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Comment by ninkendo | Hacker News Reader

I can only speak for the people I know well (I know people from lots of different backgrounds here), but I can confidently say that every one of them would love EVs if charging stations were everywhere and charged in 10 minutes.

There may be a real chicken-and-egg problem with building the charging stations, but if it were magically fixed and ultra fast charging stations were ubiquitous overnight, I think minds would change overnight as well. It’s just nobody has the motivation to take the financial hit to build them and jump-start things.

My point being that they’re not irrational, and it’s not EV hatred that is driving it.

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The biggest issue is that people think EV's are gas cars that have electricity instead of gasoline, with the main difference being you have to sit at the "gas pump" for 45 minutes instead of 2.

But the way you daily an EV is totally different than a gas car, and even the way you travel is totally different. People have no concept of EV ownership, so they just go with the gas model that they know. But it is totally incorrect.

> The biggest issue is that people think EV's are gas cars that have electricity instead of gasoline, with the main difference being you have to sit at the "gas pump" for 45 minutes instead of 2.

If you don’t live in a conventional house with access to overnight charging, this is exactly what EV’s are. But we keep talking down to people like this, as if every non-EV owner must just be stupid or something.

We're not speaking down to people like that, we are telling them they are not part of the conversation. You really shouldn't get an EV if you cannot plug in overnight.

> I can confidently say that every one of them would love EVs if [...]

And I can confidently say I see rural pickup owners rolling coal about weekly, so no, they will not be loving EVs, because it hampers them destroying their surroundings.

I cannot understand “rolling coal” at all. I’d love to know more about the psychology of this and what makes it so attractive that you actually spend money and time to do so.

It's uncomplicated. I have coal rolling enthusiasts in my extended family. They're flag waving 'patriots' who have legitimately drank all the Kool-aid and believe that everyone to their left hates the country and is trying to destroy it in any way possible. And since the left-leaning folks often support green energy and efforts to reduce damage from the impending climate disaster, that hatred manifests as doing whatever they think is the polar opposite of what their left-leaning friends and family would like. It is precisely the same motivation that underlies embracing the 'deplorables' moniker (I think none of them actually read the whole remark) by intentionally acting like an asshole.

It's not issues based at all, they really are playing hard core identity politics and they consider anyone who disagrees with them to be morally contemptible and inhuman.

As I said, I am only talking about people I know personally. Not everyone is like that, please stop lumping everyone together.

Not everyone who dislikes EV’s is doing so irrationally. Not every one of them is a moronic anti-environmentalist. Most people are just trying to get by and they’re looking at what they think is best for them. Thinking everyone who disagrees with you must be a backwards coal-rolling moron is… not a great approach. You can do better.

> Thinking everyone who disagrees with you must be a backwards coal-rolling moron

Certainly uncharitable, but you should hear what those people say about everyone left of the far right.

Rolling coal is rude an obnoxious but doesn't "destroy" anything. I think you are projecting something personal against the stereotype guy that does that. Just like someone who was bullied might irrationally hate tough looking bikers.

Some men (and women!) like large and overpowered trucks. You don't have to like them, but you should praise the freedom that this country gives us to choose our own pursuits.

Rolling coal is cumulatively destructive to the local environment and to the health of the people in the area in the more general sense, and in cases where truck drivers do it to cyclists and hybrid/EV drivers directly and immediately harmful to their health.

If nothing else, rolling coal with the intent of placing somebody within the plume should be considered assault. Diesel fumes/soot is some nasty stuff.

driving any ICE vehicle is cumulatively destructive. It's not any worse just because you can see carbon particles vs clear exhaust.

Yeah surely rolling coal and SULEV are exactly the same. Never mind the fact that the other one is literally specced to produce less than 10% of the average emissions, surely they are the same.

Intent matters. Some older diesel vehicles smoke a bit. That is normal. Intentionally detuning the engine to inject massive amounts of fuel in order to induce billowing clouds of black smoke is indefensible. It is especially bad because they are not out there using this capability in innocent fun, it is specifically aimed at passersby who happen to be driving a fuel efficient vehicle or riding a bicycle.

Some of us do enjoy large, overpowered trucks. Like me -- with my Lightning. Faster than a Hellcat (off the line, at least ;-)) and more efficient than a Prius. And waaaaaaay faster than nearly all of the coal-rolling morons. Best part is that I'm not intentionally polluting the air everyone around me is obligated to breathe. Go out, have fun, be civil about it.

It's always a lifted chromed-up truck with oversize exhaust. The one's I'm talking about are 100% intentional, and put money into it. Work pickups look distinctly different.

Work trucks are usually more along the lines of a beat up old 2006 Tacoma or a 2014 F-150 with a stripped down trim and fleet white paint. Totally different species.

> My point being that they’re not irrational, and it’s not EV hatred that is driving it.

That's just your particular bubble. I have met very few anti-EV folk who were not deeply political about it. They don't oppose EVs on rational grounds, they only have the talking points. Matters not at all to them that the talking points were proven false years ago.

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