Dr. Alexander Eichberger from Hechendorf knows about e-mobility. He has been driving an electric car himself for five years and giving lectures on the subject. He says: There is no getting around the electric car.
Hechendorf- He gives lectures at the adult education centers in the Starnberg district and in Munich, volunteered for the energy cooperative and, of course, has been driving an electric car since 2015: Dr. Alexander Eichberger from Hechendorf has dedicated himself to the topic of e-mobility and has already advised the communities of Pöcking and Andechs on this matter. Eichberger (61) had previously dealt with the topic professionally: His company Simpack GmbH AG, based in Gilching, founded in 1993 from the DLR, built virtual prototypes, for example wind turbines, and simulated their noise emissions, among other things. In 2014 Eichberger sold the company and started volunteering. He spoke to the Starnberg Mercury about why it is worth driving an electric car. There is a lot of room for improvement in the district: at the turn of the year 577 purely electric cars were registered - out of a total of 86 272 registered cars.
How long have you been driving an electric car yourself?
My wife and I switched in 2015 and have driven 100,000 kilometers in our electric cars since then. And never stayed there.
The German driver is still skeptical. The electric car has a bad reputation. Why is that?
The German automotive industry has tried to delay e-mobility for as long as possible in order to amortize its high development costs in internal combustion engines. And she still wants to bring her vehicles, which are in her yard, onto the market. Now she is doing a lot of lobbying. In any case, drivers have been fooled by her for decades.
What do you mean?
For example, real fuel consumption was always 30 to 40 percent higher than stated. The German and his car are anchored in the spinal cord. We see the world very much from our German car perspective.
Can the German auto industry be saved?
The German automotive industry still has a chance, but it has to adapt quickly and radically. It has always hoped that it will be protected at German and European level. But the markets in China and the USA are driving development. The numbers are now bad because of Corona and the structural crisis. We have saturated markets and car traffic is being reduced in cities around the world. In Norway, combustion engines will no longer be allowed to be registered from 2025; these are signs that must be taken very seriously.
Let's say I have an old small car that I want to sell. Now I need a replacement and mostly drive short distances. What do you recommend?
We have been driving the VW e-Up for four years, with a range of 260 kilometers on the current model. No, I don't work for VW. But we did a lot of research and are extremely satisfied with the car.
How expensive is a car in this class?
The list price is 23,000 euros. But there is a VAT reduction until the end of the year, plus 3000 euros from the manufacturer, plus a subsidy of 6000 euros from the federal government. That leaves 11,000 euros gross. If you buy an electric car in this category, you will also save several thousand euros within eight years because maintenance and fuel costs are cheaper. You drive ten years tax-free, there is hardly any wear and tear and therefore no workshop costs.
But that's not good for my workshop.
That's true. Mainly because the dealer earns primarily from the workshop and not from sales. There will therefore be a dying of traders. These are the elephants in the room that everyone sees and nobody names.
If everyone buys a car like this in a normal village street here in Hechendorf, will the power grid collapse?
No, because all of their vehicles charge their vehicles at home with low energy, a maximum of 11 kilowatts, which every house connection provides. The network operators state that the networks can charge 7 million vehicles without having to be upgraded. In Germany there are far less than a million electric cars so far, so don't worry.
What does 100 kilometers cost me with an electric vehicle?
Anyone who charges at home with their house electricity pays around 4 euros for 100 kilometers. With your own photovoltaic system, the costs drop to 2 to 3 euros. With a normal combustion engine, a mid-range car, the fuel price is 5 euros.
Where can I charge anywhere?
At home, of course, but also at public charging stations and fast charging stations. Munich is a pioneer in cities with over 1000 charging points, just ahead of Hamburg. For long-haul journeys there are fast charging stations that charge the vehicle up to 80 percent within 20 minutes. The federal government is investing 2.5 billion euros in expanding the network, and upgrading is also taking place across Europe. This means that you can drive electrically in Europe from the North Cape to Sicily and Lisbon to Prague without any problems.
Lithium and cobalt are an issue in the manufacture of batteries.
In both cases, just under 40 percent is used for batteries today. And not only for car batteries, but also for cell phones, computers, etc. But water consumption is high, which is a problem for the population in countries like South America and Australia, which mainly mine lithium. For a well-developed electric vehicle, you need almost 4000 liters of water for the battery. By the way, that's the same amount as for 250 grams of beef. Or ten avocados. Cobalt is mined in the Congo; 80 percent of it is a by-product of copper extraction. The problem is small, non-certified mines in which unworthy mining methods are practiced. But most of it is certified.
And what about the recycling of batteries?
We are working on recycling processes that will get more than 90 percent of the materials out of the batteries. To this end, jobs from the automotive industry can also be transferred to the recycling industry. That is already done. Incidentally, the manufacturers give guarantees on their batteries. In the rental area, electric cars drive more than 400,000 kilometers on one battery. They are becoming more and more efficient and durable. And at the end of their life in the vehicle, they will be used as standard storage for renewable energies for another 10 to 20 years.
Is there a way around the electric car?
Much is derived from the Paris climate targets. In the transport sector, we can only achieve this if we drive fossil-free cars. The problem of local emissions is getting bigger and bigger, and we can only solve that with e-cars. The mood in the cities is different from that in the rural areas. We here in the Munich bacon belt would like to drive 800 kilometers to Italy with our diesel whenever we feel like it. Young families in Munich think very differently. And since the majority of the population lives in the megacities, the rural view is not the decisive one. Cities like London will completely shut out emissions traffic from 2030. There is no other way.
Studies show that the greenhouse gas balance of an electric car is worse than that of a diesel vehicle.
Up to a certain size, an electric car is always better than any combustion engine. Of course it comes with an ecological rucksack, but depending on its size and with today's German electricity mix, it can be traveled from 20,000 to 50,000 kilometers. The expansion of regenerative energies plays more and more into the hands of e-mobility year after year. Electricity is getting cleaner. An e-SUV with a huge battery and high consumption, however, is nonsense. Because the ecological backpack is so big that it takes more than 80,000 kilometers to leave. Such a vehicle is only ecological if you drive it a lot for a long time. But driving around a lot just for that is nonsense, of course.
What about hydrogen?
There are electric vehicles that can be powered by electricity produced in a fuel cell using hydrogen. However, the generation and conversion process requires three times as much primary energy. And there are currently only two commercially available fuel cell vehicles on the market and no fueling infrastructure. I mean, the green hydrogen is far too valuable to burn on the street. We need hydrogen for steel and cement production, chemical products and for means of transport that cannot be powered by a battery, such as airplanes and shipping. Hydrogen energy makes sense because industrial processes can also be used to decarbonise the gas network.
And synthetic fuels?
Synthetic fuels can also be produced from hydrogen, which could be used in existing internal combustion engines. You are therefore our Minister of Transport's favorite child. Because you could leave the auto industry as it is. With all the gas stations, the infrastructure and so on. Politically this is wanted, but ecologically senseless, because the primary energy consumption is six times higher than that of an electric car. It will have to be used on planes and ships, it will never arrive in the car. No consumer will pay more for fuel if he can get cheaper electricity from the socket.
How does an electric car actually drive?
The driving experience is very pleasant, the acceleration is great. In addition, I only have to go to the workshop to change tires. And I always have a fully fueled vehicle in front of the door. The fun factor is great.
