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Cars are like horses: people will soon realise EVs are just better, claims VW boss
(www.autoexpress.co.uk)
this post was submitted on 05 Jun 2026
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Literally every single person that I talked to that seriously tried an EV (like, as a daily driver for some time, not just the rental you had for a day) said they were never going back to combustion engines.
Yeah, I drive an EV and will never go back to gas.
I mean maybe if I had a project car or something but even then my thoughts drift towards how I might swap an electric drivetrain…
I don’t have an EV, but I can imagine it would be nice to not have to go to the gas station once a week.
I've had an EV for a couple of years and had to rent a gas car on a trip recently. I was prepared for the expensive fuel, I wasn't prepared for how shit it was to drive.
See, an EV's electric motor and (usually) single reduction gear means you get basically the same acceleration between 5 km/h and 120 km/h. You can put your foot down slightly and forget you're accelerating because it feels just like sitting in a stationary car on a hill. How far you push the accelerator is how much acceleration you get. Unless you're getting wheel spin or you're at the car's power limit, that's all there is to it.
A gasser has an engine with different performance depending on RPM and a gearbox that provides different performance based on which gear it's in and changes according to it's own logic. You're just used to this when you drive one all the time, but for me it was awful the way I'd put my foot down and get nothing, then engine noise, then some power, then a lurch and more power and another lurch and less power. The accelerator pedal is a suggestion, mostly disconnected from what the car actually chooses to do.
Yes! About a year ago we went up a very curvy hill with the kids that has, in the past, always made everyone feel queasy, even the driver to some extent. But this year, it didn’t at all. I think it was because we were driving an EV, and without all of the hurky-jerky of the nonexistent transmission, it was way smoother.
I charge mine 80% of the time off the solar panels on my roof here in Australia. Making your own fuel is quite the thing.
Another 10% is overnight on a cheap tariff
and the other 10% public charging on longer trips.
Allow me to be the first.
I drive an EV now. It's super convenient not having to fuel up once a week. It's nice just charging at home overnight. Long distance trips are not so convenient, but doable. The money savings on gas is significant, but tire usage seems to be higher, and depreciation is higher than any vehicle I've owned. There's the looming thought of having to replace the battery someday.
More than anything, I'm tired of cars feeling like spaceships, and EVs are among the most space shippy.
My next car will likely be an efficient but fun four door ICE hatchback (think European sensibility) from six or seven years ago if I can find one with low miles.
No shade on those loving EVs, I think it's great that the majority of people are moving or would like to move away from ICE vehicles. But so long as they feel like spaceships to me and depreciate like room temperature milk, there's room in my garage for an efficient gasoline car.
The rapid depreciation sucks, but I accept it because I want EVs to be affordable for everyone and it makes used ones affordable for people of average to low means. I’m willing to take that hit. I also don’t plan to sell mine because I love driving it and gas prices are never going to be acceptable to me again.
Yeah I will never go back.
I still have my ICE car for my kids, and have been tempted to upgrade them ….. but there’s no point spending money to replace a perfectly functional car only 9 years old, and most importantly just sits while they are away at school
My partner loves their Civic. They will wait all day for me to get back from work so they can take the fake Mustang though. I still can't convince them to sell the Civic, but we're putting maybe 1000 miles on it a year now, peobsbly a lot less, versus about 21,000 on the Mach-E
We need to separate the feeling of driving from practicality. EVs are pleasant to drive for sure. Having to plan your trips around charging is annoying, there isn't really much progress there.
The only reason I want a car is to do spontaneous trips to less populated areas. I already have range anxiety, I top up as soon as I'm below 1/3 of the tank. Batteries make it worse.
I drive an EV, and planning around driving habits is simply not a thing for me. It’s hooked up to its 230v charger and will be ready at 100% charge every morning. I drive the 50km to work and back for about 25% worth of charge. There’s a few public chargers on the way to work and almost anywhere I care to go. Range anxiety is waaay overblown in my opinion.
If you can charge at home yeah it's fine, otherwise you're fucked. I had an ID3 and could only charge at work or at an expensive charger at a gas station.
I had to plan charging at work otherwise I couldn't decide on a whim to go see my mum on Sundays. The itinerary took around 60% of the battery in summer and only one charging station in between, which is not working half the time. So either I take 30-60 minutes before going to charge (hoping the charger is working and available), or I can throw the dice and hope the chargers on the way works this time.
It's not so much range anxiety than the infrastructure around me not being enough.
Edit: and by charge at work, I mean go to the nearest charger near the office and remember to get the car back once full to avoid overtime fees. Work took 3 years to install chargers on the office parking.
Haha, yeah very different situations ……
I had to pick my kid up from college and the itinerary takes about 60% of my battery round trip
By media funded by gas and oil
Sorry, but can't relate. Had that feeling for the first few trips until the first one where we drove so much more efficiently that we deliberately did not take the first planned stop. I rode shotgun, so I then looked for alternative spots to charge, just to see that there are so many in my country that having planned those routes in the first place literally doesn't make sense.
Since then we just drive. Once we get below 50 km remaining range, we check some map app for the next charger. Like we did with gas stations.
Also, coming from practicality... it's just so nice not to have to use gas stations. Like, you usually just always start whatever you do with a full battery because you just charge it overnight. No gas stops on my commute is quite practical.
It's ok if u can't relate, different people and places have different needs. Where I live there are areas where if you don't fill your tank, you won't make it to the next fuel stop. And no, the trees don't have charging cables hanging off them. If you can do it that's awesome, but they don't work for people in rural cold climates quite yet! I'd love to have an "EV" hybrid thing with a smaller battery and a diesel on board generator, zero range anxiety and bonus points if the generator is an old mechanical diesel that can run veggie oil or used oil from my other shit boxes or various biofuels. Sure it won't be as clean as a true EV but I bet it would be more efficient than a gas car.
I can't share that feeling. My country has a law that every parking garage and parking lot must have chargers and often a fast charger is installed. I really have to go a few countries over to a place that's not full of chargers.
Oh no, I have to stop for 15 minutes after four hours of driving, every time I drive more than four hours at a time.
I have anxiety right now just thinking about the next time I have to spend that 15 minutes in a couple months from now.
Do you think I can save up all the times I don't stop for gas between now and then and use that as some sort of credit towards that time?
I get the sentiment, and I've said it before but when my current daily goes, an EV of some sort will likely take its place. Even given the poor charging infrastructure where I am, mathematically it is clearly the sensible choice.
But for the things I can't measure with a calculator, I'll have at least one ICE vehicle for a long as it's feasible to do so. There are boxes that EVs - and I've spent plenty of time with them - simply don't tick for me.
I disagree. I have had an EV since 2018 and I can honestly say I never want another one. My next vehicles going forward will be ICE 100%.
I’m also going to make sure that they are older and have little to no infotainment / internet connected systems.
A sub year 2000. Maybe a nice Accord or Jeep.
I’m over this dystopian nightmare.
It sounds like your problems aren't with EVs. It sounds like your problems are with any modern car.
Is it the drive train you have a problem with or the software? Because I think you just dislike new cars, not electric cars. In which case keep an eye out for the Slate EV
If Slate makes a reliable vehicle from a new model from a new company, it will be an industry first.
They should stop with that touch screen crap, always connected to the internet spyware bullshit, but they are putting that everywhere now not just EVs.
We will soon be in the siutuation where if you want an old car without that crap you can't even go into the larger eu cities anymore, because the engine will be too polluting.
There really is a market for cars without that crap. As long as it brings me and my family to destination safely I don't care how it is propelled.
My first vehicle ever was a 1987 Suzuki Samurai JX and I regret losing it to this day. I have not been able to match it with any subsequent vehicle I’ve owned.
If you can find a Saab from before GM bought em that's still in good condition... *chef's kiss* perfection.