We Don’t Need No Flaming Sparky Cars

The CBC, always the last to know.

Electric vehicles have proved far less reliable, on average, than gasoline-powered cars, trucks and SUVs, according to the latest survey by Consumer Reports, which found that EVs from the 2021 through 2023 model years encountered nearly 80 per cent more problems than did vehicles propelled by internal combustion engines.

Consumer Reports said EV owners most frequently reported troubles with battery and charging systems as well as flaws in how the vehicles’ body panels and interior parts fit together. The magazine and website noted that EV manufacturers are still learning to construct completely new power systems, and it suggested that as they do, the overall reliability of electric vehicles should improve.

As the stupid rich people market nears saturation

The growth of electric vehicle sales has slowed sharply since last year. In June 2022, EV sales were growing about 90 per cent year over year. By June of this year the 12-month growth rate had slowed to about 50 per cent, and automakers have become increasingly fearful that the pace will weaken further.

25 Replies to “We Don’t Need No Flaming Sparky Cars”

  1. In spite of these survey results Consumer Reports seems to favor EVs and hybrids in their articles and reviews. It’s almost “all EVs all the time” with each issue.

    1. With Consumer Reports it’s ABNA, anything but North American all the time. And high price cars are better than anything else. The damn things are meant to get you and your needs from point a to point b and back.

  2. My neighbor just purchased a BMW M8 convertible. Huh? Guess he isn’t a dumb rich guy …

    https://cache.bmwusa.com/cosy.arox?pov=walkaround&brand=WBBM&vehicle=248G&client=byoc&paint=P0C4W&fabric=FZBRI&sa=S01N1%2CS02VW%2CS0302%2CS0316%2CS0319%2CS0322%2CS03DZ%2CS03M3%2CS03MF%2CS0453%2CS04A2%2CS04FM%2CS04HB%2CS04MC%2CS05AC%2CS05AR%2CS05AU%2CS05AZ%2CS05DN%2CS06AC%2CS06AK%2CS06C4%2CS06F1%2CS06NW%2CS06U3%2CS06WD%2CS0710%2CS0715%2CS071C%2CS0760%2CS07M9%2CS07ML&angle=40&quality=100&sharp=99&resp=png&cut=3&bkgnd=transparent&width=1060

    It looks pretty close to this custom build … except his has a huge dashboard touch screen. I believe it’s somewhere in the neighborhood of 650hp … oh … and his has more black trim accents like the running board skirt trim

      1. Not gay. Just $$$ rich. Inherited an old time family hardware business that deals mostly with builders and building maintenance. Asian second wife … now you can do a hell of an ethnography on THAT one. It’s his “midlife” crisis I told him … as he expects to live to the age of 136

        His name is … Bob.

      2. Not quite. I’ve owned 2 Mini Coppers (still have the 2nd one, a 2021). They’re built by BMW. Love them, and the BMW technology they exhibit. So when we sold our Chrysler van and were looking for something smaller — a 5-passenger SUV with good handicapped access — we found that BMW’s 2023 X1 got uniformly excellent reviews and actually cost less than the Buick Enclave, and various Toyotas and Jeeps. So getting the X1 seemed a no-brainer. (Never in life assumed we’d own a BMW.) We thoroughly love it. Drives beautifully, is very comfortable, gets excellent gas mileage for its size. Highly recommend it. It’s the low-end BMW. 🙂 But you’d never know it.

      3. Playing with fancy screens while driving = MAJOR distracted driving. Those screens are worse than reading/texting on cells or having unruly kids in the back seats.

      4. Oh, Please Morroco Mole … stereotype much? Your post p’d me off big time!

        I am female and like men A LOT, and bought a lower-cadre BMW, as it was a functional city car, yet good on bc mountain roads, a blue, affordable sedan with a good stereo, leather seats and low mileage (45K).

        Love, Michelle, your secret hetero widow from BC
        P.S. I already have a boyfriend, no applications required

    1. I was commenting yesterday, when a BMW driver did something clueless, that I preferred when the brand was obscure and the owners drove one because they were a driver’s car. Now they mostly seem to be driven by arrogant types, who don’t respect others on the road. Also, if you don’t give them a bit of a pounding at least once a week, you can expect engine trouble within 2 years (that coming from a BMW service manager.)

      1. BMW’s problems are: plastic radiators, plastic impellers in the water pump, plastic valve covers … and the plastic doesn’t like the temperature shock. You’re gonna have to replace them all every 100k miles. Other than that … My N55 engine has been a champ.

        Oh! Except the twin turbos hate the CA (global warming heat) … the temperature expands the metal, and my waste gate valves freeze up. They always resolve themselves … but I’ve had the engine go into limp mode. Best not to romp on the accelerator when it’s >100 deg.F

      2. Anders – another BMW histerotyper! Arrogant now, are we?

        Actually, my BMW, then age 4, never had any serious problems during all of the 10 years I owned it, whatsoever. I paid 34.5 K cash with taxes, all-in and serviced.

        Yes dealerships are expensive, but smart girls do not need to pound cars and can find other import service providers who can do regular oil changes etc. My beemer had big value at trade-in, so my new lower-cost blue low-mileage car with leather seats and a good stereo car cost $5K net cash. Can you get a cheap Ford for that?

        P.S., Lots of drivers on the roads in various mostly-leased cars/trucks of ALL varieties do stupid, unsafe things; so do crazy pedestrians (on drugs or moms with cute kids) who run red lights/jay walk, and fast, unpredictable bike riders who never read a rule book nor took a road test. Drive Safely (and defensively)!

  3. Been in a Tesla exactly once, an Uber ride home from the local Beer fest. I was shocked at how cheap the interior looked. Not just the poor fit of interior panels, but they looked like low quality plastic, thin, like something out of 80’s Ford Tempo, or a Chevy Chevette.

  4. (A neighbor a few doors up has a Chevy volt and has had it for 5 years at least. She ain’t rich, she’s very nice. So an exception.)
    I don’t know jack, but what is new about electrical systems/motors in cars or in general?
    Seems to me it would be a simpler system than a combustion engine.
    If the cars are shitty maybe its because they’re made shitty.

  5. So basically you buy a car that turns into a drive way ornament in three years after you drive it off the lot.
    Unless you’re ready to pay out 20 – 30 grand for a replacement battery.

    1. And so will you, my friend. Our moral and intellectual superiors in government have decided that we shall all drive them. No matter how crappy. They are prepared to lower our quality of life for our own good.

  6. You could not pay me enough to gift me a free EV to be parked in my garage.

    Of course, the great powers want us to ride bikes.

    Watch for gov’t -imposed gas station closures.

  7. I think Covid and the lockdowns made an awful lot of formerly complacent wankers finally realize that life is short, the government is crazy, and the charging station might not be working when they want to get out of Dodge City.

    You can siphon gas in a pinch. You cannot siphon electricity.

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