Climate activists protest electric cars at New York motor show

Members of a well-known climate activist group have thrown oil on an electric vehicle (EV) at this year’s New York motor show, claiming battery-powered cars aren’t the solution to ongoing environmental damage.

Carscoops reports members of the Extinction Rebellion (also known as XR) activist group poured oil on a Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup during a presentation at the New York motor show, before being taken into custody shortly after.

The protestors reportedly wore t-shirts saying “No EVs on a dead planet” while calling out the carbon-heavy production processes required to build electric cars.

According to the publication, the Extinction Rebellion members claimed they weren’t protesting car lovers, rather the production methods used to build all vehicles which are a major source of emissions.

“Electric vehicles don’t solve the real problem with cars: wastefully large infrastructure, needlessly complex and resource-intensive construction, and energy inefficiency, even in the case of electric cars,” an Extinction Rebellion spokesperson told Carscoops. 

“Electric vehicles are a popular investment because they don’t disrupt the status quo.”

It’s understood a group of protesters who parked a rented truck across four lanes on the city-bound side of Melbourne’s West Gate Bridge and brought traffic to a standstill last month were members of Extinction Rebellion.