AN expert mechanic has revealed that EVs cost more, don’t last as long and aren’t actually better for the environment than internal combustion.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun Online, Scotty Kilmer savaged the case for transitioning to electric cars, saying they are ‘worse’ than traditional motors.
Expert mechanic Scotty Kilmer explained how EVs are actually terrible for the environmentYoutube / Scotty Kilmer
Scotty, who has over five decades of experience in the industry, claimed that the argument that EVs are more environmentally friendly is “BS”, taking away one of the key arguments for owning one.
He said: “Electric cars are not an advance…[they] really are worse transportation than gasoline cars.
“Take the United States, 60% of all electricity is generated from fossil fuels so you’re just changing where it came from. And the lithium pollutes.
“Anybody who thinks they’re greener is just out of their mind.”
Lithium is a key element in making EV batteries but is intensively mined using environmentally harmful methods, often in more deprived areas of the world.
According to a report from Friends of the Earth, lithium mining is: “increasingly affecting communities where this harmful extraction takes place, jeopardising their access to water”.
Likewise, the Guardian reported in 2021 that workers in the Congo’s cobalt mines were working in slavery-like conditions for 30p an hour to “power the green vehicle revolution”.
Beyond the debates around relative environmental costs, Scotty finds that EVs are far less reliable and efficient than their fossil-fuel-powered equivalents.
He explained: “Recharging takes too much time and they say ‘we have superchargers’ but if you supercharge a lithium-ion battery you’re going to lose probably 80% of its lifespan.
“They need to charge slowly, the faster you charge it, the faster you wear out the battery. They have so many problems with electric cars.
“For small cars it makes sense. They should have started electric cars like the VW Beetle. Small, inner-city great for people in England, in Europe where they don’t go far.
“But electric motors are very inefficient when they either pull loads or go at high speeds.”
Finally, he hit out at the high cost of electric cars, especially amid the global cost of living crisis.
He even claimed that one manufacturer in the US had received pleas from their dealers to stop sending new stock as they couldn’t shift the cars already in their showrooms.
Scotty used an example of a customer who brought in a new Volvo C40 to his shop, only to discover that it had massively depreciated already.
He recalled: “The guy brings me this brand new car that was $70,000.
“So I looked up in my local area on my phone, there were already scores of these things sold used for £23,000.
“The people didn’t like the lifestyle with it. Say it takes 45 minutes to charge a car, what if there are five people in front of you?
“They say in the US they would need three million fast chargers around the country, there’s presently 35,000. The infrastructure doesn’t exist.”
It comes after Scotty revealed the biggest rip-off he’s ever seen in all his time as a mechanic.
Meanwhile, another motors expert explained why Brits are hesitant to make the leap and put petrol and diesel cars behind them.