Wheelchair users fail at e-charging stations: Ralph Seifert calls for accessibility
Created: 12/19/2022, 06:30 am
By: Christiane Mühlbauer
The e-charging station at the Tölz district office, for example, is not barrier-free.
Ralph Seifert cannot cross the two thresholds in his wheelchair.
© Proehl
There will be no way around electric cars in the future.
However, the charging stations are rarely barrier-free.
Ralph Seifert, the district's Disability Officer, draws attention to this.
Charging an electric car is often not possible for wheelchair users.
Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen – From 2030 only electric cars will be sold in Europe.
This requires an infrastructure with e-charging stations that can also be used by people with disabilities.
However, this is almost impossible in the district at the moment.
This problem is currently at the heart of Ralph Seifert, the district's Disability Officer.
In order to demonstrate the challenges that wheelchair users face, he invites our newspaper to the public e-charging station in the parking lot at the Tölz district office.
He would have to overcome two thresholds to get to the charging station.
He couldn't do it without outside help.
Most of the other e-charging stations in the district are no better either, says Seifert, and cites the charging station in the parking lot opposite the Tölzer Gymnasium and the one at the Sparkasse in his hometown of Benediktbeuern as further negative examples.
He praises the charging station of the Tölzer Stadtwerke on the Osterleite and at the Rinner car dealership – he could operate these.
"But overall, around 70 percent of the e-charging stations in the district are unfortunately not barrier-free,"
Good initiative from the district of Miesbach
Seifert does not yet drive an electric car.
But he knows that one day it will come.
Not only wheelchair users like him, but also walker users and people of short stature will be dependent on e-charging stations in everyday life in the future.
Seifert refers to an initiative from the district of Miesbach, which has already received a positive response there.
It was initiated by Anton Grafwallner, the former district commissioner for the disabled and, like Seifert, also a wheelchair user.
A few months ago, Grafwallner wrote a letter that was not only sent to Miesbach district and local politicians, but also to the state and federal government.
Grafwallner accused those responsible of "thoughtlessness in project planning, approval and financing".
At the same time, he submitted constructive proposals for a solution.
"The charging stations are often placed on a base or in the middle of nowhere, and sockets and card readers are mounted at a height of 1.20 to 1.30 meters," criticized Grafwallner.
So that wheelchair users are not excluded, all future e-charging stations should have a parking space width of 3.50 meters, the sockets and card readers should be installed at a height of around 85 centimeters and be accessible from three sides, without thresholds and tripping hazards.
“Then you don’t need a label for wheelchair-accessible e-charging stations.
That is real inclusion,” says Grafwallner.
The same applies to the planning of new hydrogen filling stations.
The Gmunder received an immediate reaction from the state government: it will be taken into account in the next funding program.
Grafwallner was very happy about that.
Seifert: "Topic met with great understanding"
Ralph Seifert also notes that there is a lot of understanding in the district on this subject.
In the meantime, he was informed by the district office that the second e-charging station would be built without a step or platform.
That pleases Seifert.
“That is commendable.
But it would be nice if we could think about it from the start.”
You can find more current news from the region around Bad Tölz at Merkur.de/Bad Tölz.
