Hashtag from 12:47, May 10, 2026 Our posts on social media, this one by Prof. Bernd Thomsen
🚙 The performance of electric cars can be #helpful, not just #harmful. DER SPIEGEL has turned its attention to the rapidly increasing #performance of modern
#ElectricVehicles, and to the very real risks that accompany it. Yet in doing so, it appears to overlook an essential dimension, thereby neglecting several of
the very qualities that define outstanding #journalism. Not least among them is an understanding of how the #EconomiesOfEmotion” may ultimately help Germany
itself. One may legitimately debate the extent to which journalism can ever be truly neutral, whether journalists should openly display a normative stance, or
how rigorously opinion and reporting ought to be separated. What is far less debatable, however, are the foundational standards of journalistic quality:
diligence, clarity, intellectual curiosity, but also, and perhaps above all, independence, critical thinking, responsibility, and the fair representation of
#differing #perspectives. Had DER SPIEGEL adhered more consistently to these principles, it might have avoided falling into the simplistic “#horsepower #bad,
#SUV #bad” narrative. It could, for instance, also have explored the possibility that Germany’s hesitation toward electric vehicles, alongside concerns such as
range anxiety and charging infrastructure, may in part be addressed precisely through the message of performance. For decades, Germany’s fascination with
automotive engineering has been inseparable from an admiration for #power and #performance. Whether in childhood card games, automotive magazines, or everyday
conversation, horsepower figures and acceleration times from zero to one hundred formed part of the national automotive imagination and pride. Ironically, this
is precisely where #electric #vehicles excel. Their defining characteristic is the instantaneous and linear delivery of torque, a form of acceleration that
frequently surpasses that of conventional combustion-engine vehicles. At a moment when electric mobility often encounters skepticism, this emotional dimension
should not simply be dismissed as superficial or dangerous, but understood as a potential catalyst for adoption. Automotive multipliers matter. The “economies
of emotion” can help accelerate the “economies of scale.” Germany, a nation that once defined global automotive aspiration, should recognize that emotional
appeal and technological transition are not mutually exclusive. Properly understood, they may well be one of the very mechanisms through which the country
regains a leading position in the next era of mobility. Read more
