Electric Vehicle Owners Believe the FUD

In a case of feel the FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt caused by misinformation) and do it anyway, a new study published in Nature and publicised by the University of Queensland (UQ) in Australia has discovered that many EV drivers actually believe the myths but drive an electric vehicle anyway. I have to thank my friend and colleague, Associate Professor Christa Van Kraayenoord of UQ, for this this tipoff. The research project was led by Christian Bretter, a Senior Research Fellow in Environmental Psychology.

My first thought: I have brought up the issue many times of who would dispel FUD and educate the unwashed masses. Would it be the auto companies, the government, the dealers, the early adopters? I recently came to the conclusion that it would be EV drivers sharing their knowledge through social media. Car owners are doing it for themselves. CleanTechnica has long sought to dispel the myths and misinformation around electric vehicles — here is an early article from 2018, for example (yes, this fight has been going on a long time). 

However, I will accept help from any quarter. Though, the results from this study raise the question — do we need to fight FUD if people are buying EVs anyway? As my friend from JET Charge told me specifically in regard to the most serious FUD (that EVs are a serious fire risk): “In time, it will fade away naturally. The argument will run out of legs. The public will get used to EVs, and realise that they have a very high level of safety.”

More than 4,000 people were surveyed across Australia, the United States, Germany, and Austria. The survey uncovered that more people believe misinformation about EVs than disagree with it. The researchers describe it as “substantial agreement with misinformation.” They identified the nine most prevalent myths and also provided authoritative answers. This misbelief, of course, will impede the progress of the rEVolution.

“Electric vehicles are vital in the fight against climate change. But pervasive misinformation is a significant challenge to the technology’s uptake and has serious implications for the shift away from fossil fuels,” the researchers concluded.

They provided nine statements of misinformation to the survey cohort and received 36,000 responses. “Misinformation agreement was highest in Germany and lowest in the US, but the differences between nations were small. The most widely believed myth was that electric vehicles are more likely to catch fire than petrol cars. Some 43–56% of people agreed with the statement, depending on the country.”

In a separate part of the research, 2,100 people in the USA were surveyed. Fifty per. Cent owned an EV and 50% did not. “Surprisingly, EV owners did not significantly differ in their agreement with misinformation compared to non-owners. This underscores how embedded the problem has become. Agreement with misinformation was strongly correlated with a lack of support for electric vehicle policies and a lack of intention to buy an EV in future.”

The research concluded that people who believed that conspiracies were common in society were more likely to believe the misinformation about EVs. “They saw the world through a lens of corruption and secret agendas, and distrusted institutions.”

I find myself in the conspiracy camp when looking at the mass media reporting of EVs and the influence of global oil companies. Different conspiracies perhaps? Maybe we need a ranking or a categorisation of conspiracy theories. I have a friend who drives an EV who sincerely believes that the world is flat, and another that climate change is a hoax. None so queer as folks.
“People with progressive political and environmental views were less likely to endorse misinformation about EVs.” And frighteningly, “A person’s scientific knowledge or level of education was not a predictor. This finding aligns with previous research, and suggests the pervasive endorsement of misinformation stems from distrust in institutions and expertise rather than from a lack of education.”

The nine myths tested and the evidence provided were:

1. Electric vehicles produce more carbon emissions across their life span than petrol cars do. Debunked here.
2. Electric vehicles emit electromagnetic fields which disrupt the migratory patterns of birds and other wildlife. Debunked here.
3. Electric vehicles don’t mitigate climate change because their production requires mining rare minerals, which causes deforestation, and so increases CO₂ in the atmosphere. Debunked here.
4. Electric vehicles emit electromagnetic fields that can cause cancer. Debunked here.
5. Electric vehicles are more likely to catch fire than petrol or diesel cars. Debunked here.
6. Electric vehicle batteries are designed to fail and will have to be replaced at the end of the warranty period. Debunked here.
7. Electric vehicle batteries are not upgradeable. Debunked here.
8. Electric vehicles are designed to be unnecessarily complex to prevent DIY repairs. Debunked here. 
9. Electric vehicle accidents are deliberately under-reported. Debunked here.

I was surprised that the myth that electric vehicle batteries cannot be recycled and would end up in landfill was not on this list also. (Debunked here and many other places.) If any of our readers would like to add to this list of myths, I would love to hear from them. Of course, CleanTechnica has published extensively on most of these myths over the years. The issue might be: How do we get people to read/view/consider the answers?

The researchers then found a different sample of participants in the US to trial methods of tackling this acceptance of misinformation. Three groups were formed; two interventions were used. One group conversed with ChatGPT about their views on EV myths; the second was given a fact sheet on EVs from the US Department of Energy. The third group was the control; no intervention was made.

Both groups responded well to the intervention, notably showing ChatGPT’s efficacy in reducing endorsement of conspiracy theories. The researchers concluded that: “People who engage with facts about electric vehicles are less likely to endorse misinformation. This suggests a dual strategy is needed to reduce misinformation about EVs. First, those who deliberately spread misinformation should be held accountable. And second, evidence-based information, including accessible AI tools, can be used to build public resilience against false claims.”

In the battle against FUD, we have many options. My favourite is to take people for a drive and let them experience the fun of EV driving. Share your experience with those around you, and the future will be bright and electric.