Electric cars: Lords urge action on ‘misinformation’ in press

By Paul Homewood

h/t Robin Guenier

The government must do more to counter "misinformation" on electric vehicles published in parts of the UK press, a Lords enquiry has said.

Despite the UK passing the milestone on Monday of 1m electric cars registered, growth of the sector has flatlined.

The Lords Climate Change Committee urged the government to build consumer confidence and push back against what it called mistruths on range and cost.

The government did not comment on this but said £2bn was committed to EVs.

Nearly a quarter of the UK’s carbon emissions – responsible for climate change – are produced by road transport, according to the latest figures. Switching to electric vehicles could help to significantly reduce these emissions, but despite government and industry efforts only about 3% of cars are powered by electricity.

Baroness Parminter, chair of the committee, told the BBC that both government officials and other witnesses to the enquiry had reported reading disinformation on the subject in national newspapers.

"We have seen a concerted effort to scare people… we have seen articles saying that cars are catching fire – but had evidence that the fire risk is absolutely the same as [petrol and diesel] cars," she said.

The Lords committee did not single out any newspaper in particular.

Testifying before the committee, Richard Bruce, Director of Transport Decarbonisation at the Department for Transport, conceded there was a problem.

He said: "I do think there has been an impact from a concerted campaign of misinformation over the last 14 months or so that has been pushing consistent myths about EVs that people absorb and which is reflected in their appetite [for purchasing EVs].

"There is an anti-EV story in the papers almost every day. Sometimes there are many stories, almost all of which are based on misconceptions and mistruths, unfortunately."

Baroness Parminter said the government needed to step in and provide reliable information to consumers.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68130432

Now I wonder what all this information might be?

The fact that EVs cost £10k more than an equivalent petrol?

EV manufacturers own data which says you only get a fraction of the mileage that their blurb claims?

The fact that it costs more per mile than a petrol car if you have to use a public charger, even after paying fuel duty?

The fact the second hand prices for EVs have fallen through the floor, making buying a new EV even less attractive?

The fact that, regardless of the number of public chargers installed, drivers without offstreet parking will face the prospect of queuing to use a charger?

Are these all facts that the good Baroness would like to suppress?

One EV zealot rather gives the game away, demanding that EVs remain exempt from vehicle and road taxes paid by the rest of us:

If EVs were so wonderful, we would not need all of these subsidies and tax exemptions, would we Melanie?

As for increasing taxes on “heavy vehicles”, does not this silly woman know that EVs weigh an awful lot more than a proper car?

It probably won’t come as any great surprise to learn the Baroness Parminter has zero experience in transport, industrial or economic matters. The Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the Lords has spent most of her useful life campaigning for animal rights and conservation charities.