E-Car Summary

Focus brought this up today....over charging stations for electric cars....public charging stations. 

Right now, Hamburg (city) is the leader in Germany for public charging stations....774.  Berlin is second with 628, and Stuttgart sitting there in third with 402 charging stations.

If you travel around the country, you generally notice the public charging stations to be at autobahn rest-stops, car-parks (both above and below ground), and in super-markets.  Last year, via a regional TV news summary....I noted one at some small village parking lot (no more than four parking spots), just off a autobahn and next to a McDonalds. 

To convince the German public of electric cars to be the way to go....you will need more public charging stations.

Right now, Bavaria leads the state totals with 2,503 public charging stations. 

Nationally, they are nearing 11,000 public charging points, for the roughly 100,000 electric cars in operation around the country. 

The strategy of German ownership and operation?  You generally buy the car (an expensive experiment) as your second car.  You have a charging port in your garage or basement....recharging it each night as you come home.  No one talks about mileage but one might look at the general range (300 kilometers usually, unless you have the E-GO car with the 180 kilometer range or the Tesla with the 500 kilometer range).  As long as you work within a 100 kilometer range....it would make general sense.  Using the car for weekend trips?  Well....now you get into planning and accepting the idea of having 90 minutes at some public point to chill out while recharging.  So previously, you would have made a weekend 400 kilometer trip with just planning around the hotel and sights....now you have to incorporate the recharge event....probably on two occasions.

The thing that gets me about the 'experiment' is that it's a remarkable amount of money involved.  The E-Go car (when it's starting up on sales in spring of 2018) will go in the 16,000 to 18,000 Euro range, but it's a fairly small car.  You can figure for a family of five, you'd be talking about a larger class vehicle and nearer to 35,000 to 45,000 Euro.  I would suggest for the average working-class German....bringing home roughly 18,000 Euro after taxes....this group of choices won't make the car affordable.  Even when we get to 2030 and this mandatory nature of only battery-cars being the choice for new car sales.....I have some doubts that most Germans can afford the 'experiment'.  Used gas cars being around for decades?  Yes, that's my prediction.  Anyone who thinks the industry is dead and these parts will disappear?  No....I doubt it.