As a comeback to my politically conservative friends who seem to be addicted to ICE's and threatened by the government's loans to Tesla, does anyone know how many jobs have been created around the Model S? I think it's in the thousands but I'd like the real number.
As a conservative myself who has had this conversation many times with friends and family, let me offer you some points that I have used. I have not yet met a conservative that I have not been able to turn in favor of EVs (usually via Tesla). The trick is you need to appeal to conservative values, not try to convince them that they should accept your values.
For example, I've said things like this:
"You're right, I'd love to see the government get out of this and let the market decide. The problem is that the government is already pumping tons of money into ICEs and the oil industry. The market is already being manipulated, and since it is not easy to take away subsidies, the only way to give EVs a fair chance is to give them some subsidies too. I'll tell you what, you agree that the government should drop all subsidies for anything related to ICEs or oil and I'll agree that they should axe the tax credit and that they shouldn't do these types of loans."
Then I usually divert the conversation to national security. Now when I say that, I don't mean go all "world peace" on them and say that wars are about nothing but oil and if we didn't need oil then we could all live in harmony --- that won't fly. You do it like this:
"You know, the scary thing is that a lot of the oil that our economy depends on comes from countries that hate our guts. I mean, we're the most powerful country on earth and they've basically got us by the balls because we can't risk disrupting that supply. Furthermore, we are sending Trillions of dollars overseas and plenty of that is getting into the hands of terrorist groups that are killing our troops. Imagine, when you swipe your credit card at the pump, you might be paying for the gun that is going to kill a U.S. soldier.
If we could just use our own resources to power our cars, then we break out of that cycle. Now maybe that means coal, or maybe it means nuclear, or Nat Gas, or even solar --- I don't know --- but they all can be used to make electricity, so while a coal backed EV might not be a great "green machine", it makes a damn good anti-terrorist weapon. I like that I know where my fuel came from and where my money is going." (here's a good place to throw in that Tesla is American and cars are made in America)
There are a dozen other arguments that can be made for EVs that appeal to the conservative world-view. Bob Lutz has articulated many of them quite well.
Again, the problem that I see is that when most people try to sell conservatives on EVs, they try to do it by telling them that they need to change their values. This is a terrible sales tactic. It's like Apple's "you need to hold your phone differently then you won't have that signal drop problem" response. If you want to win over a conservative, demonstrate for them how the EV solves the problems that they care about --- don't tell them to care about different problems.