{"id":91,"date":"2021-01-14T13:02:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-14T12:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/natixis-ezine.intercountry.com\/?p=91"},"modified":"2021-02-08T13:11:53","modified_gmt":"2021-02-08T12:11:53","slug":"teslas-are-finally-chasing-porsches-down-the-german-autobahn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/natixis.ezine.intercountry.com\/index.php\/2021\/01\/14\/teslas-are-finally-chasing-porsches-down-the-german-autobahn\/","title":{"rendered":"Teslas Are Finally Chasing Porsches Down the German Autobahn"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Read time : 4 mins <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Level : Intermediate<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

\"\" The most remarkable thing about Jana Hoeffner\u2019s 2,360 mile road trip from Stuttgart to Oslo and back was simply how unremarkable it was.<\/p>\n

In a black Tesla Model S sedan.<\/p>\n

Five years ago, making similar journeys across much of Germany in an electric Renault Zoe would have meant tiresome research to avoid running out of power, she says. These days, not so much. Or even at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t really involve much planning anymore,\u201d she says.
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\nHoeffner, 38, who\u2019s an online editor, is emblematic of a quiet revolution finally taking hold in Europe\u2019s biggest car market. Conventional wisdom<\/span> held that Germans, proudly sitting at the source of global automotive engineering prowess, would be among the last to trade in their Porsche 911s or Mercedes-Benz S-Class diesels for the limited autobahn range offered in an American-made electric Tesla.<\/p>\n

But powered by additional charging sites and improving products, Germany this year will become the world\u2019s third-largest market for plug-in hybrids and electric cars, surpassing longtime European leader Norway, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The downfall of diesel following Volkswagen AG\u2019s widespread<\/span><\/span> cheating on emissions and a mounting public backlash<\/span> against urban pollution are only adding momentum to the shift<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Underpinning it all is a charging network that\u2019s growing quickly to become five times more dense than what\u2019s offered on American roadways. The number of outlets<\/span> soared<\/span> by a third last year to 8,515, according to Statista. While that may not sound<\/span> like many, on average that\u2019s one every for every 16 square miles, in a nation that\u2019s larger than New Mexico but not quite the size of Montana.<\/p>\n

\u201cCharging on highways in Germany is very easy,\u201d said Munich resident Julia Peglow, who\u2019s taken her BMW i3 city car on a number of vacations. \u201cIt\u2019s trickier in the countryside, which needs some research in advance.\u201d<\/p>\n

A particular pet peeve for her is the fistful of customer cards needed to get juice from Germany\u2019s disjointed infrastructure. \u201cIt should be just as easy as paying for your fuel at a gas station,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Even carmakers\u2014who for years argued they built cars, not infrastructure\u2014are chipping in as part of their 40 billion-euro ($50 billion) splurge on electric technology budgeted for the next few years. Longtime rivals VW, BMW AG, Ford Motor Co. and Mercedes parent Daimler AG have come together and started construction of a fast-charging network along Europe\u2019s highways. The unprecedented alliance plans 100 stations by the end of this year before quadrupling the total by the end of the decade.<\/p>\n

The government has stepped up measures too, after disappointing<\/span> sales forced Chancellor Angela Merkel to backtrack from an earlier target<\/span> of putting one million electric vehicles on German roads by 2020. Since 2016, buyers of electric cars get a 4,000-euro rebate, while owners of plug-ins hybrids get a 3,000-euro subsidy. There\u2019s also a 300 million-euro budget to boost the build-out of charging infrastructure. Merkel, zeroing in on forming a government after last year’s election, is planning even more measures, including tax incentives.<\/p>\n

So the market is responding. Sales of plug-in hybrid and electric cars are set to jump 64 percent this year to 82,000 vehicles, BNEF forecasts<\/span>, making Germany the fastest-growing region among the top five markets. BNEF says that forecast<\/span> may be conservative, and deliveries could easily double again this year.<\/p>\n

Tesla Inc. is growing even more quickly in Germany than electric-car sales generally. Registrations gained 75 percent last year to 3,332 vehicles. That\u2019s approaching the 3,900 sales of the Porsche Panamera four-door, a close competitor to Tesla\u2019s Model S.<\/p>\n

Even after big gains, battery vehicles remain a tiny fraction of last year\u2019s German sales of more than 3.4 million new cars. But new models rapidly rolling out across showrooms nationwide could end electrics\u2019 bit-player status soon. Electric vehicles hitting showrooms this year include Jaguar\u2019s I-Pace crossover sport utility vehicle, as well as Audi\u2019s Q6 e-tron SUV. BMW is unveiling a battery-powered Mini next year, alongside Mercedes-Benz\u2019s SUV as part of its EQ brand. Diesel-stained Volkswagen will launch the fully<\/span>-electric I.D. Crozz compact crossover and the I.D. Neo hatchback in 2020.<\/p>\n

For now, plenty of\u2014sometimes petty\u2014struggles remain. Parking offenders, safe in the knowledge of lax enforcement, block inner-city charging spots, Hoeffner says. And Germany has work to do, too, to improve<\/span> patchy coverage. Saxony-Anhalt, one of the states of former<\/span> East Germany, counts just 55 stations, compared to some 870 in Bavaria, according to the Federal Grid<\/span> Agency.<\/p>\n

For the foreseeable future, perhaps the biggest drag on<\/span><\/span> electric car sales is, actually, drag. Because the driving range plunges as speed increases, electric cars will struggle<\/span><\/span> to keep the pace for long with a 911 on the famed autobahn, where some-two thirds of the roads have no speed limits.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s well known that at higher discharging rates, the performance of the battery decreases,\u201d BNEF analyst James Frith said.<\/p>\n

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BLOOMBERG<\/strong> by Elisabeth Behrmann<\/p>