I happen to be a citizen from a «liberal socialist» country in Europe and I have both an EV and an ICE cars. So let me give some perspective from the other side of the pond.
There is a myth I want to bust. Most European Union countries are not that generous with EVs. I did not get any subsidy for my EV. My country has been applying for many years the « you pollute, you pay » concept by enforcing a rather steep road tax primarily based on CO2 emissions, horsepower and engine cubic liters as well as by taxing the drivers at the fuel pump. This has been in place long before the arrival of EVs on the market. The only gain I have on my EV is a relatively reduced road tax. No tax credit or other benefits. To my knowledge, the European Union Member States are not subsidizing the charging stations networks. All is financed by the private sector.
Actually, the only European country that has been pushing very hard for the adoption of EVs is not a part of the European Union and is also the largest oil producer of Europe. It is Norway where about one car out of ten is an EV.
The State is considering taxing solar panel installations by adding a surcharge for reinjecting the electricity into the grid. Having discussed with engineers, I understand that there are associated costs on the infrastructure for absorbing all the electricity reinjected during the day. My electricity meter is working both ways. The electricity I produce and don't consume during the day gets injected into the grid and gets deducted from the meter. The next step will consist in installing battery packs.
Christian. I don’t know if you have kids. I have two who are in college. They received a «liberal» education which in Europe means «I believe in free market and I don’t support socialist ideas but I do accept the intervention of the government in the interest of common good». Their views on the world are rather enlightening. For instance, they will only buy organic food they get from a grocery shop, which guarantees the provenance from local producers. They don’t care about cars. They live in the capital city and they use their bicycles.
Somehow my kids have pushed me to go for solar panels and also install a hot-water solar system as well as taking a utility company, which only gets its energy sources from hydro and wind. Using my EV is almost carbon neutral. Driving an EV which gets is energy from coal is a clearly non-sense. When part of my country and the neighboring country is below sea level, climate change actually matters.
My daily commute (about 35 miles) is boring as hell. Driving an EV to work is great and at least I can justify why I opted for a top of the range Meridian Audio system in my car. I have never enjoyed music so much in a car since I’ve got an EV.
I have a home charger, so my EV gets plenty of juice whenever necessary. Acceleration and torque are indeed superlative but frankly who needs so much for a daily commute?
Honestly, besides acceleration and torque, an EV will not give the same sensation and satisfaction you get from an ICE car for a petrol head like you. Hence the reason why I still have a small « cat » for the weekend and long escapes that I don’t want to plan in advance by looking where I will find charging stations though the onboard software will take care of all this.
However, I opted for a smaller turbo charged engine instead of a big V8. The small and nimble but reasonably powerful engine gives me plenty of pleasure on the narrow and windings roads of the countryside.
Somehow, we need to accept that big normally aspirated ICE engines are becoming dinosaurs.
And if you wonder what my rides are looking like:
