# Top 10 EV Myths Debunked: What's Actually True About Electric Cars

By Gregory Wilson · Excerpt from Chapter 9 of *EV Curious?*

After ten years and seven EVs, I've heard every misconception in the book. Below are four of the ten most persistent myths I get asked about, with real-world numbers. The remaining six — covering reliability, road trips, recycling, EV simplicity, mainstream adoption, and the "EVs are slow" stereotype — are answered in full in Chapter 9 of the book.

## Myth #1: EVs don't work in cold weather

EVs do lose range in cold weather (typically 20–40% in freezing temperatures), but they absolutely work fine. In Norway, where temperatures average about 10°F colder than the US, over 90% of new cars sold are electric. Cold weather affects all vehicles — gas cars typically lose 10–20% of their city fuel economy at 20°F. Preconditioning your EV while plugged in minimizes the winter impact.

## Myth #2: You'll get stranded with no charging available

As of early 2026, there are over 75,000 public charging stations in the US with around 230,000 individual charging ports — roughly triple the number from 2020. 64% of Americans now live within 2 miles of a public charging station, and over 95% live in a county that has at least one. About 18,000 new DC fast-charging ports were deployed in 2025 alone, the largest annual increase in US history.

## Myth #3: Charging takes forever

Most charging happens at home overnight, adding 200+ miles of range in 8 hours, so you start every day with a full battery. DC fast chargers can add significant range in 15–30 minutes on the road, and charging stops naturally align with food and bathroom breaks. The gas-station comparison is misleading because home charging eliminates the need for it most of the time.

## Myth #4: EV batteries die after a few years

Modern EV batteries degrade at just 1.8% per year on average, meaning they could last 20 years or more. All automakers offer at least 8-year, 100,000-mile warranties. Recurrent's 2025 battery-health dataset, drawn from over 30,000 connected EVs, has reported some 2012–2015 Tesla Model S vehicles still showing 85% or more of their original capacity past 200,000 miles. Very few EV batteries have needed replacement, even after the 8-year warranty period ends.

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This is an excerpt from Chapter 9 of *EV Curious? — What I Learned from Seven EVs* by Gregory Wilson. The full chapter also tackles the other six common myths: that EVs are slow and boring (multiple mainstream models do 0–60 in under 5 seconds, and a few do it in under 2), that EVs can't do road trips, that you need an engineering degree to own one, that EVs are unreliable, that old EV batteries become landfill waste (they don't — Redwood Materials and others recover 95%+ of the lithium and cobalt), and that EVs are still just for tech nerds (96% of new car sales in Norway in 2025 were electric).

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## Related chapters

- [What driving an EV actually feels like](https://evcurious.blog/driving-an-ev/)
- [How regenerative braking works in an EV](https://evcurious.blog/regenerative-braking/)
- [Understanding EV efficiency: kWh/100mi vs miles/kWh vs MPGe](https://evcurious.blog/ev-efficiency-units/)
- [EV plugs and adapters: NACS, J1772, CCS explained](https://evcurious.blog/ev-charging-adapters/)
- [How to plan your first EV road trip](https://evcurious.blog/ev-road-trip-planning/)