By Gunnar Schupelius
In twelve years, only electric cars will be registered. But by then there will not be enough charging stations for a long time. Drivers have the problem, the government doesn’t seem to care, says Gunnar Schupelius.
It’s been talked about for a long time, now it’s getting concrete: On October 28th, the governments of the EU countries agreed in Brussels that from January 1st, 2035 only electric cars will be registered. Gasoline and diesel cars will then only be allowed to drive if they were registered before the deadline.
The heads of government of the EU countries still have to agree to this decision, they can also still reject it. But it doesn’t look like that, so far only Italy has rebelled.
January 1, 2035 is twelve years ahead of us, so not in the distant future when you consider how long it takes to set up an infrastructure in Berlin and that would first have to be set up for the widespread use of electric vehicles.
1.24 million passenger cars are registered in Berlin, of which more than 98 percent have petrol or diesel engines. On January 1, 2022, 16,700 electric cars were registered. The State Statistical Office does not have more recent figures. If you extrapolate the growth from the previous year, the number could amount to around 25,000 e-cars in Berlin by the end of the year.
If this increase were to continue, there would be perhaps 250,000 e-cars in 2035, after which a million would gradually be added. Can they all be charged from the mains? When asked, Olaf Weidner, spokesman for Stromnetz Berlin GmbH, responded very generally: “Current power flow calculations in representative network sections show that the Berlin power grid can meet the requirements of electromobility with up to 100% penetration.”
Is everything okay? It’s hard to believe, because the “Stromnetz Berlin GmbH” just warned that too many people turn on an electric heater in winter, then the lines would collapse. However, an e-car consumes significantly more electricity than a heating stove.
Assuming the power grid could supply 1.24 million cars and assuming that there was enough electrical energy that could be transported from the power grid to customers, the question would still remain as to where the cars should be charged.
According to the traffic administration, only “1,925 publicly accessible charging points” were in operation in Berlin this summer. By the end of the year, 80 will be added.
It’s going slowly. Everywhere there are problems with the approval, with subsidies, with the connection to the network, with the district offices. The Senate’s own public utility company, Berliner Stadtwerke, which took over the expansion of the charging points, had to cut back on the plans: Instead of 3,600 new power columns, only 1,800 are planned. In addition, two quick charging points “each with eight to twelve HPC charging points” are planned for each district.
At this rate, the target will not be reached in twelve years. Nevertheless, one wants to ban the burners. You bridle the horse by the tail. If drivers then fall off the back in 2035, the government doesn’t care.
Is Gunnar Schupelius right? Call: 030/2591 73153 or email: [email protected]