Electric Car Lobby Allegedly Paying Influencers To Promote EVs, Dismiss Hybrids
For a long time, the Government of India has been promoting the adoption of electric vehicles. However, recently, it was stated by the Prime Minister's Office that electric vehicles will not be given exclusive preferences over other clean-fueled vehicles. But despite this new statement by the PMO, it seems like there is a campaign running in Delhi in which social media influencers are being asked to promote electric vehicles. It has been alleged that these influencers are being paid to lead people away from hybrid vehicles.
EV lobby pushing electric cars over hybrids?
Recently, we came across a tweet by the popular social media influencer, entrepreneur, and YouTuber Ankur Warikoo in which he was seen promoting electric vehicles. In his tweet, Warikoo highlighted that he lives in Delhi, grows his own food, composts, and also uses public transport. He added that his entire family shares only one car.
The influencer then added that the next car which his family buys will be a 100 percent electric vehicle. Emphasizing the need for electric mobility, Warikoo stated, “Because clean air isn't a luxury for my kids. It's a right.” He concluded by stating, “No more in-betweens.”, with 'in-betweens' seen as an allusion to hybrids. In his post, he has tagged @Nitiaayog @DelhiGovDigital @TransportDelhi.
It's a paid campaign, alleges another influencer
Now, some people might get easily influenced by the tweet shared by Ankur Warikoo promoting electric vehicles - the tweet makes a valid point, of course. However, another X user seems to be hinting that Warikoo’s tweet could be a paid tweet. Arjit Soni, who goes by the handle – @the_cycledad. in his tweet tagging Ankur Warikoo’s recent post, has highlighted how the influencer’s tweet could actually be a paid tweet. Mind you, he has not outright made the allegation but presented some information on his own.
Soni, in his tweet, stated, “Was approached by an agency to post my views in favour of ‘100% electric’ and no to ‘Hybrid EVs’. This is a paid campaign by industry lobbyists. Make an informed decision, guys..” In the following tweet, Soni has shared the screenshot of a direct message which most likely was received by him.
In this tweet, we can note that an associate working for a media agency had contacted him. The message talked about an “upcoming advocacy campaign around clean air and sustainable mobility.” It added that the campaign is focused on “shifting mindsets around hybrid vehicles.”
The message further stated that this latest campaign aims to focus on advocating that Delhi should move towards 100 percent electric vehicles only. It added that the voice (of Arjit Soni) would play a key role in driving this conversation forward. The agency in the message also enquired about the charges which he would charge for 1 Instagram reel, 1 static post, and 1 story.
Hybrids vs electric vehicles
Currently, there is a lot of push from the governments of various states, including Delhi and others, to push the sales and adoption of electric vehicles above all. Unfortunately, despite being cleaner than standard ICE vehicles, hybrid vehicles are not being promoted by the governments and others. So this has now created a rift amongst opinions about whether EVs or hybrids are better.
Our take on the matter
What we think is that electric vehicles are no doubt beneficial for the environment as they emit less harmful gases and pollute less. However, what we also believe is that relying completely on the transition to electric vehicles and skipping over the hybrids, which bridge the gap between EVs and ICE, is very short-sighted and impractical.
Electric vehicles come with a number of limitations. Of these, the first and biggest challenge faced by electric vehicles and their owners is that there is not an adequate charging infrastructure in place to fulfill the needs of charging if all the vehicles did become electric quickly.
Delhi, along with most other major and smaller cities, lacks proper charging infrastructure. Many charging stations have broken chargers, there are too many different companies which require prepayments, and other small niggles. Additionally, range anxiety is also one of the biggest issues for electric vehicle owners.
Also, recently, it was reported that China is looking to reduce the availability of the rare-earth magnets which are essential to run electric motors. This means that depending solely on electric vehicles, which are very much dependent on China, will hinder the mobility of millions. This dependency, as highlighted by Bajaj Auto Chairman Rajiv Bajaj, has been marked as a “very serious warning.”
Coming to the hybrid vehicles, as stated, in our opinion, they are the bridge between ICE and electric vehicles. Currently, our country needs hybrids to make people get used to the idea of having a vehicle with a half-electric powertrain, following which they will become ready to adapt to the complete electric revolution.