Driving electric is like living in Almere: you always have to justify it. And I should know, because I lived in Almere for a while and since the summer I have an electric Skoda Enyaq.
When chatting with neighbours, meeting new colleagues and even at funerals and baby showers, you have to be prepared for questions and opinions about Almere or your EV.
Supposed disadvantages of electric driving are well known, and in many conversations they are worked out one by one until it always comes to the same point: you will do it for the low addition. So it’s always about reach first – and the lack of it in particular. Or overcharging – and then that it is so difficult in Italy. Or about safety – and then that electric cars would catch on fire so easily. And certainly also about the environment, because ‘did you know that no green electricity comes from the charging stations?’ Geopolitical inequality and child exploitation also come up from time to time, but in the end it’s always about money – that I can be glad that hard-working Dutch people give me subsidies that are apparently just as large and just as unjust as the salary of the king and queen.
A house in Almere is just as much a roof over your head as a house in Amstelveen, an electric car takes you from A to B just as easily or quickly as a car with a combustion engine. The center of Deventer is definitely more atmospheric than the center of Almere, a classic Alfa Giulia is also much more attractive than a Hyundai Kona. By choosing an EV, I never intended to stick my head above ground level.
The worst thing for me is people who notice that I am now also ‘over’. As if it is a belief or political statement to choose diesel, petrol or electricity.
I chose a Skoda Enyaq because I like cars with space, with comfortable equipment, with lots of torque and cars that are just nice and quiet. And the brand’s no-nonsense image appeals to me too – I’ve owned a Skoda four times over the years. And it must be professional deformation caused by a life in motoring journalism: but I think we live in crazy times when it comes to innovations in the automotive world. And if you want to know: that’s why I have an electric car. And a Tesla was above budget.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl