“A friend recently told me exactly the same story.”

Life is about to get a lot easier for electric vehicle drivers – and those considering investing in the technology.

Thanks to increased government investment, the number of charging infrastructures in the U.S. is growing, improving access to refueling stations and reducing fears of range loss. At the same time, incentives like the Inflation Reduction Act are helping people get tax credits and rebates to make purchasing a zero-emission vehicle significantly more affordable.

Nevertheless, there still appears to be a negative attitude towards electric vehicles among drivers of these gas guzzlers.

In a Reddit post shared with the r/electricvehicles community, a user described a bad experience driving his Ford F-150 Lightning, the electric alternative to the popular pickup truck that runs on dirty fuel.

“Has anyone ever experienced a road rage attack for driving an EV?” they captioned the post, adding in the caption, “I had an F250 rolling coal today trying to run me off the road. The irony is that I have the least EV-looking EV. [with] an F150 Lightning. Has anyone else experienced something similar?”

For those unfamiliar, rolling coal is the act of intentionally emitting a cloud of smog from a vehicle's exhaust pipe. This happens when drivers modify a diesel engine.

This black cloud full of toxins and fine dust is often directed against electric vehicles on the road, but cyclists have also become victims of this irresponsible act.

It is believed that this is a form of protest against supposedly environmentally friendly measures. Drivers who love their cars with combustion engines apparently feel threatened by the rise of electric vehicles as well as by efforts to reduce the production of climate-damaging pollutants by avoiding cars altogether.

Sadly, other Reddit users have witnessed or been victims of similar incidents.

“A friend told me the exact same story the other day,” said one user. “I wonder if you are the same person?”

“The Lightning is absolutely the target for traditional truck owners,” added another. “This is an offense that hits them directly, on their territory. This is going to happen more and more.”

However, incidents like this do not deter people from buying an electric car. According to the International Energy Agency, almost one in five cars sold worldwide in 2023 will be electric, an increase of 35% from 2022.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports that in 2022, 28% of planet-warming emissions in the U.S. will come from the transportation sector. That's encouraging news as we try to stop rising temperatures, which are causing more frequent and intense extreme weather events, damaging crops, and impacting wildlife habitat.

The behavior of some drivers – who may not yet have realized the benefits of electric vehicles, such as lower fuel costs and less maintenance – will not stop demand. As we move toward a cleaner planet, combustion engine drivers will sooner or later be in the minority, and most likely many of the critics will be convinced when they actually test drive an electric model and find that it is not the threatening bogeyman they think it is.

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