FairCharge and Fully Charged launch #StopBurningStuff

Electric vehicle (EV) campaign group FairCharge and Robert Llewellyn’s Fully Charged SHOW have officially launched the #StopBurningStuff campaign to counter anti-EV rhetoric.

The move has been taken to counter the raft of misinformation being propagated by some media providers and MPs, and is endorsed by scientists, climate ambassadors and senior industry.

The initiative will be put in place by a dedicated team, who will be on the front-line to counter so-called “FUD” – or fear, uncertainty, and doubt – with FACTS – factual, accurate, certainty, truthful and sensible.

The result will be a compendium of facts, figures and infographics for media and others to turn to when bombarded by anti-sustainability narratives.

Quentin Willson, Founder FairCharge, said: “There’s too much misinformation and irresponsible, ill-informed, mischief being disseminated by some of the mainstream media, and vocal right wing backbench MPs determined to sabotage the move towards renewable energy. Fully Charged SHOW, in partnership with FairCharge, aims to set the record straight and put an end to the culture wars that are obscuring, educated, fact-based, conversation and damaging EV adoption among the public.

“This unchecked tirade of inaccurate negativity has the potential to damage the future of the UK car industry as they increase production of electric cars and invest in new vehicle and battery factories. Global capital won’t invest in the UK with such inaccurate ideological conflict raging in the media.”

Willson recently wrote to the new energy secretary urging her to support its campaigning and boost the UK’s energy independence and security. FairCharge has also been integral to ensuring that polices are maintained in order to offer stability and confidence to markets and investments.

Robert Llewellyn, Founder of the Fully Charged SHOW: “The issue with the perceived culture war on electric cars is that the UK does not exist in a bubble. All around us, developed countries are seeing electric vehicle sales grow and grow, and if the UK falls behind, then this lessens the chance we have of being beneficiaries of the investment and jobs that the transition to battery electric will bring. While more recent manufacturing announcements in the UK, from Jaguar Land Rover, Stellantis and Mini are welcome, we are still trailing behind countries on the continent, and future electric vehicle superpowers like the USA and China.”

Sacha Dench, CEO & Ambassador for the UN’s Convention on Migratory Species, said: “This campaign is sorely, and sadly, needed. I flew around the country in an electric paramotor, landing to speak to people from all walks of life right around the country about our changing climate and what we can do about it.

“On the way I heard that people are keen for us to act on climate change and met innovators and industries with vision and drive to make it happen. BUT, I also heard a lot of catchy phrases against electric transport, that are also compete BS, but repeated in all corners of the country. The EV-BS brigade have dumped heavily on all of us, for years and we need a campaign like this to clear it up.

“The premise of my electric flight was to get us asking the question ‘Britain drove the industrial revolution, can we drive the green revolution too?’ Well, we can’t drive anywhere when bogged down in that much BS.”

Julia Poliscanova, Senior Director, vehicles & supply chains, Transport & Environment, said: “Transport + Environment fully supports this campaign as the volume of misinformation continues to pile up. We are seeing increasingly desperate tactics by pockets of the laggard industry trying to derail the essential climate policies that endanger their fossil profits. The media should stand above such misinformation onslaught and do its own fact checking and due diligence.”

Dr David Bott, Principal Fellow, WMG, University of Warwick, added: “Climate change is happening. Huge emissions of carbon dioxide are primarily responsible. Transport contributes a significant proportion of those emissions. Electric vehicles are a viable alternative that contribute significantly less carbon dioxide emissions than petrol and diesel vehicles. Delaying the change will make the impact of climate change worse, and it is our children who will suffer.

“I have worked with those in the fields of climate change, electric vehicles and batteries, and renewable energy for over 20 years now, and I am constantly surprised by the ability of those — who should know better — to ignore the science; their imagination in finding alternative explanation of the facts, and their tenacity in pushing theories which other scientists know to be untrue. It is, quite frankly, concerning. We must not allow misinformation to become folklore. Both are fantasy, we must deal in facts. Fact.”

Ben Nelmes, CEO, New Automotive, said: “The #StopBurningStuff campaign from FairCharge & Fully Charged SHOW couldn’t come soon enough. There’s a lot of nonsense talked and written about electric cars – often from people with a vested interest in keeping motorists trapped in polluting, expensive and outdated petrol and diesel cars. Consumers deserve to know the facts and have access to the data.

“Clear communication from the industry will give consumers the confidence to make the switch away from petrol and diesel cars and speed up the UK’s inevitable transition to electric. The data already shows that electric car sales will continue to rise and the #StopBurningStuff campaign will ensure even stronger uptake in the months and years to come.”