Electric Vehicle Ownership Sucks
Electric vehicles are still far from owner-friendly — 4 reasons why owning a plug in hybrid sucks in Germany and what we can do about it.
Don’t get me wrong, I love electric vehicles and will never go back to a pure gasoline vehicle — it is just that the economics and ecosystem don’t add up… yet
Three years ago I moved from NYC to Berlin and was in the market to lease a car. I know Berlin has an excellent car sharing ecosystem but for a family with two kids it still doesn’t suffice. I looked around for a decent electric vehicle option. None existed besides the overpriced Tesla S. Three years later I opted for the BMW 225 XE, a plug in hybrid with 30 km of battery range and a gasoline engine.
Pitfall 1 — Incompetent EV Sales: ordering the decently priced vehicle took some effort. The sales person essentially had no clue what he was doing and was obviously trying to push more combustion engine vehicles. I received the vehicle a few weeks later and it didn’t come with a cable to plug it into a charging station… really?
Pitfall 2 — Maze of Charging Apps: once active it took some early adopter geek research to figure out all the different charging options and download a dozen apps need in order to find and charge the vehicle. I had to set up accounts with a maze of different vendors from plugsurfing to new motion.
Pitfall 3 — Electricity costs more than gasoline: loading the 30km battery at a charge point will run you more than the equivalent range in gasoline. I didn’t want to believe it so I set up a spreadsheet to track my costs. Average of 6€ per 30km charge = 20€ for 100km. Gas would be 14€ for 100km (at 10L/100km)!! That does not make sense at all. Is the industry gauging prices and thereby stifling the adoption of EVs? The only way I was able to bring down the price was by joining innogy which lowers the cost to 7€ per 100km — when charging at their charge points… that’s the equivalent of having to join a specific gas station provider in order to enjoy competitive prices. If I were able to install a personal charge point in my garage I can bring down the price to about 6€ per 100km — less than half the price of gasoline.
Pitfall 4 — Wrong Target Group: Essentially these vehicles work for people who can charge them in their own carport at home and at a dedicated charging point at work. This pretty much only applies to suburbanites. The intended audience who lives in cities and can make do with the 30km electric range do not have a personal charge point. I live in one of the newest and most modern buildings in the middle of Berlin, and our management did not include a charge point in our garage! Upon request to install my own wall charger, I was told that this might be a hazard and will be discussed at future owner meetings sometime this year…
What needs to be done: Before we can fantasize about the massive adoption of electric vehicles, high-efficiency batteries, supercharging networks and smart ev grids… We have to address some fundamental issues for the urban EV user:
A. Prices need to be adjusted to be competitive with gasoline in all charging situations.
B. Public charge point installation needs to be drastically increased.
C. Personal charge point installation needs to be mandated in urban garages.