11 April

Probably the only thing combustion car enthusiasts have left to distinguish the technology is the noise those engines make. But have a look around at the overwhelming majority of cars being made today, how much quieter, near silent, modern cars are. That's deliberate engineering, noise is wasted energy, and also a curse for people living near roadways. By far the greatest resistance to the shift to electric vehicles is a tiny number of driving enthusiasts with very loud voices. Off-roading and sports cars, mostly. The overwhelming majority of drivers haven't even noticed that cars make almost no noise now at all, because to them that's a good thing, a noisy car is great if you're the only car, and a nightmare if everybody's car is noisy. Car enthusiasts are people whose vehicle is a major part of their identity, that's why they're so vocally opposed to the shift to electric. It threatens who they are, their sense of self. Their criticisms all revolve around them, as an individual, not any collective measure of what good cars and driving might be. All of that is dressed up in a growing list of nonsense claims about EVs, which are more ridiculous and transparent every day. There's not a single way a combustion-engined vehicle can hold a candle to an EV. It's not about the engineering, it's about their personal identity. In some cases, like the Japanese and Germans, it's about a national identity too, their car companies are fundamental parts of their culture. Combustion vehicles are rubbish, in engineering terms, and will be extinct soon.