Guardian Goings-on (1) Electric Vehicles

For a while now, it’s been clear that the Grauniad isn’t just broadly on the side of the greens (hardly surprising), but that it has a positive editorial policy of proselytising, not to mention smoking up the embarrassing facts.  For example, it ran a ‘myth-busting’ series on heat pumps, which was straining every sinew to say “heat pumps are wonderful, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise“, except that the last residues of journalistic integrity forced it to admit that the first half of that statement needs qualifying (heavily) in several dimensions, to the point where the second part looks pretty silly.  Likewise, it ran a series on how wonderful electric vehicles are, not to worry about recharging etc.

Except, actually, EV drivers seem to fall out of love with their costly acquisitions, subsidised or not (and notwithstanding the acceleration, hohoh, with which even J.Clarkson is supposed to be deeply in love).  This clearly manifests itself in something long suspected by skeptics, namely that the resale value of EVs is turning out to be pitiful.  This is, incidentally, for very good reasons.

Someone in the trade has decided the ideal place for an attempt to arrest this highly damaging phenomenon is, of course, the Graun.  Which has obligingly let fly with a lengthy, risible puff-piece trying to talk up second-hand EVs: ‘Spectacular bargains’: why now is a great time to buy a used electric car in the UK.  

What sort of journalist could take pride in being told to write such tosh?  I haven’t heard quite so much disingenuous ‘talking his own book’ nonsense since the Beeb allowed a representative of the used car fraternity to announce that, during some pronounced downturn in new car sales a few years ago, it would mean that prices of second-hand cars would be going up!  (… ‘because nobody wants a new car, so they’ll be buying second-hand cars instead and demand will go up‘.  FFS, man, if there’s a recession in car buying it’ll hit the entire sector!)

Well, I suppose Kath Viner feels it’s all hands to the pump.  I look forward to the next in this series – perhaps “why doesn’t your village volunteer to have a small nuke planted next door?  You could get up a petition …”

More on this ‘journalistic’ behaviour to follow.

ND