A couple of days ago, the BBC opened up for comments an article about sagging demand for EVs:

Ford calls for incentives to buy electric cars as backlash grows

When I last looked on Thursday, the comments had reached over 10,000. Thus it was only possible for me to skim them. But I could not help but notice the abundance of common sense exhibited by our fellow citizens, a currency that is seemingly in short supply among our elected politicians. I reproduce below a handful of such comments from the first eighth or so of the pile, with occasional retorts thrown in, and a reply by me in one case. The scores are the net user votes. I have generally left in typos, but have added a space or two where words were stuck together.

Will anybody in the corridors of power see any of them? Unlikely.

Lawrence fining a company because the consumer doesn’t want their products is as daft as you can get. If EVs were the answer they’d need no incentives. how about fining the government for not having a plan for charging points in the countryside or inner city tower blocks. +3700

mb018538 No surprise why demand is so low. Poor range on cars unless you spend £50k+ (which people can’t afford), terrible charging infrastructure, expensive supercharging, massive depreciation. Meanwhile your trusty ICE can be refilled in a couple of minutes and reliably get you going for 400 miles. At the moment the balance is still far too much in favour of ICE. +1900

Captain Baked Beans What a crazy country we live in that a company can be fined £15k for just producing an item that its customers want. Successive governments have gone completely loppy when it comes to climate change.

What proportion of global CO2 emissions are produced by ICE cars in the UK? Is it even 0.01%?
Minimising climate change is a good thing. But crippling your country in order to do so is not. +1500

Andy Everyone with more than a single functional brain cell knows, and has known from the very outset, that the 2030 deadline is unachievable and will be dropped at some point.
Unfortunately, politicians don’t fall into said category. +1250

CG1975 EVs:
– Cost more
– Pollute more (entire lifecycle)
– Lack infrastructure
– Mostly look like plastic toy cars
No thanks. Easy decision. +1250

Mr Pastry EVs, a fix to a problem that does not exist. Keep your ICE car longer and save the planet. Plus, you’re paying through the nose for inconvenience. Don’t drive an EV when it’s too cold, you have to use the blower to keep warm, too hot you have to use the blower to keep cool, too windy, too many hills, don’t tow anything, servicing is expensive, depreciation is savage a total waste of resources. +1050

Guy Smiley Forcing people to down the EV route was always a recipe for disaster.
How about just giving people the option to buy both ICE and EVs. Consumers will decide the market – if EVs are better economically and practically then the market and consumer choice will begin to reflect this. +850

Bobby Why should we be forced to buy something we don’t want! +600

Reply by dd “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses” +200

[Reply by Jit: Missing the point. Making the offer of the product is asking people what they want. People were not forced to buy cars by a ban on horses.]

Andy If you remove company car buyers, discounted schemes and green zealots with more money than common sense, net sales of EV’s would be … ZERO. +450

DaveyCrockett People in houses without driveways seem to have been forgotten by the government – how are we meant to charge our car? Are we meant to drape cables across pavements? (if we’re even able to park near our house). Or waste 30+ minutes twiddling our thumbs every few days at a garage? Until EV’s can charge as quickly as filling a petrol car then they’re just simply not a realistic option for many. +450

un1man Basically, the electric car fan boys, have bought theirs, no-one else wants one for the reasons we all know.
Politicians jumped on the electric car bandwagon as an apparently easy way to polish their green credentials without realising the implications for power generation and distribution. The majority of politicians are non technical, and dont understand the consequences of their policies. +200

Reply by PaulB95 Vast majority of users don’t own they lease or its a company car because of the tax benefits. +200

Wally the welder I might have missed the bit where they told us how they are mitigating the rape of the earth for the minerals to make the batteries and how they are going to sustainably dispose of the spent ones.
Could someone explain please? +150

McMaddon I live in a terraced house, no driveway. There is no way I can economically charge an EV. I already have a hybrid that runs well. Why would I pay more for a vehicle that will cost me more to run, be less convenient and has questionable environment credentials anyway.
There’s literally zero benefits to me doing it. +125

BBCx Government fines UK companies that don’t sell enough electric vans. Company closes UK factory and makes them abroad. We buy vans from abroad.
Assisted dying for industry. +100

DonkeyKong EVs are a debate dominated by misinformation from both sides.

In truth, EVs are great if you do a lot of local mileage and you own a driveway. If you are reliant on public chargers, they’re more expensive to run. If you do a lot of long distance driving then range becomes an issue. If you don’t drive much, then you won’t recover the additional initial cost of the EV. +100

LeafySuburbanite EVs are not suitable unless you can charge them at home. If you live in a flat or terrace or have no dedicated parking at home they are impractical. +100

Reply by Meat n 2 veg Ahh, but in politicians feeble minds if you live in a flat or terrace you probably are poor and they dont want you on the road. Only the well off in their mad dash to net zero. +100

bluekryton99 I saved £20K on my electric car by buying one with a petrol engine +50

R E Tired What’s not to like about EV’s
High initial cost.
Poor charging infrastructure.
Limited range.
Low residual value / High depreciation.
High cost of battery replacement.
How much CO2 is produced in manufacture and making the electricity to power them?
Do I want one, not on your life. +50

Elonsfire Fining companies for not making things people don’t want to buy.
Only a politician could think that up. Ridiculous.
Then:
“There are flexibilities in the system, allowing manufacturers who can’t meet the targets to buy “credits” from those that can.
In practice, this means buying credits from companies such as Tesla or the Chinese.”
Again only a politician would think up such nonsense. +50

ashaf1976 I don’t think it’s a case of demand walking, simply that EVs are so expensive. The rest of us are waiting for the 2nd hand market to cycle through so that they become affordable. +50

Reply by StVitus I am waiting for an estate with a 500 mile range for less than £5K… +90

mav Say it quietly, keep old stuff, use it longer, buy less new stuff.

Help save the planet. +40

Reply by backinmyday Unfortunately people do not listen. Car ‘sales’ via the use of PCP etc will continue to feed the addiction to a new car. When an 18 year old can have a new car on the road for £200 a month, you know we’ve got a problem that cannot be solved by your correct statement. +10

Mediadesign Had mine 16 months – Cost 55k – Recently valued at 25k – Hiring a car to travel to visit family at Christmas – My advice – Don’t buy one! +40

informed-glasgow This is still meant to be a “free” country. Forcing motorists into unwanted electric cars cannot be justified. Will the government see this or is the rush for a mythical “net zero” blinding our politicians? +40

Zain I currently own a 20 year old petrol car. It takes me everywhere that I want to go. Refueling takes 5 mins and pumps are everywhere. Can I expect a 20 year old EV to do the same because this is the only thing I can afford? I have never bought a new car. I can’t afford the prices and I don’t want to just rent one via the pcp plans that are so popular right now. And no thanks to 2nd hand EVs. +35

Andy Tom ” In practice, this means buying credits from… Tesla or Chinese firm BYD, which build electric models exclusively. “
Ludicrous, UK consumers subsidising these foreign entities.
Demand for EV’s is low because they are rubbish.
Nobody has explained what the legacy of all the unrecyclable highly toxic waste will be. I sense another Diesel scandal, with the same “Industry Experts” in the dock. +30

Andy Kirkland I’m retired from work. Over 70 years old and doing alright financially. But I’m not caught up in the net zero carbon initiative so long as many other nations are still heavily invested in extracting fossil fuels. I’ll never own an electric vehicle and don’t believe that I should be feeling guilty for continuing to use internal combustion engines for the years I have left. +30

Reply by Ardamiactadh Sorry Andy but that is a shocking attitude and yes – you absolutely should feel guilty along with those who upvoted you. We have to show leadership. -20

Sarah I have a charging point at my house and I would love an electric car. I don’t have the money for one unfortunately. Until electric cars become the norm and I can pick one up for less than £1k then I’m afraid I’m going to still be driving my old 306. +30

ADR Find me an EV with a big payload that can tow 2 tonnes+, has range that works in the real world in a Scottish Highlands winter which annually sees temperatures into -double digits and will go for 150,000 miles or more. Oh, and is affordable. Then maybe I might consider one. +25