Fear of EVs’ Imminency Getting Palpable – ICE Enthusiasts Starting to Panic
[Oct. 8, 2020]
Being in the automotive journalism field for the better part of 20 years, I’ve worked in just about every niche and focus of automotive journalism. I’ve kept in touch with people in the various verticals in one form or another. In the early days before the Internet, Google, and social media became the all-consuming forces they are today, being an automotive journalist was a pretty glamorous, “chill” job. Although it didn’t pay particularly well, it did have its benefits.
I won’t bore you with the “inside baseball” of being an automotive journalist, but I can tell you the shift to digital content and social media has had a tectonic and lasting effect on the industry, and has resulted in the cumulative reduction of hundreds of jobs across the industry, and a work culture once characterized by a relaxed pace and luxury lifestyle (on someone else’s dime) to one demanding daily content output, aggressive social media promotion, and a laser focus on quantifiable output and audience engagement.
Technology has also had a similarly disruptive effect in other areas of the automotive industry. Heightened environmental concern and regulatory mandates have resulted in OEMs shifting a large portion of their research and development budgets into electric vehicles, either in the form of hybrids and PHEVs, or full-fledged battery electrics. California Governor Gavin Newsom’s executive order banning the sale of new internal-combustion vehicles by 2035 added to the panic and outcry of traditional car enthusiasts.
Following that development comes news that for all intents and purposes, Tesla is shutting down its public relations department, a division traditionally tasked with catering to and answering questions from automotive journalists, among others.
The automotive journalist community is coming to the realization that they’re no longer the privileged, catered-to elite they were 20 years ago. They’re also realizing their beloved internal-combustion engine, with all its sonic and mechanical character, is also facing its long, slow decline into technological irrelevance. This is manifesting itself in any number of ways.
On my personal Facebook feed, I have a number of friends posting articles written by petroleum-funded lobbyists and “researchers” claiming that EVs are a sham, and that the world has been deceived by a grand green illusion. When I point out that the authors of these supposedly “authoritative” sources are oil-industry shills, I get mealy-mouthed “Yeah, but” responses. I also get people sharing stories of how miserable their experience was with the first-generation Honda Insight and Toyota Prius 15 years ago. Again, not pertinent or relevant to the current state of the market with EVs.
And just within the last few weeks, comes word that well-known EV modifier and supplier EV West has just released a kit allowing for a Tesla motor to be adapted to a Chevy small-block bellhousing for plug-and-play installation in restomods. Placement and packaging of the requisite battery packs are another matter, but it’s a clear step that electrification is making early inroads into the restoration and customization community as well.
EV West’s electric motor adapter kit could turn the enthusiast market on its head. (Image courtesy EV West)
In the five stages of grief; denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance, the traditional automotive enthusiast community is probably halfway between the “anger” and “bargaining” stages. I think they’ve already come to the realization that EVs aren’t some weirdo science experiment that’s going to fade into irrelevance over the next decade. They’re mad about it, but they’re also trying to figure out where the cumulative effect of regulation, technological advancement, and shifting consumer preferences leaves them in the long-term. Some have already moved into the “depression” stage.
Personally, I never went through these stages. Once I experienced a modern, powerful, long-range EV for myself, I was hooked on the power delivery and efficiency. Sure, a small part of me is wistful for the exhaust pop and rumble of a performance-tuned engine. But it’s more out of a sense of fond nostalgia than a defense of the technology of internal combustion from an empirical, objective standpoint. Aside from a few factors such as recharge time and power density, EVs have already decisively won that battle in my mind. The car is dead – long live the car.
(Main image courtesy Hyundai)
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