10 Common Myths About Electric Cars & Clean Energy — And How To Respond

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We’ve been covering clean technologies here on CleanTechnica for almost 18 years. I’ve been doing so for 16 years. It’s been a fun topic to cover as solar energy, wind energy, and electric vehicles have grown tremendously and costs have fallen off a cliff. However, in all of that time, I’ve had to deal with myths about cleantech that are harmful and persistent. Many of the major myths from back then continue to this day, and others have been thrown onto the pile and become popular. Unfortunately, it’s just very hard to get rid of these.

One thing I learned many years ago from Skeptical Science and their efforts to counter climate myths is that people don’t respond to long, complicated debunkings. In fact, those are more likely to backfire and reinforce myths in people’s heads! It may sound crazy, but this is the human mind we’re dealing with. It’s much more effective to give a simple and clear response that provides an easy concept for people to latch onto to replace the simple myth they had heard and thought might (or must) be true.

So, below are 10 common myths about EVs and clean energy, and ways you can counter them. Feel free to offer your own better ideas if you have them, but, to be honest, all of these responses have surely been crowdsourced from readers over the years. For those who prefer longer, more detailed answers, we’ll go ahead and provide those for you on some of these points as well. Stay tuned.

Electric Vehicles

Myth: You have to spend a lot of time charging an EV.

Truth: It typically takes less than a minute to charge an EV each week. Electric cars now come with hundreds of miles of range. Most people drive 40 miles or less each day. If they can plug in at home or work every 2–3 days, that should be plenty. It takes just a few seconds to plug in or unplug, so that adds up to a minute or so (probably less) that someone has to spend charging their EV each week.

If you’re thinking about road trips, it’s true that it takes a bit longer for an electric car to charge than it takes a gas car to fill up, but the vast majority of driving and fueling/charging is from daily transportation needs, not occasional road trips. Also, you don’t have to stand next to the car while it charges — you can go get coffee, get food, use the restroom, watch something on YouTube, work, scroll social media, rest your eyes, walk the dog, or do other things while your car charges. Again, it just takes a few seconds to actually plug in and unplug.

Okay, I started with a longer one, but let’s move on.

Myth: EV batteries need to be replaced after a few years.

Truth: EV batteries almost always come with an 8-year warranty, and that warranty guarantees that the battery has 70% or more of its original energy storage capacity. Automakers don’t provide warranties they expect will result in a financial loss. These EV batteries are more likely to last 15 years than have to be replaced after a few years. In fact, most EV batteries probably will last 15 years or so.

I think the issue here is that people think about 12V batteries that are in all cars, which often only last 2–3 years (at least in a place like Florida). Those are completely different batteries and incomparable.

Myth: Electric cars are actually really dirty and polluting.

Electric cars are much cleaner than gasoline-powered cars, even conventional hybrids, all across the grid. With more and more electricity coming from renewable energy (which accounts for most new power capacity in the United States year after year this decade), they just get cleaner and cleaner, too.

The little bit of extra emissions created from producing batteries for electric cars is quickly negated by the lower pollution from electric car operation (zero emissions) and charging.

Myth: There aren’t affordable electric car options.

Not that long ago, it was very hard to find affordable electric cars. Now, however, there are several electric car models that have a lower MSRP than the average new car sold in the United States. Additionally, there’s now a vast used electric car market. You can get great deals on used electric vehicles of all different models and vehicle classes.

Myth: An EV could very likely burn down your house.

While there have been a few fires caused by EVs charging, this is extremely uncommon. Gasoline is also flammable, by the way, and there have been many cases of gas tanks and gas cars catching fire and burning down houses as well. Things can happen, and when you’ve got energy densely packed — whether into batteries or gasoline — it can catch fire. However, battery packs are heavily protected and managed to avoid this, and there are millions of vehicles sold every month that will never catch fire.

Renewable Energy

Myth: Wind and solar energy are expensive.

Wind and solar power are actually the cheapest options for new power capacity now, which is why they have accounted for most new power capacity in the past several years.

Myth: Wind and solar energy take up a lot of land.

Wind turbines and solar power systems don’t actually need a lot of land, and they can be easily co-located with farmland (wind and solar) or rooftops (solar). In fact, wind power and solar power systems help farmers around the world, as they provide supplemental income and can also help with crop growth.

Myth: We can’t add much more solar and wind energy to the grid because they’re intermittent energy sources.

The sun doesn’t shine all the time and the wind doesn’t blow all the time, but with modern technology (we live in the age of AI after all), it’s not difficult for utilities to integrate them into the electricity system and take advantage of their cheap electricity.

Myth: There’s no reason to stop burning coal or natural gas for electricity.

Coal power plants and natural gas power plants create a ton of pollution. This causes all kinds of health problems for humans, and thousands upon thousands of premature deaths. Day after day, people are suffering and dying from air pollution. Then there’s also the fact that the CO2 pollution from these power plants is quickly heating up our planet and causing all kinds of climate catastrophes.

Myth: We should build nuclear power instead of renewable energy.

Nuclear power plants cost several times more than renewable energy power plants, and also take many more years to build. There’s no good reason to build expensive nuclear power plants instead of cheap solar and wind power plants.

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