My article about driving an electric car went viral when it unexpectedly angered a certain community – here’s why

I had failed to realise that I was venturing into a world where speaking ill of this technology is met with severe punishment

“Please believe me, I’m not out to harass you,” said a man in his second of two direct messages after sending me more than 30 tweets.

This harassment, that he informed me wasn’t really harassment, was in response to an article I had written about my experiences of driving to Cornwall for a holiday using an electric car.

In the piece, and also in a detailed Instagram story for the more social-media-savvy among you, I outlined the issues I faced as I embarked on the 300-mile journey from my flat in southwest London to a small village called Rosudgeon, just outside Penzance.

Having been interested in electric vehicles for a while, this particular staycation seemed like the perfect opportunity to go a little further than just dipping my toe. So I took a battery-powered car for a serious test.

To summarise the article, I loved the car (I was driving an e-Golf) for the everyday journeys over short distances, but felt that vast improvements needed to be made to battery range and charging infrastructure for electric vehicles to be a viable alternative to their petrol or diesel counterparts.

What I failed to realise when writing this piece was that I would be taking a step into the “EV world”. It’s a place where speaking ill of this technology is met with punishment.

Over the past few days I’ve been accused of being childish and not acting like an “adult”, being irresponsible and unprofessional, having an agenda against electric cars and finally – and this is my favourite of all – being sponsored by “big oil”. If the last one is true, where are my big bags of dirty money?

After the ordeal that was the journey, and the responses to the article itself, I’m still a fan of electric cars and honestly do believe they are the future of motoring, once the necessary improvements have been made. Perhaps I’m just a little less of a fan of the club you currently have to join when you buy one.

Yours,

Tom Richell

Head of video