OPINION: Old cars shouldn’t be demonised as we exalt EVs

Except the car in question had absolutely nothing to do with efficiency, sparing the planet’s resources nor any form of modesty. Aside from low running costs (if you can charge at home) I could detect not one iota of parsimony in the way it was designed and made. There’s no point singling out the make and model because it’s far from alone in greenwashing itself as an angelic EV. It was simply one of many electric vehicles the wrong side of 2.5 tonnes that is loaded with equipment in a faraway factory before being shipped around the world for conspicuous consumption.

And consumption feels like the appropriate word. Maybe oversized EVs will reach classic status in decent numbers, but I suspect not. Their tech-loaded interiors feel as if they have the longevity of an iPhone. Well-built in terms of materials, sure, but with what feels like a finite lifespan thanks to the reliance on software which may or – more likely – may not have support for the long haul.

The more I drove this car, the more wrong-headed it felt as a figurehead of eco-friendliness. With every passing mile, squeezing through traffic in town or pummelling motorways, those little green ‘look at me, aren’t I good?’ green flashes on the numberplates felt increasingly hypocritical. I’m not saying people shouldn’t be able to drive large, luxurious, high-performance cars. I’m all for that, but let’s acknowledge them for what they are.

We know how we’ve got here. To achieve a decent range with an EV, it needs a lot of batteries. To have a lot of batteries, you need a larger car. A larger car occupies more road space, is harder to push through the air and is less suited to the towns and cities where an absence of exhaust fumes has the most benefit. The technology is currently expensive, too, so that favours the luxury end of the market. 

The ‘cons’ list gets longer and the ‘pros’ column barely changes. In an ideal world, we’d be burning liquid fuels for our long journeys and using small electric cars in town, but that doesn’t really work out either. An electric Fiat 500 is too expensive to be restricted to such limited use and a Citroën Ami can’t double up for longer trips as and when they might be necessary.

I’m not here to bash EVs. If anything, when petrolheads take an overly strong anti-EV stance I tend to find myself defending the new order. And there are things to enjoy about electric cars. Their performance is mightily impressive, and the ones that can go around corners properly truly defy all logic. And they will form part of our future, even if not as significant a part as politicians might be trying to force.

What I’m not comfortable with is the simplified perception that EVs are clean regardless of any other consideration. By implication, that implies that ICE cars are dirty. In an increasingly tribal black and white world, where nuance is stamped out by ‘I’m right, you’re wrong’ dialogue, that’s a real risk.

My own daily car is a 21-year-old Toyota MR2. Viewed alongside a modern electric car it’s probably perceived by some as the unclean option. It’s old and impractical, so how can it possibly be ecologically sound? But I’m strongly of the opinion that re-using is better than recycling, and believe that there’s virtue in keeping an old car going. It also has no more seats than I need and therefore it’s easy on materials, doesn’t take up much space and has a small frontal area that’s good for fuel efficiency.

I’ll concede this may be convenient for me because I’d rather drive an old sports car than a modern EV. Aside from Apple CarPlay, there are no modcons I feel I’m missing out on, and I certainly don’t want to contend with lane departure warnings and the other nannying aids that are being foisted upon new cars. For me, the MR2 is as easy to live with as any car half its age or newer.

I won’t pretend I drive a basic old car for the good of the planet. It’s my preference. But I’d also like to hope that old cars will remain free from being demonised as the automotive landscape becomes increasingly electrified, because I truly believe I’m doing no harm by driving a small, relatively fuel efficient petrol car whose manufacturing impact took place more than two decades ago. Maybe I should buy it a pair of numberplates with green stripes.