Not Lies...exactly
How you tell the story shapes how people feel
With an electric vehicle, you’ll never have to pay for gas again.
An electric vehicle can leave you stranded and helpless.
Depending on which statement you hear, you will either feel fear or freedom. Your emotions hear one of those statements and are ready to make financial decisions for you, because our emotions have a huge impact on our attitudes and behaviors. Or as the neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor says, “Most of us think of ourselves as thinking creatures that feel, but we are actually feeling creatures that think.”
Let’s layer on some facts:
If you own an electric vehicle, you gain greater control over the annual running costs, and can even make fuel costs close to zero if you have access to renewable energy.
Your thinking brain is likely starting to engage. Well, there are pros and cons. I like the idea of not paying for gas, of not being stuck with whatever is going on in the world that sends gas prices all over, not to mention the taxes, but what if I get stuck?
Layer on some more facts:
The average driving range for an electric vehicle is 250-500 miles.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, 95.1% of trips taken in personal vehicles are less than 31 miles.
Emotions are swinging back to positive, EV’s are start sounding like a good idea. It seems unlikely that you’d need to worry about charging your electric vehicle under normal circumstances.
I started with the positive to set the tone. Next layer, I started with negative, just to show show you I’m not lying, I’m acknowledging the downsides, because every decision has pros and cons. Next layer, I’m sticking with the facts, just the facts. No emotion. Giving you space to make the right decision for you.
When we care deeply about an issue, there is a tendency to push hard in one direction. We don’t allow individuals to make informed decisions. This implies that the facts are not enough and it can backfire spectacularly. Because when we are being manipulated, it’s rare to show both sides, unless it’s to discredit and demean. All or nothing is an endgame that is hard to sustain, because no one likes to be manipulated. Convincing people that change is in their best interest, using a balanced approach, is more sustainable.
The negative bias in a news story about electrical vehicles got me thinking about how effectively our emotions are engaged in what appears to be balanced or interesting news stories.
The CEO of Ford Motor Company drove a F-150 Lightning across the American West to gain insights that could improve the company’s electric vehicle production and sales. He ran into trouble finding charging stations or was stuck with charging stations that took hours. The conclusion in much of the media was that charging electric vehicles is precarious. This preys into fears of being stalled at the side of the road in a remote area, no help in sight.
It wasn’t lies…exactly. It was cherry-picking the truth, without a balanced representation of the facts.
The reality is that gas-powered cars run out of fuel too, sometimes requiring a long walk or drive to a gas station. Regardless of gas-powered or electricity-powered, the driver does have to pay attention to the fuel gage.
But the powerful emotion of fear was engaged. Call me suspicious, but only 2.3% of Ford sales are EVs, so they still have to maintain a healthy relationship with the fossil fuel industry. Fear of leaving the known, the predictable, the way of life, the ritual and ‘security’ of going to the gas pump. All well trod marketing techniques.
The reality is that few people need to worry about access to charging stations. A counter-marketing technique for those who want to sell EVs to people in more remote areas, is to emphasize the independence they gain, and the freedom from the grid, from government, from taxes. Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, and North Dakota have few people, relative to their size. Huge expanses of land with ample sunshine and wind. If I were in charge, I’d focus on making installation of renewable energy affordable, even free, priority in those areas, through tax rebates or direct reimbursement. The distances between places is longer, but according to the data, people in Alaska drive less than most Americans, an average of 30 miles a day. Wyoming residents drive the most, 66 miles a day. For the rare driver who needs to drive more than 250-500 miles without seeing another fuel source, there has to be another option, portable charger or a gas can, but those are the minority. The news stories made it sound as being stranded was going to impact most people.
Finally, my freedom. What if I want to do a cross-country road trip? Well, the infrastructure for EV isn’t there yet. It would be a pain in the neck. If I lived someplace like the outback in Australia, no way would I be driving anything that I couldn’t carry additional fuel. But for the other 98% of the world’s population, let’s start telling the story differently. And focus on highlighting the infrastructure already in place, or make new infrastructure even more affordable to the average person.