This week someone asked me if I was "still the head of Tesla Ireland."

I was never the head of Tesla Ireland. I was, however, the chair of the Irish EV Association (fka Irish EV Owners Association). I was part of the board/committee for almost 5 years, and thoroughly enjoyed being able to have decision-making impact on shaping that organisation before leaving it.

The question sparked (pun intended) something in my mind.

I have been driving EVs exclusively for years. I love cars. I love the noise, rattle, power and energy. But as a family car, combustion is utterly ludicrous and outside of cost, I utterly do not understand how someone would ever rely solely on a Qashqai or whatever. Especially in a country like Ireland, or most European countries where home charging, solar panels and even public charging networks are pretty reasonable to access.

But in a few years time, I'll likely get a "Daddy car." Yes, I realise I drive my family around in a purple Porsche Macan 4. But I would love to keep that for many years, but have a smaller car to have fun in. And in a year or two, when I reckon Porsche release the EV Boxter/Cayman, I will have to make some decisions. I'm in Ireland, where that car will be insanely cheap to run, but expensive to buy. Or I could probably spend the same money on an older, more expensive to run combustion-powered sports car (like a 997 or even 992.1 911).

Anyway, I ran into a small rabbit hole to do some research and see what's likely coming. Because I also love the look of that souped-up Renault 5 by Alpine, and lots more is coming as EVs become a far more mature tech suite.

That rabbit hole brought me to YouTube roadtrip videos and the like. And it's funny. All of them, even new ones shot in 2025, focus on charging infrastructure more than the cars themselves. Even in a class like Porsche, who do not sit in the same world as your typical family cars with equivalent family car MPG considerations. People talked briefly about the car and the experience, but focused on range, consumption and where the next charger was. Even in Europe, where the tldr was "this was fine and easy" almost every single time. You'd never see a video about a sports car or touring GT where the reviewer spent lots of time on MPG, consumption stats and the next petrol station.

Charging is not a solved problem by any means. But batteries are enormous these days. Systems and software are so advanced that they're good at load balancing across long trips. And charging infra is generally available and affordable. Notwithstanding your destination-type chargers at hotels etc.

I've not been part of the EV Association for a few years at this point. But in 2025, it surprised me that online discourse around EVs remains largely negative, and largely confused as to how it could ever be a good experience next to a combustion engine.

So, my "daddy car" will likely be an EV. Just to prove everyone else wrong.

Tabs

Tune

audio-thumbnail
011
0:00
/217.492
The link has been copied!