Rowan Atkinson says he feels ‘a little duped’ by electric cars and urges friends not to get them
‘I feel a bit cheated’: Rowan Atkinson says electric cars aren’t ‘the panacea for the environment they claim to be’ and tells friends not to buy them
- The 68-year-old actor has claimed he feels ‘our electric car honeymoon is coming to an end’
Blackadder and Mr Bean star Rowan Atkinson has claimed he feels ‘a bit cheated’ by electric cars and has urged friends not to buy them.
Mr Atkinson, who bought his first electric hybrid 18 years ago and his first all-electric car nine years ago, has now said that ‘electric driving doesn’t really seem to be the environmental panacea it claims to be’.
In an essay written in The protectorMr Atkinson, who has a degree in electrical engineering and electronics, points out that a Volvo study suggests that greenhouse gas emissions are 70 percent higher in the production of an electric car compared to petrol cars.
According to the car-obsessed actor, this is mainly due to “lithium-ion batteries” that are found in almost all electric vehicles and are extremely heavy. They use “a lot of rare earth metals and huge amounts of energy required to make them, and they only last about 10 years.”
This means that while electric cars have no emissions, they are not yet as environmentally friendly as some might think.
Mr Atkinson, who bought his first electric hybrid 18 years ago and his first all-electric car nine years ago, has now said that ‘going electric doesn’t really seem to be the environmental panacea it claims to be’
In an essay written in The Guardian, Mr Atkinson, who has a degree in electrical engineering and electronics, points out that a Volvo study suggests that greenhouse gas emissions are 70 percent higher in the production of an electric car compared to petrol cars.
Blackadder star Rowan Atkinson has urged friends not to ‘fire for now’ regarding electric car purchases
The 68-year-old Mr Bean star was also critical of what he says is ‘society’s relationship with cars’, describing the car industry as participating in the ‘fast fashion sales culture’
The 68-year-old is also critical of what he says is “society’s relationship with cars,” describing the auto industry as participating in the “fast fashion sales culture.”
He says most car users change cars on average every three years before reselling them – mainly because of the “ubiquitous three-year leasing model.”
This is in comparison to his childhood, where he says cars were ‘a bucket of rust and half way through the gate of the scrapyard’ after five years, whereas a £15,000 car with some ‘tender care’ can last up to 30 years today. year.
Mr Atkinson concludes: ‘I feel more and more that our honeymoon of electric cars is coming to an end, and that’s okay: we realize that a wider range of options need to be explored if we are to overcome the very serious environmental problems facing us. use of the car has caused.
“We must continue to develop hydrogen, as well as synthetic fuels to avoid scrapping older cars that still have so much to offer, while at the same time promoting a very different business model for the automotive industry, where we keep our new vehicles longer, recognizing their amazing but overlooked longevity.
‘Friends with environmental awareness often ask me, as a car person, whether they should buy an electric car. I’m inclined to say that if their car is an old diesel and they drive a lot in the city center then they should consider a change. But otherwise, hold the fire for now. Electric propulsion will one day deliver real global environmental benefits, but that day has yet to come.’