BBC's EV Vendetta? Tesla on Blink? UK charging up? Almost Breaking News! 

The part about the hospital car parking story that shocks me the most is that they had waited 5 years for the hospital appointment. More than half of the childs life. That needs to change.

Scrapyard challenge. It would be interesting to have a new series where contestants get the chance to have access to parts from electric cars, motors, batteries, etc.

I’m sat here looking out of my lounge window onto a busy road here in Québec, over the last 5 years the numbers of EV's going past has risen from occasionally to every minute or so. 😮

I just had to buy a new 12v battery for my ten year old zoe. The amount of time I've spent correcting people that it's not the main battery is insane!

Been an owner of an EV for just over 3 years now & i absolutely enjoy it . The car i have now suits all my needs where i live & i can seriously consider longer trips with it if i wish too. Best move i ever made going electric.

Can’t beat a good old Robert Rant, or several of them 😊

I was pleasantly surprised to see Sky news made a point that the recent bus fire in London was caused by a diesel, not an EV.

I can't charge my car at work, despite there being chargers, due to it being an underground car park and the "fire risk". Ironically, not that long ago the building was evacuated due to a random ICE car pulling into the car park which caught fire. Destination charging is very important, especially when you can't charge at home. There shouldnt be any more barriers to it than nessecary.

Absolutely brilliant Robert , you ought to have a mainstream TV program so that the non tubing public can hear these really important statistics . Great work and shout it from the rooftops ! The oiligarchs wont like it !

I have owned EVs since 2019 and they work well for me. However, there are still many cases where EVs cannot compete, there are no EVs in low insurance groups suitable for young drivers, and if you can't charge at home public charging is inconvenient and expensive. Pretending that the only thing stopping EV domination is the evil oil and gas corporations is foolish.

I don't know how many times I've heard "And if you have been, thank you for watching" over the years, but it's quite a lot! Thanks for everything you and the team do, Robert!

Our experience of having our Ioniq 5 for 4 weeks has been nothing but positive. The charging at home, the quiet, refined drive and (bonus) the access to the amazing Octopus Intelligent Go tariff. It’s a different world and we love it.

Robert the Archbishop of Electrons. And yes, the occasional slip into Kryten's voice just makes the video that much better.

Cheeky wee Red Dwarf reference at the start there. Robert must be a fan.

After just 46,000 miles and 4 1/2 years of ownership, last week Tesla service advised me against driving my car as the HV battery was about to fail. It is now at the service centre awaiting a replacement HV battery. Tesla provided a Loaner car (awful experience due to arguments/charges over existing damage). But my main concern is the potential poor standard of the replacement *refurbished* battery and the lack of extended warranty (it will still be based on my car's age and total mileage). Tesla are saying the potential cost of a future out of warranty replacement, if it fails again is GBP £20,000 (USD $25,000)! More than the value of the car which, by the way, is dropping like a stone! I was a hughe EV fan and I believed your arguments against all the FUD surrounding them, but this is a very real problem for a lot of EV owners who can't afford to switch to a new lease every few years, or want to buy second hand. I am now questioning the value of EVs. The batteries are unreliable more often than you think, masked by a warranty process with is potentially a ticking time bomb as they are soooo expensive to replace. When the HV battery fails under warranty the warranty does NOT cover a new replacement battery. The chance of receiving an unreliable replacement battery under warranty is high because they are refurbished from a previously failed battery (there are an increasing number of owners with such experiences, left with worthless cars). Currently, I am concerned my car will become a worthless risk to anyone as soon as the warranty period is up. Why would anyone want to risk buying a second hand out of warranty EV with a risk of a battery failure leading to an instant write-off? I have been very careful with my charging habits since owning my car from new and diligently followed the 80/20 rule charging mostly at home. I would love to come on your channel to discuss this. I used to advocate EVs as better than ICE cars in every way, but more needs to be done surrounding HV battery repair for second hand/out of warranty owners. Currently it is almost impossible to find someone to repair them. Plus the warranty should cover a new replacement if the HV battery fails rather than a refurb of a previously failed battery for which the owner has no idea of previous use/mileage/charging practices. If you are still reading this and share my concerns, particularly if you are an EV supporter (like me) please give it a like/thumbs-up so there is more chance this channels moderators will take note of both sides of the story. To help debunk the EV FUD, real stories of the downside to EV ownership should also be documented and reported. I would like this channel to follow my real life experience with Tesla and EV ownership. Particularly if we can encourage more EV battery repair rather than write offs. Or affordable extended warranty or battery insurance options if this is really an uncommon issue. IF it is it should be cost effective to insure against, currently it is not.

The biggest thing steering people from EV at the moment is the residual values due to price cutting and much cheaper Chinese imports, but it will settle. My company car is coming up for replacement (at 4 years). The only electric option in the list back in 2020 was a dismal DS3. This time around, there's a swathe of MGs, Kia, Hyundai, Skoda etc. Due to the very low BIK, the only realistic option is to go full EV, which means that in 4 years time there'll be many thousands of ex-fleet EV on the 2nd hand market.

The BBC and much of the media seem to be increasingly out of step with what the majority of people think in many areas, not just EVs. They're in no way unbiased as they like to call themselves.

09:09 - Thanks for covering the story but a quick (very minor) correction - I wasn't visiting my son, he was in the car with us and it was a scheduled appointment we were taking him to. If anyone's interested, I've recorded a quick video on my channel where I tell the full story and discuss it in more detail. Not posting the link so as not to spam, but feel free to click through :)

People are gobsmacked that you can use wood to make wind turbines. Yet Tall Trees have been standing for hundreds of years with no problems, I think the whole idea makes a lot of sense.

Same in Canada with our public broadcaster CBC. They always find someone with a 5/12 battery Nissan Leaf and say “EVs suck because you can only drive 40km”

My current electric car is a Renault Zoe 50. I’ve had her for a total of four years driving from Broxbourne to Brighton twice a year!! I shall be sorry to part with her because I absolutely adore driving her.

The oil and gas industry is absolutely disgusting.

Talking about diesel vehicles bursting into flames. A diesel bus did that in Twickenham this week.

the opening line. ill never forget it. when i was running a hostel a few years ago, we had a welsh man staying. never in my life did i have to ask someone sitting right in front of me to repeat himself when speaking my native language. turns out he was welsh. your RD line slapped the sm35 out me at that very moment

Get your facts right Robert. Hospital parking charges may be the norm in Engerland, but not in Scotland, it's free. So, when you say "UK" you mean England.

I agree it is brilliant that there are now 60,000 public charge points available in the UK. But the main quesiton is: How many are _actually_ _working_ ?! That is the big question, as charge-point reliability (Tesla excepted) is utterly appalling in the UK! And yes, I am an EV owner before anybody asks.

I have a car fire experience - it was a Mercedes diesel SUV. While we were driving an injector blew out of the engine and the fuel caught fire, burning-out the front of the car before the fire brigade arrived. It was somewhat shocking, we were then stranded, and then there were all the insurance company arguments... Also, a friend's petrol Ford Transit caught fire, and a petrol Audi across from my flat spontaneously caught fire one evening - I had to quickly move my own car. If all petrol and diesel vehicle fires were given as much coverage as the rare EV fires, the true ratio would be apparent, and EVs would be seen to be far less of a fire risk.

In a recent BBC News article they interviewed a car editor (can't recall the magazine) about 'poor' EV sales. He was as knowledgeable as the infamous 'guy down the pub', when asked about Toyota, he made no comment about how behind the curve they are and their obsession with hydrogen. Says it all...

Keep up the good fight, Robert 😊

The oil and gas industry is only delaying the inevitable.

In the process of leasing my first EV I can't wait. It will be home-charged.

I hope I’m getting a Leaf tomorrow. If it is still available after I get money from the bank. It is in pristine mint condition used. I’m so excited!!! 😊

Commitment and down-to-earth attitude are truly inspiring. Keep it up.

" no one wants electric cars" Clearly, he had no idea the Tesla Model Y was the World's best selling car in 2023....

Hopefully Electric vehicles will become affordable for us ordinary folk who really want to change xx

Here in the US, I noticed that one of our grocery stores Whole Foods has taken out all the EV chargers in their parking lots. Someone mentioned that this is due to the insurance company saying they were too close to the building. That is 'rubbish' as you folks would say - at the two stores that I know of, the chargers were >100 meters away.

I met my old friends for beer on Friday. They with glee told me EVs sales are dropping. I asked why is this. They said it's because they are unreliable. Too expensive, catch fire and have short distance travel.. As one friend said he would not touch an EV with a barge pole.. I asked him where would he find one of them...

I live in Hertfordshire, and have two electric vehicle charging stations within ten minutes of my home.

@2:07 I don't know why you said this. Diesel sales are down massively in April and in all of 2024 so far but HEVs, BEVs, PHEVs are all up compared to 2023.

You had me at BBC and rubbish! Just got my EV through salary sacrifice, and I love it. There is so much tech for a little price compared to petrol car. Getting my home charger and will see what happens next

Can confirm the sales of second-hand EVs are booming. 2 guys at work bought used EVs just last week. One had an ex-fleet Tesla 3, the other paid a mere £17k for a 2-year old e-2008 in top spec with less than 13k miles on the clock!

Batteries burn. Gas explodes. You'd think people would remember that.

spot on fully charged team.

Hey Robert and team, I wanted to thank you for your efforts over the years. We recently bought our first electric car - a second hand electric car. Because of all your videos, we knew that we wouldn't have to worry about the long-term degradation of the battery (the rest of the car will be falling apart before the battery does) and we knew that buying a hulking big SUV would be daft. Thanks to all your videos and countless podcast episodes, we knew that the car would be sitting still in our car park for 95% of the time, so instead of buying the biggest, heaviest, most luxurious and stupidly fast EV we could afford, we took a good look at what we actually *needed*. That narrowed the field of contestants to a short list of fairly affordable EV hatchbacks and I started doing up spreadsheets, punching in the numbers for different models... until we watched the Fully Charged review of the Cupra Born, with Robert having a go in the lovely dark blue metallic Born with the copper accents. "That one. I want *THAT ONE*", my wife said, pointing at the TV. So two weeks ago we took delivery of our (lightly) used Cupra Born 58kWh in dark metallic blue with the copper accented rims and we absolutely love it. The battery is plenty for our needs, the dedicated EV platform ensures a surprisingly roomy interior and the EV driving experience is just so much better in every single way than our shaky, noisy old diesel. We're absolutely never going back to a combustion engine!

Robert, one thing that bugs me is the lack of competition at charging stations - if there's only one supplier at a site, they can charge what they want!

I love this Robert - using facts to defeat the anti EV nonsense being pedalled by the media at the moment.

Travelling around Europe I have used many different chargers and have concluded that Tesla aren't the best, though they are very good. My fave is FastNed - fast as Tesla, covered by a solar panel canopy to keep you dry when it's rainy and they remember my car and start charging straightaway.

Arrived in San Francisco last week (from London) and out of my hotel room window and across the freeway is an Amazon distribution hub. I would estimate 300 - 400 electric transit vans parked up and on charge over each night I have been here. Returning to LHR on Wed. before driving up to Harrogate on Thursday Afternoon, Jetlag permitting.

What people forget about big trucks like that, especially in Europe, drivers stop 2 times a day for rest, and if they can do a fill up just once in those two stops if the on / off loading places dont provide a charge, either way, that is plenty to last an entire day, even doing long haul in most cases, there will be exceptions. ETS2, a truck simulator will get the Renault Electric truck very soon, and I'm excited for that, but just like in the real world they need to build out the infrastructure for it in the game so its a slow roll out! The game dont have chargers in the world at the moment and its a simulator they wanna make it as realistic as they can do. Other EV's to follow... The ANTI EV and the disinformation is crazy these days.... I have been following a new motorcycle on the market lately, that everyone has gone crazy over and completely become obsessed with, its a motocross bike so not a street legal bike but its go 20 hp more than any other bike, altho you wont use that, its a bit too much... so 80 hp and it weigh 122 kg I think, its a monster, and unlike other offerings this is a serious bike built to proper racing specs with high end components, its not cheap! Anyway, my point here is people that has never tried it tell people that OWN the bikes how it cant go anywhere and it will not last and how it rides even tho they have not tried it. It will do 40 - 60 minutes on track riden by a professional then takes 40 - 60 min to charge with 240V, with you are a amature riding doing it for fun, you can probably get 2+ hours out of it easily and most people cant even do that anyway, its extremely demanding riding even if you go rather slow, I have ridden a motocross bike a few times in the past, its terrifying and very demanding on arms and legs, mostly arms. I'm not sure I've seen anything get so much praise and hype up as this bike and it seems well deserved, from amateurs and professionals alike. And it comes from Sweden wich has me excited! :D Stark Varg, wich translates to Strong Wolf... Point being, the misinformation and the things people believe in is just crazy, every news outlet even here keep posting about how EV's are failing and not selling and yada yada... There are EV fails but that is not due to EV's being bad, its just some has done a poor job with them, poor design... The Ioniq 5 N seem to get universal appraise, thats the one I'd buy if I was able to right now, dont care for the fake sound even if its well done but what a car! This is not to say there are no problems, ofc there is... but what cars do not have issues... The one brand I wont get behind ever, start with a T... Enough is enough!

How do you do it Robert? How do you get so 'angry' yet keep it together and get the message across in such a passionate and clear manner? The BBC 's evident bias makes me so angry i can barely put 2 words together!!! As always ABN is the best, nay, only way to keep up date with what's going on in the alternative technology world!!

Yes!…. Glad you called out the BBC👍

You lease cars because you can't afford to buy them? Is it significantly different in UK than where I live? I often hear "Oh lease lease lease, its so good and NOW it actually worth it" And every single time I look at it, it makes no sense! it cost AT LEAST as much as the payments if I took a loan and bought it, and mostly more - and unlike after the lease is up where you have nothing, the car I buy is still worth something. I can to some degree see the argument atm where they say the development is so fast, it might be worth to lease for a few years to not buy something that is outdated after 6 months!

Battery Replacement: One issue I think is that most people don't realize the battery in an EV is different to those in a gas car. If you have been driving a car for 20 years you think it normal to need a new battery every 4-5 years, so it would be natural to expect the same in an EV. So it may not be a conspiracy,, just a lack of knowledge.

The EV rhetoric has increased again so the Fossil Fuel business is really seeing the success of EV's despite their best efforts!

I've just driven my 2015 Tesla Model S from Surrey to Budapest and back. No problems at all.

I was thinking of getting an EV until i read this. Statistics from Motorpoint show that only 30% of EV owners part-exchanging their car in the past year chose to buy another electric car, with 36% opting for petrol, 11% diesel and 23% hybrid. Just bought a Toyota hybrid instead, due to FOFR - fear of future regret.

Year on year, EV sales globally are climbing! Keep telling the truth big man.

Oh Robert, When you call someone a liar based on data aren't you just a bit responsible to offer your sources so everyone can be as enlightened with facts as are you?

Taking delivery of my first EV tomorrow. A 2 year old 20k mile Citroen E-C4 originally sold for £32k I'm buying it for £14k. The second hand market in the UK is booming as supply meets demand.

Unintentional it may have been, but using the term Slick Lawyers when describing the legal council who represent oil companies, made me chuckle.

News segment: "Nobody wants electric cars!" The commercials during the broadcast: Ford, Toyota, GM...

Cheers Robert keep up the good fight

I wrote in and complained to the BBC about an article on EV fires that I thought was negatively biased, particularly the headline. They did acknowledge it and did say they had passed it onto their news desk but there was no justification or suggestion of changing anything. The more of us that complain I guess the more they will be forced to question possible bias.

Robert, you'll be pleased to hear my Ion (iMiev) has now done 90,000 miles. It had most of its life in rural Wales doing a 45 mile commute, so has been charged to 100% almost daily for 3/4 of its miles. It's had four sets of front tyres, two sets rears, a brake fluid change, rear transmission oil (0.6 litre) and lots of wiper blades. And that's literally it. Still has 45+ range, huge fun and does 80% of non-winter miles direct from my solar. Why, why, why would I ever consider replacing it with an ICE car? And that's before considering it's just nicer being in an EV!

The same thing is happening here in America. There’s been what appears to be a concerted effort to undermine EV adoption.

Anybody else distracted more than they should be by Robert's un-ironed shirt? 😅😅😅

The huge increase in secondhand ev sales is probably the rental market wanting to dump them. No figures for 2024 new sales.

Great truthful info. I have had my Hyundai Kona EV for nearly 3 years and love it. I usually charge it every 2 weeks as I do about 150 miles per week for a cost of about £16. I am currently on holiday in Anglesey for a week and there are chargers everywhere. I will never go back to ICE. Service charges are nearly none existent and still have the original break discs and pads as the regenerative braking means I really use the brakes to slow just to come to a complete stop. Its adaptive cruise control is also amazing and nearly drives itself .

Thanks I love your honest reporting you call a spade a spade.Waiting for my first E.V this year looks like about a 6 month wait.Hopefully June July.Citroen E Berlingo misses is disabled we need a big boot for e scooter or wheel chair.

More power to your rants! I admit the BBC can be rather disappointing sometimes. Still a lot better than the alternatives though.

The "fully rant show", very enjoyable, thank you.

Could it be that second hand EVs are selling so well because the market is flooded with them? The price has fallen because nobody wants them. Not heard about Hertz replacing like for like.

Awesome as always Rob, make sure you take your blood pressure meds 😂❤

10 years ago I bought my first EV, a Tesla, still got it and still love it. 7 years ago I threw my TV in a skip and cancelled my BBC licence, it was bad enough listening to the utter garbage around electric cars and Tesla but I was not going to pay for the privilege.

Just watched a RU-vid video from Carloway where vehicles travelled from Southeern England to Edinburgh on one charge. 300+ miles. Impossible even a couple of years ago.

I was at a BYD dealer to look at the BYD Dolphin. Same time there was a journalist team from the Dutch BNR TV making an item about . . . BYD EV´s. They asked if they could interview me. After the first question, if I was interested in a BYD. the rest were all closed questions, and totally biased against China, not about BYD at all. 2nd question, Wasn´t I afraid of Chinese spying? . . . . answer: No, why should I, why would the Chinese be interested in when I go buy a bread or cheese? 3rd question, But what about the EU car industry, Didn't it worry me that people could get unemployed in VW, Mercedes or BMW factories? . . . answer: no, why should I ? "If the German car industry was to arrogant to change to EV production in time and let the Chinese get a head start of 20 years . . . . thats just kinda stupid of the sleeping western industries. China had 70 years of work to do, to catch up with the West, and could never ever compete with them with ICE cars, So they started in the new EV field, and the West kept sleeping and laughing." BNR TV cut my interview, and made a very biased artikel about the dangers of the Chinese industrial might. They never expected an educated customer.

We love our electric Corsa

Yeah the supercharger network in Australia is almost non-existent.

My brand new leased MG4 is arriving tomorrow. It’s the third one to arrive in the village I live in since April. Not the third EV, the third MG4! Oh, and when I called my insurer, somewhat nervous because of all the headlines saying insurance for EVs had gone sky high since I took mine out for my previous car, I discovered it had gone DOWN, and I was due a refund of £40, after change fees.

I used to have a Tesla, and I spent some time in the garage as I had to get some servicing done over the several years I owned it. During that time, there was a turnover of three different teams in the management side. I don't think Elon is the happiest camper for whom to work.

Hertz wasn't all that pleased with their fleet of EV Tesla's and are not replacing them with new EV's.

LOVE hearing Robert's rants! He's so right about oil companies and the media, I think if you have a shred of honesty in the media, you should ONLY speak of the "widespread polluting, disinformation-spreading fossil-fuel companies", never "fossil-fuel companies" alone. Hey, I didn't know about Amazon's class 8 trucks at all, and I'm in the US. Amazon's delivery trucks in my neighborhood are all electric (though let's be honest there are lots of small contractors out there, and they rent ICE vans). Rant on, dude!

How have I just found this series?! I've been watching your content for years now! I have so many episodes to catch up on... I loved the commentary and analysis of this video, it's incredibly satisfying seeing someone out into words what I've been feeling about these topics.

Please, if you mention a percentage follow it up with the actual numbers.

Brittany Ferries also put stickers on BEVs and hybrids because of the “risk”

Merseyside Fire & Rescue should be thoroughly embarrassed, they look foolish and ignorant

Don't quote percentages without backing it up with the numbers. e.g. truck sales are up 300% from 1 to 4. It's disingenuous only to use percentages.

Not the sharpest blades in the box, these Fire Brigade folks.

My guess is Elon got pissed when the head of the supercharger team objected to the 20% cut he wanted so he fired them all. Quickly his pique faded and he quickly started hiring back the best people and he has said the charging network will continue to grow.

Just picked up a 2020 Leaf, my first EV & so far so good.. haven’t smiled so much when driving in years. And I have more charge points on the way to work than petrol stations!! Who knew 🤷‍♂️👍👍

Just bought a second hand Zoe, completing my all-electric transport setup. Now I just need to get rid of the boiler... Thanks all those who made the second-hand EV market a thing, much appreciated

The BBC does not let a few facts get in the way.

Im still having trouble convincing my dad to let go of steam engines.

Just on the hospital fire point, I suspect the issue is the substances used in the sprinkler system not being suitable for fires in electric vehicles, not the probability of fire.

I love your Rants. Thankyou. A boost of confidents for me. And saying things as they are. Refreshing

If the BBC invites you on to their programmes, whether you agree with their motives or not, you need to accept the invites so counter the anti-EV propaganda rather than ranting this invested audience.

Please address the charging situation in the UK and the price people are charged.

I've gone off-grid with solar and a Tesla Powerwall 2 here in the UK for the last 4 weeks... The only input from the grid was when I need to a quick welding job and this took less than 1.5 kW. The Powerwall 2 and App are just great - can't wait to get myself a Tesla car!

You had me at Drongos....😂😂😂

Seems that something is a bit off about your first rant being as an awful lot of vehicle manufacturers (Polestar/GM/JLR etc) are moving away from pure EVs and pivoting back to Hybrids instead. It's not due to a recession in the UK either as Hertz in the US is binning a third of it's EV fleet to be replaced by ICE vehicles.