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Energy consumption while driving has been one of the most important social issues in Germany for years. The issue is complex, it affects everyone and it’s annoying. And everyone finds their own way of dealing with it.
For example, my father.
My father bought a used Golf V 2.0 TDI around 2005.
My father is old school: every liter of fuel is fiddled with, but the car is bought new and paid for in cash. He only bought this Golf second-hand with around 100,000 km on the clock and traded it in at 270,000 km. During this time, he drove with a consumption of between 4.5 and 4.7 liters per 100 km. Diesel, of course. That meant disengaging the clutch in good time, shifting out of gear and letting it roll when the traffic lights on the horizon turned red.
At some point he read that diesel engines can also run on rapeseed oil or linseed oil..
And so he went to Aldi, where he could buy a liter of rapeseed oil for 69 cents. You could fill up directly at a linseed oil refinery near Güstrow, Mecklenburg. The consumption was the same as with diesel. What exactly the effects were on the engine remains forever unknown. Somehow it always smelled like a chip shop behind the car.
But he drove 100 km for around €3.50 in 2005. Adjusted for inflation, that’s €4.81 today.
Last week, I paid €11.70 for a 100 km trip in a brand-new electric car on a country road. The higher energy efficiency of the electric car was not reflected in my costs. On the contrary, the EV from 2023 was 2.4 times more expensive to run than my father’s old diesel Golf.
Everyone says EVs are cheap to drive. But I’ve done something wrong.
An electric vehicle is not yet comparable with a combustion engine.
I wanted to know.
Nothing teaches you more than your own experience. But I didn’t go into the test naively. I read up, watched a few videos and asked experts.
The weekend before, I was out and about with four friends from the automotive industry.
All technicians and developers, and all have experience with EVs between 20,000 and 100,000 km, both in commuter traffic and on long-distance journeys, including from Germany to Spain.
This is concentrated expertise that advised me on my first long-distance trip in an EV.
Charging is not a problem in Germany today. Although Germany has the most charging points, it is in the middle of the pack in terms of charging point density due to its size. Download apps and plan your route, and then it will go smoothly.
In return, I had promised to report on my experiences.
And here is the report.
Happyness long distance = range x charging speed
The route went from Stuttgart city center to Berlin Alexanderplatz. Instead of the BYD Atto 3 I had ordered, I was given a Cupra Born with 56 kWh.
At some point, the battery level was at 13%.
I turn off to a charging station at a filling station. A second Cupra Born is parked there.
The other Cupra is driven by a young couple. They pass the waiting time while charging with food and a cell phone. I ask them why they drive electric. “My employer stipulates that. Either EV or hybrid. “I opted for the Born,” says Thomas. He comes from Peine near Hanover. “The waiting times are a bit long,” says his girlfriend. “It’s a bit different with a Tesla, which has a range of 500 km and can be charged with 150 kWh.”
This stop will be the best charging experience of the whole trip.
It is a 150 kWh charger.
I pull out my charge card and it is declined. It says at the charging station: “You can also pay at the counter.” So I make my way to the filling station. I had plugged in the charger beforehand – I’m a beginner. After walking back and forth between the car and the counter three times – of course, the charging points are at the far end of the filling station – the car charges. While I wait, I drink a coffee and write this text.
After 30 minutes, I have charged enough to get to just outside Berlin. There I have to find the next charging station.
I have four apps (Shell Recharge, Pump, ARBP, Nextcharge) on my cell phone and the car also displays charging stations. In most cases, it also shows whether the charging station is free. Some apps also show the price for charging.
Charging station safari
There are currently as many different charging stations as there are animals in a zoo.
Unfortunately, they are often so well hidden.
In contrast to petrol stations, charging stations are not marked with large-scale advertising. They are often located at the edge of the property, behind commercial buildings or supermarkets.
Finding it is a real problem on my route.
On average, I spend about 30 minutes searching on my own. It reminds me of a scavenger hunt, with little clues scattered everywhere: small signs, marked parking areas, different entrances to the properties and the four different apps. But I find them, even if I sometimes consult satellite images in Google Maps.
The cognitive load in an unfamiliar area is immense.
I pull off at the Michendorf service area to charge up, but can’t find the charging points.
For the savvy commuter who uses the same columns again and again, this is of course no problem. For long-distance EV tourists, this hunt robs them of any driving pleasure.
When I leave the highway and stand in front of a charging station, I can’t pay.
That’s different from a gas station, where I can pay with different cards and cash. They probably even take checks. At this pump, I am asked for an RFID from the local energy company.
At the next charger with 6 × 150 kWh on the Nuthe expressway near Potsdam, four columns are not working. Murphy is obviously traveling with me. So I have to move the car twice and start the charging process three times to finally charge with 106 kW. Unfortunately, that’s all the Cupra Born can do.
At that moment, I realize that the Tesla package consists of the car and the chargers and that is the only reason why it generates real fans among customers. It’s not the car. Fast charging, standardized charging stations and easy payment are just as important. At some point, electricity was even free for Tesla drivers.
Annoyance comes with annoyance.
This insight doesn’t help me now.
It takes me twice as long to drive the same distance as with a combustion engine. It takes me 5.5 hours to find the charging station where I can start charging, plus the waiting time for charging.
Due to the lost time, I am already over the deadline for returning the rental car.
Adjusting the contract online causes the rental price to shoot up to €289 for 26 hours.
I could cry.
I recently paid €225 for a BMW Z4 from Friday to Monday (72 hours) and drove 1,500 km. From Berlin to the Baltic Sea to Munich, partly with the roof down. I quickly switch off the page again.
Now I’m stressed.
I calculate my electricity costs at the last charging station before returning the car.
I use 18 kWh per 100 km at a highway speed of 120 kilometers per hour. With a kW price at the fast charger of around 65 cents, that’s €11.70. At peak times, I pay 74 cents. I could probably reduce that with a subscription.
Privately, I drive a Golf 2.0 TDI, built in 2014, and I consume around 5.5 liters at 140 kilometers per hour. That works out at a diesel price of €1.86. There’s no rapeseed oil and the car doesn’t tolerate it either. That’s €10.23 for 100 km. Give-or-take the same.
Even in this comparison, the EV doesn’t come off any better on the long haul.
And yet I would still buy an EV.
Let’s be honest: an EV is a different car to a combustion engine. It is different to use.
For me, there is no alternative to the combustion engine for long distances. The combustion engine is not only cheaper, it is also easier to drive. I can top up my range anywhere in just a few minutes with little effort. I don’t need to plan my charging stops laboriously, because every filling station takes my money and in 5 minutes I have enough fuel for 800 km.
New mid-range EVs can do that too. But they also have a corresponding price point.
You can go long distances with an EV. This is possible today if you know the route well, including the charging points. However, it makes little sense if you want the easiest and most convenient form of driving.
An EV also causes a lot of headaches in the city.
Because in a city, you can rarely charge your EV at your own socket. In Berlin, there are twelve pure EVs for every public charging point, and the trend is worsening. And there won’t be enough charging points for several years to come. There is already a race every evening to see who can get to the charging point in their own street first and use it.
Satisfaction with EVs is falling accordingly. Only around 18% of EV users would recommend their vehicle to friends or colleagues.
But there is an ideal use case: the commuter in his own home.
In 67 % of all employees commute by car.
Most of them live in housing estates and cities in urban centers, often in their own homes. With a solar system on the roof, the self-generated electricity can be used for transportation.
An EV is ideal here.
And that’s exactly how I live with my family.
Most of our journeys are to the office, school and sporting events. Most of it is highway or expressway. That adds up to about 50 km a day.
My ideal EV:
- would be about the size of a Golf.
- has a range of around 500 km. The car should have a long range so that the battery is correspondingly large (fast charging, fewer cycles) and I can also drive for five days at 80% initial charge without recharging.
- can fast charge (c-factor 2 and better). Fast chargers are currently springing up all over the place.
- I can charge from solar panels at home.
- can charge bi-directionally, so I can also use the battery as storage at night.
- costs around €25,000 as a used car with a mileage of around 100,000 km and a certified remaining capacity (SoH) of 96% or more.
I’ll make the switch the next time I change my car. I’ll probably have to compromise on bidirectional charging. When I hit the price point, we’ll be commuting electrically.
To achieve this, EVs need to be marketed and priced differently to combustion engines. We will be working on this in the AutomotiveLearners Pricing Academy. More on this later.
The question remains as to how we will manage the long haul.
I probably won’t be taking the EV on long journeys for the next five to seven years. The technology and infrastructure are not yet ready. If you drive 10 km, you don’t want to spend an extra two to five hours charging.
I am looking forward to the breakthroughs in technology, infrastructure, offers and prices for this new technology.
