Too many cars, too little electricity
Across Europe, the number of people opting for an electric car is growing. In Germany alone, 149,000 new vehicles with electric drives were registered in the first half of 2021, and the trend is rising. However, many e-drivers fail to inform themselves about the available infrastructure before buying a car.
The surprise is great when it is discovered that it is like a game of chance whether one can charge and drive one's newly acquired vehicle or has to leave it standing: At the moment, 21 e-cars have to share a single charging station, as calculated by the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA). In addition, battery performance is significantly worse in winter anyway, namely by a whole 41 percent, since the heating and other power guzzlers in the car are also fed from the battery. There are, of course, tricks to prevent this: one way is to heat the passenger compartment before the journey, using the power socket. This way, the battery power is not reduced by heating during the journey. But even with such tricks, there will be too few charging stations.
Up to 15 million new electric cars will be registered in Germany by 2030. In order for there to be enough charging stations, around 2000 new stations would have to be added to the existing ones every week. The Federal Network Agency (BNA) therefore warns that it is primarily the long bureaucratic approval procedures that are hampering the expansion of the electric infrastructure. The BNA has calculated that 12,000 kilometres of cable alone must be laid for the charging stations to function properly. So far, however, there are only 1740 kilometres. The greatest hope then rests on the large car manufacturers, such as Tesla, who are working on a Supercharger for all car brands, with which one can charge one's car even faster than previously possible.
Until that happens, however, many people will be forced to opt for a combustion engine when buying a new car, as there are still plenty of filling stations, or else be prepared for long waiting times at the available charging stations.