A Reason Not To Buy An Electric Car

I was just about to get into the car to head to the airport when the key fob failed. Oh no. Time was clearly of the essence. Fortunately, the fob had an emergency mechanical key inside, so I used it to open the car. Then, however, we remembered that the engine starts with a button—and the car was completely unresponsive. We consulted the driver’s manual and even Googled solutions, but nothing worked.

There I was, thinking: this is exactly why I don’t want an electric car. With a purely mechanical car, you put the key in, turn it, and the engine roars to life. Simple. Reliable. This is just one of many reasons to stick with mechanical cars. Is the genius of a traditional engine not enough, or must everything now be ‘e’—electronic? We have become unbelievably dependent on these systems, and God knows what would happen if they fail entirely, as mine did that day.

This dependence on electricity isn’t limited to cars. In 2024, Spain experienced a peculiar nationwide electricity shutdown. People in 20-story apartment buildings could not use elevators, mobile signals were down, and life in the cities came to an almost standstill. Meanwhile, I was in Oaxaca, Mexico, where electricity cuts are a regular occurrence, but life continued practically as normal. Modern urban societies, it seems, are far more fragile than we like to admit.

Back to cars. It is not just about electricity. If you own an old Mini Cooper from the 1960s - a pure mechanical car - you are far more likely to resolve a problem on your own. You don’t need to rely on software updates or digital diagnostics.

I studied History and consider myself conservative in the sense that I do not believe life needs to change at the breakneck pace it currently does. There is no need to replace beautiful mechanical cars with ‘e-robots,’ whose inner workings are a mystery to any petrolhead.

Aesthetically, nothing beats classic cars. Modern BMW electric cars, for example, look like cyborgs. I loathe the harsh white LED lights on contemporary vehicles and genuinely think legislation should require warmer, softer lighting to prevent blinding other drivers. Slow down world, the past has much to offer.

Take the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale, for instance: tell me you would rather ride in a driverless robotaxi than in this Italian masterpiece. I shall write a separate article on the evident folly of driverless taxis and why we should avoid that path altogether.

For your own pleasure, behold the Italian, voluptuous Stradale in all its glory.