How psychology offers a way to overcome the widespread denial of the benefits of electric vehicles
(Article co-authored with Prof. Margarita Mayo)
The transition of cars to electricity is now a reality, one widely studied by experts like Tony Seba and documented throughout the world: a transition from an obsolete, dirty and extremely complex technology, the internal combustion engine, to one that is significantly simpler, cheaper to manufacture, more economical to purchase and run, superior in performance and, above all, clean.
However, most people’s response to the idea of electric vehicles is to deny their advantages, typically citing arguments that are false, illogical or that have long been overturned.
What makes so many of us cling stubbornly to such arguments? After all, they’re being used to rebut scientific evidence. Perhaps psychology can provide us with some answers:
First, let’s enumerate the main arguments usually trotted out against electric vehicles:
- “Electric vehicles create as much pollution as internal combustion vehicles, because they use energy created by fossil fuels.” The “long tailpipe theory” has been dismantled on numerous occasions by many scientific studies, and yet it is still routinely put forward, like some kind of religious truth.
