E-Cars Chatter

I was looking at a German auto news piece this morning over electric vehicles.  Some folks crunched the numbers and it'll probably reach 90,000 registered battery-cars by the end of 2019 (if the trend holds). 

If you go back a couple of years, there was a big speech of Chancellor Merkels where she hyped up a belief that they'd be at the million-car point by this time.  Obviously, the thrill and desire just isn't there.  So you have to ask why.

I'm one of those people who've gone and driven a battery-car (the Audi E-Tron).  I was fairly impressed with the quality.  My issue was the mpc (miles per charge), with my numbers (on paper) coming to around 250 to 260 miles.  Charging time?  Well....that didn't impress me that much.  If you had the super-charger installed into your house, then it was in the 30-minute range (but that only got you to the 80-percent level).  The regular charge off normal house current?  In the 12 to 13 hour range. 

I walked away from Audi on that deal (particularly after the quoted price).  It's ten years away before they hit the improved battery development or the pricing for a vehicle that I would be happy with.

I'm one of the people who went to the solar energy show (in Munich) and observed the options that might work on the house. The panels have taken a big step forward in the past five years.  Based on everything, I'd need to spend in the range of 20,000 Euro ($25,000) to put the panels up and get the right kind of system in the basement.  If I had the battery car, it'd be worth it.  Without the battery car, the pay-off isn't there to make it worth the effort.

Then I come to the big questions which the German authorities can't answer.  If people were to switch over, and gas vehicles lessened.....wouldn't gas taxes go away or dry-up, and if they did.....how the hell would you find the tax base for roads and bridges?  Oh yeah.....via utility taxes?  No.  It'd have to be a direct battery-car tax....probably in the range of 1,000 Euro a year.  The disposal of batteries?  That's another topic often avoided.  You'd have to assess the guy at least a hundred Euro on that fee....maybe even on up to 300 Euro. 

Belief in the German grid?  Nuke energy being rapidly pushed out and coal energy going away in ten to fifteen years?  Then....do I trust the grid?  No, I'd have to go to solar energy because of the decline of trust.

I think a lot of Germans just look at the gimmick of battery cars and shake their head.  This government push is an amusing idea but ten to twenty years away from reality.