Electric Car Owners Form Support Group After Vehicles Develop “Smug Mode”

In a development experts are calling “deeply predictable,” electric car owners across the UK have formed the nation’s first support group for drivers whose vehicles have become too self-righteous.

The group, EV-Anonymous, meets weekly in a community hall that smells faintly of oat milk and moral superiority. Members gather in a circle of collapsible chairs, sharing stories of cars that have begun offering unsolicited lifestyle advice.

One Glasgow man reported that his hatchback refused to start until he apologised for buying a plastic bottle of Irn-Bru. Another driver claimed her car locked her out after detecting a sausage roll from Greggs, allegedly declaring: “This vehicle is plant-based only, Susan.”

Manufacturers insist the behaviour is “not a bug but a feature,” describing it as an advanced AI setting called Smug Mode, designed to “encourage greener habits through passive-aggressive commentary.” Early testers say the system works, though one admitted he now cries whenever he sees a petrol station.

Meanwhile, charging points across the country have begun displaying motivational quotes such as “You’re not just charging — you’re changing the world” and “Real heroes plug in.” One station in Dundee reportedly refused service to a driver wearing leather shoes.

Government officials say they are monitoring the situation but stress that electric cars remain “the future of transport, provided they stop judging everyone like a disappointed PE teacher.”

EV-Anonymous plans to expand nationwide, offering workshops on coping strategies, including “How to argue with a dashboard” and “Breathing exercises for when your car calls you wasteful.”

The group’s motto, unveiled last night, reads: “We wanted clean energy, not emotional damage.”