Berlin’s Senator for the Environment and Transport, Regine Günther, expects a breakthrough for electric cars in the capital and in Germany as a whole soon. “We are at the beginning of an exponential growth phase,” said the Green politician of the German press agency. You see the breakthrough “already coming very clearly”.

Charging infrastructure is growing too slowly “The share of e-cars is currently increasing very sharply”, explained Günther: “In the year 2017 in Berlin only barely 0.8 percent of the newly registered cars have a purely electric drive, in 2017 it was 1.4 percent, 2019 already three percent, and 2020 more than six percent are achieved. ” Nationwide, the number of registrations is increasing significantly, albeit at a very low level – e-cars 2019 had a share of 1.8 percent in new registrations.

At the same time, Günther pointed out factors that are still holding back development. The expansion of the charging infrastructure is progressing too slowly. “In Berlin we are currently still in a good position when it comes to the ratio of charging stations to e-cars. But even here, there are too few charging stations if the number of e-cars continues to skyrocket. Models between small cars and SUVs are missing One of the most important issues of the near The future is therefore to create the infrastructure that enables a significant acceleration. In the meantime there are almost 1400 public charging points that are accessible to all in Berlin. “Berlin is currently leading in comparison to all other German cities.” Until 2022 there would be around 1000 lantern charging points.

Günther sees the second braking factor for e-mobility in the initially more manageable range of vehicles. “There are still too few electric vehicle models that serve the classic segment of mid-range cars with a reasonable range,” she said. “Too often, e-cars are either small cars or sedans or SUVs of the same size.”

It is also important for a broad acceptance to make the batteries more efficient to increase the ranges. “For many, an electric car only comes with an electrical range between 400 and 500 km into consideration. And unfortunately that is hardly any different in big cities. ”

Hybrid vehicles one “Climate-damaging sham package” Nevertheless, Günther’s advice to people planning to buy a car is clear: “If a car is needed, it should be an electric car.” For them, petrol or diesel cars are “relics from the last century”. “They are dirty, loud and harmful to the climate,” said the Green politician.

“I also advise against buying so-called hybrid vehicles. The electric range is often very short, often only to 40 kilometers – and the rest of the time you drive with fossil combustion technology, which is very harmful to the climate. ” In addition, such vehicles in combustion mode often 12 or 13 liters of gasoline swallowed. “All in all, this is a climate-damaging sham package”, says Günther.

“With the BVG buses, we have already successfully started the complete conversion to electromobility “she added. “It should be completed 2030.” At the end of the year the transport companies in Berlin already had 90 electric buses, of which 17 E-articulated buses. More 90 would come by the end 2022. In the new transport contract, the expansion of the charging infrastructure at the depots is agreed and further 140 e-buses are financed.

(tiw)