. 😂

[@janjson435]

I indeed like my hybrid giving me approximately 80 km on pure electricity covering 80 % of my daily drives. The total distance is about 900 km which covers the remaining 20 %. It is great. Yearly vehicle tax of EUR 35 For nice summerdays I use my V12 convertible which gives approx. 450 km on one tank🥂Just do not drive it more than 5000 km/year, so minor environmental impact

[@AkioWasRight]

Our automotive industry didn't just "skip", many manufacturers put hybrids ahead of EVs, and the market embraced them to some extent. EVs were placed ahead by policy makers and government regulators that think they know better than the market and the engineers and people with decades of experience in power solutions.

[@KONRADKOZLIK]

In a country like Australia which is massive and especially in the outback requires a car to have a long range even just to reach petrol stations, the idea of switching completely to electric cars is completely absurd

[@frankreynolds9930]

Most of the people lives in cities. If 90% of them switches, it still a big improvement.

[@KONRADKOZLIK]

@@frankreynolds9930 I agree with you but the idea that mankind should get rid of petrol cars completely is as crazy as the idea we should destroy all our coal power stations - we will still need them in the future for specific things

[@frankreynolds9930]

@@KONRADKOZLIK Well we will never replace petrol cars near future. There will still be left even after ice vehicles sales ban. But after 25 yrs, it would definitely become obsolete.

[@ilmostro16]

What people constantly forget is that the optimal situation for EV’s is to charge at home in the garage, overnight. If you don’t have a garage, or you need to drive over 250 miles often where stopping for 30 minutes is inconvenient, then you should have an ICE car. It’s just that simple. I own an EV for 5 years now and I have literally NEVER supercharged outside of the house. All my charging is in my garage overnight. I never need to “stop for gas”. But this is because I have a 100 mile round trip work commute and other than that I do not travel. When we drove out of state, we took the wife’s ICE SUV. Electric cars should be for those people who can benefit from them now (costs me $3.20 to go 100 miles), and over time, the batteries will get smaller, will charge faster, and chargers will be more common and plentiful. Having said that, governments should NOT force this transition. It should happen naturally because of the benefits as they outcompete ICE cars over time. The problem isn’t EV cars, the problem is stupid governments.

[@marguskiis7711]

The modern EVs are absurdly complicated actually. The simplicity is a myth actually.

[@logitech4873]

Not really? The drivetrains are very simple.

[@dimebucker2]

how often do you drive 250 miles + ? Daily driving for most people is around 50miles Full range every morning, charge while you sleep

[@OldCanadianguy953]

Assuming you have charging at your home. Millions of apartment dwellers won’t win.

[@fortheloveofnoise9298]

I drive around 300 miles one way a few times a month...my car gets such good gas mileage the trip only costs me 15-25 dollars depending on the cost of gas and how fast I drive

[@logitech4873]

@@OldCanadianguy953 Laws can fix that, like in Norway. Right to charge ensures anyone can get chargers installed.

[@andrewlittleboy8532]

Twice a week.

[@logitech4873]

@@andrewlittleboy8532 You'd need a long range EV for sure, and you'd probably get some pretty good fuel savings. But it's very rare for people to drive that far very often.

[@TerribleFire]

For me.. i think the current generation of EVs have huge hidden costs of battery replacement and repair costs. Certain EV companies aren't making parts abundantly available. Add to the fact that a prang can write off an EV means there is some uncertainty of the future of EV insurance prices. When there is more certainty about cost I will consider an EV.

[@user-vx7vi3vq1c]

Shhh!

[@CosmicSeeker69]

Don't. They're an essential part of taking away our freedom of movement. Every EV can, and will be controlled by a Government AI system. Look it up - it's all in mandates.

[@Brian-om2hh]

I won't be replacing my battery. I'll have it refurbished for a tiny fraction of the cost of a replacement.

[@paultruesdale7680]

Tesla tried using the same technology of assembly line battery installation and removal. So instead of charging on the go, which in my opinion is ludicrous, battery exchange is the answer to range anxiety. Unfortunately Tesla decided not to go this way. Other car manufacturers have also not adopted this approach as well. So I’m sticking to only liquid fuel or hybrids. When five hundred miles is common I will seriously consider full electric. I really enjoyed the realistic conversation on this topic. 👍

[@JohnR31415]

We have millions - because the *vast* majority of charging is at home. The challenge is bank holiday weekends when millions of people make a road trip at the same time. We do need hundreds of chargers at each service station…. With a combination of massive grid connections, local generation, and battery storage.