Mythbusting the world of EVs: will only regulation and taxes get us into electric cars?

MYTH: only legislation and taxes will get us into EVs

These days, most people accept manmade climate change is real – the evidence is simply too compelling. Some are even prepared to make the carbon-cutting changes the world needs to arrest global warming... but in truth most are secretly hoping science will find a silver bullet.

Stellantis, the company that owns 14 brands from Maserati to Vauxhall to Dodge and Ram, says that “73 per cent of buyers want their mobility choices to lower CO2 emissions”. The sands are riddled with the holes of recently lifted ostrich heads.

Of course vaguely wanting a lower CO2 choice of car isn’t the same as being prepared to suffer more expense or less convenience or less desirability. But it does go to show that if carmakers can get electric cars to align with their own aims – cheap enough to sell at combustion engine-equivalent prices while still making a profit – then they or their buyers don’t need to be forced by government legislation to make the switch.

(Even if it were just about legislation, note that most of us live in democracies and we voted for candidates who said that they will cut CO2 levels.)

Stellantis says that it can cut the manufacturing cost of EVs by 40 per cent in the next three years, achieving cost parity with ICEs. VW, Renault and others say so too. They also understand that greenwashing won’t work. Their electric vehicles can’t have a huge manufacturing carbon footprint. So they have pathways to take that to zero too. And do big-scale battery recycling. They have the tools.