American reporter Vicky Nguyen has raised eyebrows this week after a segment on the US-based Today Show offered tips on how to save money while gas prices are skyrocketing, only for some keen-eyed viewers to notice that she was being filmed sitting in a fully electric Ford Mustang Mach-E.
It’s worth noting, straight off the bat, that Nguyen, the network’s senior “consumer investigative correspondent”, knew very well that – for the few in-person shots filmed for the piece (embedded at the bottom of this article) – she was sitting inside an electric vehicle while explaining for viewers “How To Get The Most Out Of A Tank Of Gas”.
Having come up through the journalistic ranks filming her own live reports with “a 20 pound DVC Pro camera” and carrying her “own 15 pound tripod”, Nguyen is likely well acquainted with the need to use whatever tools are at hand to finish a segment.
Thus, when Nguyen is seen in the segment recommending drivers switch off their car if they are “safely parked somewhere for more than 10 seconds – like, maybe you’re waiting to pick up your kids,” but pressing the start/stop button of a clearly electric vehicle, or when she pulls a box out of the trunk of her Ford Mustang Mach-E, she is not (as some have suggested) “mistakenly us[ing] an electric vehicle to demonstrate how to save gas.”
As is the wont of many in these times, Nguyen received a number of Twitter comments from eagle-eyed viewers who recognised the Mustang Mach-E situated oddly in a video about how to save gas while driving an ICE vehicle.
Was wondering how long it would take for someone to spot that 😎😎😎 can’t be wasting gas shooting a news story! 🤣
— Vicky Nguyen (@VickyNguyenTV) March 8, 2022
“Was wondering how long it would take for someone to spot that,” Nguyen replied to one commenter who had pointed out she had been “talking about gas saving tips for driving a car today on the #todayshow and you were driving a Ford mustang electric car”, adding, “can’t be wasting gas shooting a news story!”
Nguyen explained to others that filming such a segment in an EV was the “Best way to save gas” and that her Mustang “was much quieter for the shoot.”
why waste gas? I could have fired up my gas car but the gas savings tips all hold true. Plus this car was much quieter for the shoot.🤓 was waiting for all the EV enthusiasts to notice.
— Vicky Nguyen (@VickyNguyenTV) March 8, 2022
Nguyen was also “waiting for all the EV enthusiasts to notice” that she had been using her electric vehicle, even though she “could have fired up [her] gas car but the gas savings tips all hold true.”
I reached out to Nguyen to ask her about her choice to use her electric Mustang, but given the time differences between New York and Melbourne, it was difficult to align our communication. We will update if Nguyen replies.
At the end of it all, though, what better way to subliminally convey to Americans the best way to save money at the gas pump than by treating them to a subtle EV road test?
Joshua S. Hill is a Melbourne-based journalist who has been writing about climate change, clean technology, and electric vehicles for over 15 years. He has been reporting on electric vehicles and clean technologies for Renew Economy and The Driven since 2012. His preferred mode of transport is his feet.