Electric or Not, Big SUVs Are Inherently Selfish

Selfishness is a human characteristic

 

Thanks for sharing.

Article specifically calls out the upcoming electric Hummer, but perfectly encapsulates my feelings towards Tesla. I'm not at all enamored of the go-big-or-go-home, winner-take-all BS attitude emanating from the cult of Musk.

Definitely looking forward to more and better "lightweight" electric mobility choices.

 

Agreed, in most cases.
However, if the choice is between an ICE powered SUV or an EV SUV, I would much rather have the EV SUV on the road.

Alternatively, if someone has a suggestion as to how to eliminate selfishness in the human psyche I’m all ears.

 

Noticed one the other day, had front bumpers like this:



Might as well put some spikes there...

Yeah how did this happen; in the near-decade since we bought our 2010, the road population has swung 180 degrees, it's pretty much a steady stream of SUV's and CUV's now.

After doing (charity) oil changes on our daughter's PIlot if the tank's getting low I'll swing by the gas station and top it up, looking at well over $100 CDN.

Ours, we do about a half-tank fill roughly monthly, $25~.

 

I was selfish buying a Prius...and was selfish buying a ZR1. Until otherwise legally notified, as it relates to this subject, being selfish is a part of freedom.

 

electric hummers are not the time to be calling out su's. not that it's going to change anything anyway.

 

Personally, I'd rather have an EV SUV driving by my house than the little sheetbox Hondas that come flying down the hill here with huge sub-woofers blasting and fart mufflers back-firing all the way.

 

People have missed the memo that the new Hummer is going to be a pick up, not a SUV. May not be much better, but bemoaning SUVs always seems to conflate them all. The current increase of SUV sales is among the 'compact' models; the Rav4s and like. Yes, people buying them would get better efficiency with a sedan, but these SUVs are likely matching, or doing better, than the actual car that they replaced.

@Leadfoot J. McCoalroller points out this analysis can be applied to Teslas. It can applied to all those performance EVs.

There is a good chance such cars are 'chipped' to run rich and produce more emissions.

 

Thank you for mentioning this lest anyone think I have it out for Tesla. I agree, this also applies to what I've seen of everybody else's high performance EVs too.

EVs are great and wonderful as a mobility concept- I'm generally supportive. But I want it divorced from the "MOAR! MOAR! MUST-CRUSH-IT LUDICROUS" hyperbolic design and surrounding culture to score it as real progress.

 

I think the author only drives solo in their vehicle. An almost empty SUV is wasteful.
An SUV carrying 7, not so much. Just my 2 cents.

I drive solo almost exclusively, and own a Prius. (I have cargo, not passengers) My wife transports an Electrical Engineer, a Mechanical Engineer, a Civil Engineer, an HVAC guy, an Interior Designer and a Landscape Architect. And their gear. Not nearly as wasteful as 7 separate vehicles.

https://www.jmcfirm.com/services.html

 

I bought a Hybrid Rav4. It gets maybe 3 MPG less than my Prius v it replaced. It cost me at least $15k more than sticking with the v which had perhaps 60k miles on it and needed nothing.

So why?

1. Money was not an issue. Lucky me.
2. Utility. Monday I took several loads loaded to the ceiling with the rear seats down of shrub clippings to the recycle landfill to be ground into mulch. Couldn't do that with the v.
3. Safety features. Blind spot monitor. Backup cross traffic sensing. Lane keeping assist. Adaptive cruise control. Adaptive headlights. Backup camera when the shrubs blocked my view out the rear view mirror. 360 degree view when parking. Parking assist lines and box when backing up. Rain sensing wipers. Tire pressure monitoring. Auto-sensing high beams. At 76 I felt I needed those.
4. Kick to open and close rear hatch.
5. 4WD
6. Adjustable thigh support
7. Warranty from a dealer 3 miles away who will drop me 300 yards from my house after I drop off my car.
8. 4k discount.
9. Available 2 weeks after order exactly to my spec.
10. $20k cheaper than the alternative.

The only other contender was a Y and the "dealer" was 65 miles away and several of the utility features weren't there. I wouldn't have felt comfortable driving the Y 350 miles back at night from where I picked it up only after a 3 minute lesson in how to set the Navigation. The Rav4h was familiar enough. It was now, the Y was maybe a year away from available. The Rav4h plug-in wasn't even rumored.

My point is not everyone makes the same choices and some are as valid as yours.

I know and have documented lots of things I wish the Rav4 designers would have done differently or better. Same with my Prius. Same with my Porsche. But it was a good choice and done for well thought out reasons that have proven themselves.

 

We were taking bailed up blackberry vines in the hatch, what a hassle. Found it best to roll them tightly in a tarp, much easier to get them in without snagging. Blackberry sushi...

Got me thinking about a small trailer. With a RAV4 a trailer hitch would be with Toyota's blessing.

 

Even in the Rav4 with a rubber mat in the trunk and up the seats, I used a 12' by 12' blue plastic tarp like you see patching roofs to make sure the ends of the branches didn't scratch anything. Had I a trailer I could have done it in one load. But something to store and license and maintain. If it is that bad, my neighbor has a pickup and trailer.

 

The author's premise - is the age old reality ..... pride & envy. "I wish i had what YOU have" - vs "YOU don't have NEAR what I have".
Why stop at cars .... let's play the pride & envy game with a "house";

We can all plug the same damning / judgemental philosophy of SUV's into a house - or cloths - or sports - or hobbies.
"NO one needs that much"
"that lawn maintenance could feed 100 starving children"
blah blah blah
Capitalism - it lets you work to get more - & many successful give a lot of it away ... versus Marx / Lenin that take it away so only the socialist gub'ment leaches get the excess.
Nothing new here - move along .....
(edit)
the aurhor seems to think highly of the humble lowly minivan owner ..... & we have a plug-in minivan. but i can be as arrogant & prideful & indignant as the next arswipe - just more proof the author doesn't know what he's talking about

.

 

Yes, it is a free country, which, for better or worse, includes the right to be judgemental. Certainly lots of people like to judge Prius drivers. If you feel comfortable in your choices then you can ignore the critics.

My choices were economics and just the enjoyment of driving electric. I really liked it whenever the Prius was in electric mode, so it was natural that my next car was a plug-in Prius (given the high cost of full electric).

One other thing is that I enjoy taking walks around the neighborhood, except when it involves breathing in the smog from passing cars. So if someone wants to buy a giant SUV, I'll be happy if it is electric. I can't wait until more trucks and buses go electric.

We have so far to go to reduce the biggest polluters that it really seems a waste of time and energy complaining about low-polluting, reasonably efficient large electric cars.

 

Speaking of selfish

Hydrogen fuel cell cars are not dominating the emissions-free market — Here's why: - The Washington Post

 

oh the irony .....
from the article ;

Not something you ever hear - from Toyota marketing - "we will entice you into a Toyota Mirai, where if it breaks down - we will give you a model 3 loaner"
.

 

edit: Hill beat me to it

 

My 2 cents...
I used to agree with the sentiment that it was wasteful that Tesla produced such powerful/quick EV's. However, I have seen person after person trade in their gas guzzler to buy a Tesla simply because of the performance. So I've changed my tune and am now appreciative of Tesla's approach. Let other companies serve the other markets.
That being said, I wish Tesla would come out with a 150-200 mile Model 3. We won't need 2 long range EV's once we buy a Y. Currently our 150 mile Leaf serves the purpose of our around town vehicle.