We need more videos like this, super useful and backed up by real data and examples. Keep going Harry's garage, I hope more social media producers can project the same honesty and solid advice. Maybe more people will start to wake up to the reality of this situation.

The best summary of the challenges we all face with electrification, neatly wrapped up in 15 minutes. Thanks Harry

Watching a Harrys Garage video is like spending an evening with Grandad- absolute comfort. 😊 But he’s not racist, doesn’t read the Daily Mail and knows what he’s talking about.

Great video. A lot of sense spoken by Harry. Our politicians are letting us down so badly by pursuing headlines, yet without putting any thought to the real impact of what they are going and the changes they are forcing on us.

Completely agree. It would be amazing if you got a tax write-off for keeping a car longer at the end of finance or motor plan versus buying a new one😂

Just do the opposite of what the politicians & MSM say…& u won’t go far wrong 👍

I've had 13 years in the motor industry (94- 07) having worked for Mercedes, Fiat and Toyota (had to work on residual values for the first ever Prius...which was 'interesting'!) ; am familiar with the regulatory (and volume) pressures on manufacturers and the SMMT stats - and this video is spot on, Harry. The only thing not mentioned is synthetic fuels which we know are way too expensive at the moment, but if you have any information about further developments (as well carrying on updates about solid state batteries) that would be interesting too. After a recent tour of Gaydon, Aston Martin claim to be the most efficient auto maker on the planet - because of how long their cars have lasted since Aston Martin existed with I think only 5% having gone to the scrap yard - which backs up your point about the BMW M3 or similar. Longevity surely needs to be part of the solution. If synthetic fuels can be part of the solution - then everyone can hold on to their cars for longer - and surely - that is part of the answer? The challenge is we have psychologically got 'used' to upgrading - due partly to built in obsolescence in eg white goods and the constant marketing barrage to upgrade your phone; iPad; laptop; telly etc. Gone are our parents' days where they used to darn socks to keep them lasting longer. It has (we have) become a 'throwaway' society, and then we look behind us and wonder why we have such issues to resolve. Congrats on the measures you have taken, and are taking, regarding sustainability. The calm, balanced, mixture of sensible solutions approach seems way more sensible than the somewhat polarised; binary 'you must buy electric' approach, which encourages people to go into one of two (pro or anti EV) camps, rather than realising that a blend is most likely best. Ironic about lithium prices, but we'll leave that there. Thank you for an interesting piece based on facts. Next thing - speak to your MP, Harry, and get this information up there and out there! ;)

I love driving and maintaining older cars from the 80's and 90's for daily use. The trick is to buy the best example you can find, and maintain it. Once sorted - very economical to run...and you've got something a bit special that brings a smile to your and others faces.

Couldn’t agree more. Drive less. Buying or leasing new cars every 3 years is horrendous for the environment when you look at the CO2 output of manufacturing a new vehicle.

Totally agree with your point regarding insulation of new build homes, much cheaper to do it at the time of build rather than retrofitted later. Same goes for solar and storage batteries.

Excellent video, Harry. Well researched - more of these please. It also asked tough questions, such as the crazy tax benefits of these vehicles.

Good honest, well thought out and well researched content; it's why I love Harry's videos.

The voice of reason! Thank you Harry!! A question.....those December sales......are they really sales, or are they registrations? If they are sales, how are manufacturers suddenly able to get the public to buy in the last month of the year, but struggle for the other 11? It sounds like it would actually be cheaper for a manufacturer to buy their own cars to get the sales figures up, than pay the massive EU fines!!!

I absolutely adore your road trip videos - but this is one of the best videos you’ve done and you hit the nail on the head in so many areas. Bravo

Absolutely brilliant Harry (as always!). Your videos are always an enjoyable and informative watch - honest opinions that everyone can understand and appreciate. Keep up the great work - we could do with you running the country at the moment!

Well done for speaking out Harry. Appreciate it.

Harry, you got that spot on!👏 This is probably the most honest review of the situation we’re in with EVs at this moment in time in the UK. We’re being ‘persuaded’ to buy EVs when the infrastructure just isn’t there to cope with it in the UK. (Ill be sticking with hybrid and diesels for the time being.)

1. The amount of horrific cobalt mines with children hand mining is sickening to support this new electric craze. 2. The earth warms up and cools down it’s normal and has seen fluctuations over the last 100,000 years. We are but a spec in history. 3. There infrastructure is no where near and a much greater monopoly can be used in electric grid facilities. Thanks for reading

Great video as always. I really enjoy your articulate, intelligent and thoughtful videos. Almost as much as the mad road tests and trips!

All valid points and I totally agree that buying used is the best way to protect the environment. Just want to add: the dirtiness of EV depends on the power mix of that area, but also heavily, heavily depends on when do you charge the car. In the VW ID. series there is a mode called "charge to departure time". I set it to 6am. So the car usually starts charging after 2am which is when wind energy is contributing heavily into the grid and no enough people are using them. UK has an abundance of off-shore wind farms and a lot more planned. Charge you car after midnight and you can dramatically reduce the dirtiness.

Really enjoyed this style of video Harry, I think it compliments your regular content very well, keep them coming

Thanks Harry, fascinating video. It makes me realise just how shambolic and rushed the whole switch to electric has been so far. It really frustrates me. Short sighted governments too afraid to make real changes for the fear of losing votes 🥺

I really hope this series gets a high number of views as it’s super important we get unbiased information on the “push” to electric cars and as someone who currently considering changing my perfectly fine diesel (due to the ulez expansion) this video was extremely informative, thank you. I look forward to watching the next one in this series.

I'm an huge EV advocate (I own a TM3 P) and you're absolutely right about the efficiency. It's almost more important than range. We NEED efficient EVs with sleek aeordynamics, good power electronics (SiC based for better efficiency like Tesla) and very efficient powertrains. This SUV trend must stop with EVs. We need estates and saloons. These cars NEEDs the smallest frontal area possible. The BMW iX, Tesla X, Hummer EV or Rivian R1T, these 3 tons EVs are the exact things to avoid.

Great video and I feel your rant. I've found my head in my hands on this very topic many times. That said, ANOTHER aspect of this issue is the labor force used to mine the materials for all these batteries. A very dark business that the media and our governments are not speaking of. Thanks for sharing this topic. Best -

Electricity is not the future for the car industry.

Thanks Harry.Very informative and helpful on many fronts.Keep up the good work...

I have never before heard such sense on KZfaq. Exceptional Harry!

Cobalt and lithium costs are rising for sure. I've got a 10 year old DS3 and don't do much mileage currently. It's still fine, no rust and the THP155 still has a nice buzz. Am I being more environmentally friendly by keeping my old car for longer? I can't consider an EV, because I don't want to spend £25K+ for a crap EV, let alone £40k+ for a semi-decent one.

People with common sense will always struggle to understand government decisions.

Great vid Harry and really interesting points. I especially like the industry and legislation information used to back up your thoughts and arguments.

Great video Harry! It’s so good to hear an insight in to what is actually going on in the industry

Love these more industry news related videos. So interesting to get info from someone who really understands the industry and has well thought out and researched information to share. Absolutely fantastic

That was brilliant, Harry! The passion, the info and the felling it was all true is exactly what we need. Well done!

Thanks Harry, very good analysis well articulated......looking forward to your next video.

Thanks Harry, brilliant, more of this please.

I live outside Charlotte North Carolina. A few weeks back we had a run of very very cold weather (at or below 0 degrees F). The grid required rolling blackouts to keep from losing electricity to a wider extent. How on earth does the government think the grid could handle a significant percentage of the population having electric vehicles. The infrastructure is nowhere near ready to handle even 5% of the population having electric vehicles.

Harry, please keep doing videos on this subject. Very interesting to hear information on this part of the industry.

Great video Harry. I owned an EV for five months in Canada. I can tell you the tech is not ready for our cold winter weather.

REALLY interesting video. Please keep them coming Harry

Very informative, Harry. Thank you. This kind of proper look behind what really drives the sales numbers just doesn't get reported in the mainstream media!

Very insightful, Harry, thank you. My daily driver is 30 years old this year and still going very strong with over 280,000 miles on the clock and I will be keeping it for a few more years.

Terrific, clear and insightful info Harry. I really support many of your ideas and am saddened that the battery costs are going up. I think your experience with your Plugin hybrid removing range anxiety is great, and like you I applaud folks for keeping cars long term.

One of the best (if not the best) videos explaining the EV situation at the moment. Thank you for clearing the air (pun intended 😊) on EV's vs ICE's. You gave me knowledge I was missing on this topic. Please keep making these kind of videos.

Thank you Harry for, yet again, providing an educated voice of reason into this, it is balanced and informative.

We need to face the reality that taxpayers, including low income earners, have effectively been forced to subsidise luxury EVs. All under the guise of ideological fanaticism. It's actually quite insidious and disgusting when you stop to think about it.

Nice work Harry. Nice to hear your big picture view on these issues. Its very easy to miss the larger impacts of government initiatives and manufacturing targets, initiatives etc....My local short distance vehicle is a 1956 2CV.... just puts a huge smile on my face every time i get out in it. Its garaged so that helps ;) Long distance is generally in a 90's Saab, or if I'm lucky the porsche 914 is up for an adventure. Please keep going with this new batch of investigative video's that you're doing... this is what we need to discuss the issues with family, friends and colleagues. Also looking forward to the next batch of Countach and Espada vids,

Excellent video Harry - thank you for sharing your carefully considered experiences with EVs and your forecast for what might transpire between now and 2030. The whole issue of EV sales, EV infrastructure, etc. is confusing and those of us who buy our own vehicles lack the confidence to make a huge investment into what could end up as the automotive industry's version of Betamax. You have left me in a lot more confident mood to continue to drive my fully paid for, reliable and very comfortable eight year old diesel Mercedes rather than re-enter the car buying market unnecessarily over the next few years.

Agree, bought a used Skoda Superb Diesel 7 years ago with then 30k miles. It's now covered close to 170k miles, is dead cheap in maintenance and running costs, it drives perfectly fine and does all I need from my daily workhorse at an average of 55mpg. I do have solar panels on the roof, so i could easily provide the electricity for an EV, I just don't see any reason to get rid of a perfectly fine car.

During a recent cold snap in the US, the charging Network did not work, leaving people stranded in their cars to die in the freezing cold. The Chargers simply would not charge in the cold.

Great format. We need more big picture holistic discussions like this. Right or wrong, debating the many and varied interrelated issues will help us get to the desired state faster and more effectively. Please keep up the great work.

Excellent Harry. 1st class analysis and genuinely informative.

Well said Harry. It would be interesting to see how long people kept their cars in the 80’s or 90’s compared to now.

Excellent rant Harry- 100% with what you are saying….It must be better for the planet to keep hold of cars longer rather than ‘churning’ them…..excellent content as ever, please keep it coming!

Excellent information and thank you Harry.

Thank you Harry. I learned a lot in this video. Im in America, have an EV, sold my 3 series BMW wagon as I go less than 200 miles per week. My wife still has her petrol civic si in a manual. Appreciate your openness and candor on a difficult subject. We will all have to work together and not vilify each other.

A really interesting and thought-provoking video Harry. I’m not quite there on electric cars due to my fairly extensive business travel, but would consider one for runabout use if I didn’t already have a small, highly efficient supermini for that. Looking forward to more words of wisdom from the next episode in this series.

Informative video Harry, thank you. I am moving to this way of thinking as I didn't change my three year old M4 at the end of last year which is the first time I haven't updated in nearly 20 years. As you say the best thing for the environment is to use the cars we have, rather than swapping regularly. On the tax advantages they are huge, but the revenue they will lose out on (fuel, RFL, VAT on servicing etc) will surely mean parity will return sooner than forecast.

I think you pretty much nailed it. The greenest solution would be to reduce overall passenger vehicle miles and simultaneously incentivise prolonged car ownership and most of all lighter new vehicles.

Thoughtful analysis and commentary. Thank you Harry.

I think some of the "pressure" to replace your car has to do with when the warranty runs out...especially as cars become more and more complex and expensive......nobody wants to be stuck with the repairs

Love these videos, thoroughly informative and interesting to listen to.

Great video as usual, working in automotive and specifically on the launch of the brand new smart #1 I completely agree. While there are positives to EVs the legislative ‘push’ to go electric is going to create problems. Keep up the great work Harry!

Couldn’t agree more. We’ve had a Skoda Enyaq for 6 months, brilliant for local drives under 50 miles but trip from Kent to North Wales was super stressful and we needed 3 stops which meant the journey took a whole day. Also, service station chargers aren’t much different to petrol cost plus you spend an extra £20-£30 on drinks and food for the family whilst you wait. I don’t regret the purchase but it does feel like we were a bit early. One more thing - the ride is super smooth on decent roads but it’s so heavy that it’s pretty rough on our rural potholed lanes, perhaps worth trying a few if anyone does a test drive.

Well Harry you’ve made me feel better about going HP with my finance agreement over PCP. I love my car, so I’ll be glad to own it outright when the deal lapses and it will probably have about 25,000 miles on it max.

I'd love to hear your take on Toyota's hydrogen engine.

Harry, I agree 100% , you make the most sense , all perfectly explained ,pros and cons . Keep up the excellent work.

Thank you Harry Very interesting covering a broad spread of the problems behind EV. and the pier pressure to rush to get involved

Absolutely hit the nail on the head on finance agreements with balloon’s forcing the churn and a new habbit of buying cars more often than is actually needed.

I have an old diesel car and small miles there is no point me going electric plus the cost of electric has gone up so much what the point of electric cars

Agree completely. The 2-3 year lease deals have a negative impact not just on green credentials but they allow consumers to drive cars that they can’t really afford, which in the current climate might put a strain on them. I hope these vids are beemed into the House of Commons.

Thank goodness,someone with real authority has spoken up about this ridiculous situation. Long journeys=Diesel/Petrol Short journeys=Non I/C power. Respect to you Harry's Garage.

Really interesting and informative video Harry, more like this please. Totally agree with your views on new builds, insulation and solar panels. Think we should also go down the route France have taken with solar panels being added to all car parks of a certain size in next 3-5 years.

Enjoyed this style of video, bringing facts into the mix. Looking forward to more like this. I wondered if you could get chance to go and see the people at Warwick university. They were instrumental in the battery make up we have in the cars now. What they have in the pipe line and testing of future idea's, could make for an interesting video.

Wow. You nailed 👏 those issues. Many I share but not been able to pinpoint the detail and overview. Everyone needs to hear these concerns...Govts for too long have just been 'singing the polemic electric'.

Love the pun Harry! ‘Insulation on buildings is LAGGING behind” 😂

So happy to hear you say this Harry, I feel like I’ve been screaming at the wind all this time about how we can just keep churning out brand new electric cars (of the wrong type) and keep buying and selling them in the same way. We’re going to replace one climate catastrophe with another one. I’ll keep driving my 25 year old 996 until bio fuels come along. Great video!

Another aspect of increasing the average weight of vehicles that I haven’t heard discussed much here in the states (perhaps likewise elsewhere) is the additional damage to roads this will cause.

You've just spoken more sense than any politician can understand.

Good insight into the numbers and the media will always put a spin on the high-level numbers. Agree with every point in this video, especially with the efficiency of the car itself. I felt my EV in 2019 was an expensive car to do local runs and rely on the woeful charge network with countless apps or minimum credit for long journeys. Switched to PHEV with a 30-mile range and it suits me perfectly, I can't see myself going back to EV anytime soon.

I’m eight years and 80,000 miles into my BMW 320d, and plan to at least double those numbers before I consider a replacement. It’s also finance-free, and I have little desire to be burdened with another monthly PCP anytime soon. So - a vote for sunk build costs and emissions from me; we really need to extend our national fleet life first and foremost, as you suggest.

Nailed it again Harry, we could all see the flaws in rushing EV's to market with the charging network still lagging way behind. We are sticking with our petrol 1.4 Audi A1 bopping about returning 48 mpg! Very interesting video again 👍

Excellent as always. Thank you.

Brilliant, just watched it again! This is really important stuff that everyone needs to be aware of. I live in South Devon and there are virtually no charges down here. I also live in a flat, so no chance of home charging, as the 5 year old block I live in has a number of East and North facing roofs, none facing West or South. As a retired architect I totally agree that every new building needs a compulsory solar roof and decent insulation (still totally inadequate under current building regulations). Keep it up Harry. I love your restorations, especially the Lancia.

I really appreciate these type of videos as much as the road trips, restorations and tests. More please Harry. Thanks.

If it were not for government mandates , subsidies and threats of massive fines , EV's and renewables would be economically unviable.

Excellent and fully agree with you. Hopefully you can get the video played in Parliament to make them take notice.

Harry, 100% on point as usual. What a terrific channel.

A real eye opener for me, as someone who knows little about EV'S and was considering purchasing one in the next year. Think I'll hang on to my 5 yr old CX5 Diesel for at least another 3 years after watching this.

EV’s are shiny new toys that currently have no mass practical application.

More of this please, Harry. Your commentary is just as valuable as the drives.

Great video. I hadn't realised that some of the EVs that you mentioned were so inefficient. Even my humble RAV4 PHEV is averaging 2.8 miles / Kwh.

(1) The surge or spike in December could likely relate to registrations i.e. pre-registrations just to manipulate data, those cars will then need to be sold to customers as demo or nearly new. Dealers are often doing pre-reg when they need to massage data to hit targets.

Interesting update thanks Harry. We've had a Renault Zoe for a couple of years which on a run does ~3.75mi/kW in the winter and ~4.25mi/kW in the summer, more if you sit at 60mph on the motorway. It's charged at home and is a great run around and commuter car (60miles each way twice a week). There's a year left on the lease, and with the cost of cars, interest rates and electricity prices all so much higher than when we got it I suspect that it won't stack up to replace it with another EV.

Well done for your theses. From an owner of a 17 year old X5 (best car I've ever had) Peter J.

Hi Harry - love the videos. Agree with the small electric comment - I bought a used Citigo electric back in May for my short local commute and have managed up to 5.5 mpkWh with it.

There's also the problem of the electricity prices going up

If everyone moves to EV, the good news for us petrol heads is that there won’t be many cars on the road, and especially motorways - the infrastructure isn’t in place to charge them all, nobody will do long journeys!!!

Excellent Harry. Completely agree with your points and logic

Can’t argue with any of that Harry. Very well put. I don’t quite understand the huge push to EVs either, particularly when the U.K. charging network was and remains absolute landfill.