Dad’s work as an electrical engineer at a major corporation for 30-plus years put him in touch with plenty of marketing and sales pitches.
He learned to take new technology with a grain of salt, realizing that promising attributes can also come with their share of challenges. Naturally, it’s up to marketing and sales to constantly embellish the positive — sometimes while taking time to carefully address concerns and sometimes not.
It’s the over-embellishment of product that led Dad to hold onto a line that he still uses to this day when kidding around about the latest, greatest thing: “Guaranteed not to rot, chip or smell bad!” His carny persona makes me crack a smile and remember to carefully consider all product before buying.
Dad’s line started coming to mind years ago when all-electric trucks and vans started gaining more traction at trade shows.
Polished presentations, literature, video and photos played up not only the importance of adopting zero-emission battery-powered vehicles but also reaping the benefits of lower maintenance and reduced energy costs compared to diesel and gas.
Maybe they were onto something? After all, I’m a proud EV owner who will be the first to say that such vehicles require far less maintenance and parts and cost much less to fuel.
