It’s 2025, and the streets are humming with millions of EVs.
Cast your mind back to the early 2010s, when the modern electric movement was just flickering to life. The Nissan Leaf was boxy and modest, the Tesla Roadster was an exotic toy for the rich, and the Model S hadn’t even shipped yet. Range was laughable by today’s standards (often under 100 miles), charging took forever, and the cars cost a small fortune. Yet people lined up anyway.
So here’s the question we rarely asked out loud back then, and one worth revisiting now with the benefit of hindsight: When those first mainstream buyers wrote their big checks for a Leaf, a Volt, or an early Model S, what was actually going through their heads?
Did they do it to save money on gas, to BEAT the system, or because they genuinely cared about the planet?
On paper, the math was brutal. In 2011–2014, gasoline hovered between $3 and $4 a gallon in the U.S., and electricity was cheap, but not cheap enough to offset the massive purchase-price premium for another decade in most cases. Federal and state incentives helped, yet even with a $7,500 tax credit, you were still paying thousands more upfront for far less range and convenience. The “I’m saving the Earth” story felt noble, but the “I’m saving money” story felt like wishful thinking.
Yet the early adopters I knew personally split almost perfectly down the middle. Half talked endlessly about carbon footprints, tailpipe emissions, and “being part of the solution.” The other half shrugged and said, “Gas is expensive, I drive a lot, and I’m tired of giving my money to oil companies.” Many, of course, claimed both motives at once (human beings are excellent at rationalizing).
A decade later, with used 2012 Leafs trading for under $6,000 and gas still bouncing between $3 and $5 depending on the week, we can see who was “right.” The planet-savers got what they wanted: an illusion they saved the world to quell their moral narcissism. The money-savers… well, most eventually came out ahead, but only after years of ownership and a lot of home charging.
So here’s my question to you, spies a decade deeper into this experiment:
When those first buyers stepped up, were they really motivated by cheaper “fuel,” and beating the MAN or by the environment? And looking back now, which motive do you think mattered more (not which one sounds better, but which one actually moved the needle and got us here faster)?
I suspect the honest answer will tell us a lot about human nature…
Discuss