Is Environmentalism Passé?

When I first started writing this Substack I noted that I purchased an EV in the hope that it would help decrease my environmental impact. Whether this is actually the case is a question I’m looking forward to exploring in these posts. Today, however, I’m going to explore whether collectively we actually care?

That may seem like an odd question. Since the 1970s electric vehicles have been touted in the United States as one of the most important ways to break free from petroleum and the pollution and climate change effects that it has. But if you look at the marketing programs being deployed by EV manufacturers, it’s not exactly clear that “environmental benefits” are being touted as the reason to buy an electric car.

I’ve been working for the last few months with ASU student Blake Duprey to study EV advertisements. What we’ve found is that while many of the early proponents of EVs were focused on the environmental benefits of zero emissions at the tailpipe, the mainstream car companies that build electric vehicles don’t spend a lot of time talking about it. In fact, the amount of time they spend focusing on the environment has decreased over time.

To see where we once were, let’s start with an advertisement from 2010 when Nissan introduced the world to its new electric vehicle, the Leaf.

The ad features an image of the car and a scant 75 words. In those few words it stresses three things:

1. “It’s the first and only mass-produced electric car in the world.” EVs had been around a long time but they had been built as one-offs or in small batches.

2. “It uses no gas. Has no tailpipe. And produces zero emissions.” Nissan was clearly stressing that the car had a completely different impact on the environment than a normal car – going so far as to later repeat the words “no gas” at the bottom of the ad.

3. These two things added up to the final argument that the Leaf was leading an “electric revolution” that would be:

INNOVATION FOR THE PLANET.

INNOVATION FOR ALL.

When the Leaf was released EVs weren’t completely new to the US. Tesla had launched its roadster in 2008. But you needed at least $100,000 to buy a Tesla at the time. Nissan would sell you a Leaf for a third of that price – a price theoretically affordable to an average new car buyer. That accessibility, coupled with the promise of addressing emissions, fueled Nissan’s argument that the car wouldn’t simply benefit the individual driver/owner, but the health of the planet in general.

The environmental emphasis can even be seen in the name that Nissan gave their new car. In an industry that likes to give its products aggressive names like Barracuda, Cougar, and Marauder,* Nissan gave us the gentle “Leaf.” The name shifts our focus to the green of spring, the rise of new life, and even gives allusions to one of nature’s important mechanisms for turning sunlight into energy.** Few other companies have ever given a car an overtly environmental name – Lucid being a notable exception with its primary EV simply named “Air.”

This initial focus on the environment didn't last too long, however. As other car companies began to produce electric vehicles, few of them followed Nissan’s lead. The fact that electric motors can deliver power much quicker than gasoline powered engines was incredibly alluring. Increasingly auto companies turned to power, performance, and speed as a way to sell their electric cars.

Tesla, the company that has largely dominated EV sales in the US has led this transition. Initially the company touted its cars as “green” and looked to court those interested in the environment. It didn’t take too long, however, for Tesla to amplify its commitment to high performance. A few years after the launch of the Nissan Leaf, Tesla released this ad:

At first glance this ad bridges the “environmental concern” with “excitement about performance.” But at a deeper level it shows some blatant disregard for the environment. When you spin your tires so fast that you “lay rubber,” you spray small toxic particulates into the atmosphere. Some studies argue that car tires and brakes can release more harmful emissions into the air than a gasoline engine. Doing burn outs absolutely accelerates that process.

More recent Tesla advertisements sometimes don’t even mention the environmental benefits. A 2019 ad for the Tesla 3 is stark and simple.

It focuses on four basic things: 0-60mph in 3.2 seconds (insanely fast acceleration), 325 mi of Range (trying to allay the worries of anxious EV purchasers), All Wheel Drive (for better road grip and acceleration), and the promise of a full refund if you aren’t satisfied in a week. Nowhere is there a mention of the environment.

This focus on performance has spread across the industry. When Ford made its biggest push into the EV market, it branded the car a “Mustang.” Not only did Ford give it a name that has traditionally been associated with fast cars, its engineers equipped it with motors powerful enough to get the car from 0-60mph in 3.3 seconds.

General Motors went a slightly different direction when it introduced the Hummer EV. GM sought to show that it could make an incredibly powerful (and heavy) all terrain electric vehicle. Again, the focus here is not on being environmentally friendly. According to the EPA, the Hummer EV is 2 1/2 times less efficient than a Hyundai sedan (when measured in MPGe) and the truck is advertised as driving over nature, rather than have concern for nature.

There is much more to say about EV design and how it relates to the environment. But for now I’d like to return to the Nissan Leaf.

It has changed a bit over the years. In the US it is still one of the cheapest ways to get into an EV. In fact the 2023 model is about $5,000 cheaper than that original 2011 version. But Nissan’s commitment to the environment has perhaps softened slightly.

Nissan has given the Leaf a bit more pep. It took the 2011 model 10 seconds to go from zero to 60mph. A number of minivans sold that same year could accelerate significantly faster. The fastest 2023 version of the Leaf, however, only takes 7.4 seconds to get to 60mph. That’s a full 25% faster than the first model. Nissan isn’t exactly building its cars “Tesla-fast,” but it seems much more focused on acceleration than it used to be.

Some Nissan dealers may be pushing for even faster versions. When I searched for 0-60mph times for the 2023 Nissan Leaf, Google’s AI picked up a post from a dealer near me in Scottsdale claiming that “with it’s new engine” it could go 0-60 in 5.5 seconds. That statement is clearly false. The Leaf doesn’t even have a gasoline engine (it has an electric motor). The error may just be a result of sloppy text editing. Or maybe the mistake wasn’t an accident, but rather a dealer’s way to lure in performance focused buyers who get excited by the incredible acceleration a lot of EVs have these days. (Either way it’s a reminder that Artificial Intelligence isn’t exactly reliable yet.)

In looking at the latest Leaf ads we can see that Nissan has broadened its pitch a bit. It still wants to stress the environmental benefits of “zero tailpipe emissions.” But the company gives us two extra selling points now: “instant acceleration and fun” and “electric-only benefits” like lower maintenance costs. Presumably Nissan thinks buyers want to tick more boxes than “environmentally friendly” when they look to buy a car. The environment seems to still be important to Nissan, but its ads are not exactly arguing that EVs will save the planet.

What this advertising shift means is still up for debate. It could mean that the automakers don’t really think we about the environment any more. It could mean that we do care about the environment, but that, as Tesla says, we would really like to buy “green” cars that are fast.

Blake has a working theory that the very phrase “electric vehicle” is so identified as a benefit to the environment that at this point car manufacturers no longer have to use it in their marketing. Instead they have to try to explain why you should buy their EV instead of the other guy’s EV.

I don’t know if I’ll find a definitive answer to the question of whether EV buyers are legitimately concerned about the environment or not. But I’m going to keep searching. In the next post I hope to look at the survey work that has been done by organizations outside the automobile industry as they seek to answer this question.

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*The fact that Ford Motor Company was selling a car called the Mercury Marauder as late as 2004 continues to amaze me. The Merriam-Webster dictionary definition of “marauder” is “one who roams from place to place making attacks and raids in search of plunder.” For an industry that builds products that kill over 40,000 people in the United States every year, this name has always seemed in very poor taste to me.

** I can’t find an instance where Nissan expressly used these words, but the phrase “turning over a new leaf” resonates with this ad campaign well. In 2010 Nissan was urging humanity to change its ways and embark on a new approach to benefit the environment.