Expert Interview on the 9 Biggest Myths of E-Mobility

In today's blog post, we invited and interviewed a true expert on the topic of e-mobility. The aim of this article is to clarify various myths surrounding electric mobility and to eliminate existing ignorance. If you are a Tesvolution customer, you have probably already opted for an electric car and are well-informed. With this blog post, you are now well-prepared for the next get-together with friends!

Our guest Christian Thelen is a DEKRA certified consultant for e-mobility and alternative powertrains. Mr. Thelen is a former training manager at BMW and VW. Currently, Mr. Thelen is a self-employed DEKRA certified e-mobility consultant at his company Electric Car Consulting - Thelen GmbH and has developed his own app "Full Juice" with his team. The app bundles and combines the necessary knowledge and competent advice on the topic of electric mobility. Further information about Mr. Thelen and his app can be found on the website (https://electriccarconsulting.de/).

Enjoy the interview!

"Car guy with gasoline and electricity in my blood, over thirty years in the automotive industry, DEKRA-certified consultant for e-mobility and alternative powertrains – through the app I developed or in personal exchange, I want to share my passion and experience with you."
Christian Thelen

By 2025, CO2 taxation on fossil fuels will increase by 10-12%. Nitrogen oxide (NOx) requirements for diesel are becoming increasingly difficult to meet. If emissions in inner cities remain at their current levels, an increase in diesel driving bans is to be expected. Furthermore, a significant tightening is expected from 2025 due to the Euro 7 standard. By then, it will become clear whether vehicles with fossil fuels can still meet or fall below these standards. All these factors, combined with rising fuel prices, will further drive e-mobility in the coming years.

This results in the manufacturers' current focus on the development of purely battery-electric vehicles. However, international pressure is the strongest driver of e-mobility. A number of foreign governments, such as the United Kingdom, have already decided to ban the sale of new internal combustion engine vehicles from 2030.

In the EU, from 2035 onwards, only new cars with internal combustion engines that are CO2 emission-free when driven will be permitted. Thus, the CO2 fleet target of 59 g/km by 2030 can only be achieved with a widespread introduction of resource-saving, low-emission powertrains.

The EU ban on internal combustion engines includes a loophole for synthetic fuels. Do you think these will play a relevant role after 2035?

According to my prognosis, the future for passenger cars lies in pure electric mobility.
In Germany, there are now over 58,000 charging points, and more are added daily. This is also due to the fact that all car manufacturers are now largely focusing on the production of electric cars. Manufacturers are currently and will soon be offering practical and affordable electric cars in all segments and for every budget.

As announced, we have read a lot in forums over the past few weeks and have also gathered different perspectives on electric mobility in our business environment. We have now summarized the 9 biggest myths. Let's get started:

#1: The electricity capacity will not be sufficient, and due to the current raw material and energy crisis, we will not have enough electricity for all electric cars across the board:

Currently, the electricity produced is sufficient for approximately 10 million electric cars, of which about 1 million are registered on the road. If, hypothetically, almost all 48.5 million cars were electric, electricity producers would have to produce about 20% more electricity than they do today. In addition, electricity equivalent to a net 7% of the total electricity produced is exported each year. I assume that the missing electricity amount of approximately 100 TWh can be fed into the grid by additional generators by 2030.

Of course, capacities must also be expanded in the distribution networks. This is not disputed. However, these are developments that energy suppliers consider and implement depending on the ramp-up. There is also still a lack of large-scale storage options to call up electricity when it is really needed.

This means that at the moment, there is indeed not enough electricity to power all registered cars electrically, but there WILL always be enough electricity for future electric car registrations.

#2: The manufacturing and production of batteries is environmentally damaging and socially incompatible:

Every raw material extraction is an intervention in nature. In electric vehicles, there are materials that are mined under conditions considered questionable by Western values. This includes, for example, cobalt. Cobalt is also found in all laptops and mobile phones, so the same problem has existed here for decades. Therefore, all manufacturers are constantly trying to reduce this proportion and redefine supply chains. At Tesla, for example, the current cobalt content of the battery is 2%. However, cobalt-free batteries are also increasingly being used, such as the LiFePo4 (lithium iron phosphate) battery.

Furthermore, the adopted Supply Chain Due Diligence Act of June 25, 2021, is also intended to further strengthen the sustainability idea. The primary goal of the law is the protection and observance of fundamental human rights standards. During and throughout the entire supply chain, no human rights may be violated. This law ensures that all materials for e-cars sold in Germany meet the relevant environmental standards and mining conditions.

The production of a lithium-ion battery for an electric car accounts for over 40 percent of the total CO2 emissions during vehicle production. This is mainly due to the complex and energy-intensive production of the cells for the drive battery. As long as electricity from fossil fuels such as hard coal, lignite, and natural gas is still used for this purpose, the production of an electric car generates more CO2 than vehicles with conventional powertrains.

The higher energy demand during the production of electric cars is then the so-called "CO2 backpack" in the vehicles' climate balance. Accordingly, electric cars can often only exploit their climate advantages over conventional powertrains after high mileage.

The higher the proportion of wind energy, photovoltaics, biomass, and hydropower in the electricity required to produce an electric car, the smaller the CO2 backpack.

Two more notes on the topic of recycling: Vehicle manufacturers invariably take back defective batteries. As a rule, they are reconditioned after use in the vehicle and continue to be used for many years in storage applications in what is known as "second life."

Furthermore, the raw materials used in the battery are only used, not consumed, during their lifetime. Since a battery is a closed system, the same raw materials are present at the end of its life as at the beginning. These components can already be technically recycled to 90-96%, with a realistic goal of 100% within this closed cycle.

#3: Batteries have high wear and tear and a short life cycle:

This problem occurred more frequently with the first electric vehicles. Meanwhile, the technology is so mature that a charging stability of about 2500 to 3000 charging cycles has been achieved. This means, depending on the size of the battery, a mileage of about 200,000 to 300,000 km before the battery has reached a residual capacity of at least 70-80%. On average, the residual capacity of Li-ion batteries (Tesla) after 240,000 km is about 92 percent. This means: You can continue driving the car without hesitation, but you have to live with a slightly reduced range. Currently, manufacturers' warranties are still behind the technical standard.

For example, Tesla currently offers a warranty of eight years or 192,000 km (whichever comes first) for the Model 3 (LR + Performance) and Model Y, as well as maintaining at least 70% of the battery capacity during the warranty period.

The pressure on the market is slowly increasing, as Toyota, for example, will soon guarantee one million km! So, EV batteries are lasting longer than expected.

#4: Charging an EV is very time-consuming compared to an internal combustion engine:

Charging takes longer than refueling, that's correct. But: Is that so important?

With an electric car, you don't have to stand next to it while it charges. You can do this perfectly overnight at home, at your employer's, while shopping, strolling around town, or during a cinema or theater visit. This also eliminates necessary detours to the petrol station in everyday life. Thus, the slogan of the well-known e-mobilist Ove Kröger still holds true: "When it's parked, it's charging!"

For longer distances (usually over 200-350 km), one or more charging stops must be planned. However, charging stops are also breaks that can be used, e.g., to go to the toilet, eat and drink a little something, check emails or messages, make calls, etc. If children and dogs are traveling with you, you should make breaks anyway. However, synchronizing necessary breaks for the kids and charging stops remains a challenge for all parents.

Almost all German highway rest stops and truck stops are now equipped with fast-charging stations, where a suitable electric car can be charged to at least 85-90% capacity within 20-45 minutes.

#5: The slow expansion of charging infrastructure in Germany is a major disadvantage:

There are regions where charging stations are still scarce. However, with the expansion of e-mobility, these "white spots" will gradually disappear. Public charging stations are generally only used when there is no other option or when it presents an opportunity. Many charging processes will take place overnight at home. Low charging capacities are sufficient there to gently recharge the car.

In single-family homes, the owner can usually have a charging station installed without permission. In multi-family homes with various owners, a legal amendment simplified the approval process, but the consent of the owners' association is still required.
Soon, parking spaces at commercial and retail businesses, as well as residential parking spaces, will also have to be partially equipped with charging stations. Current funding programs support this.

#6: The fire risk of electric cars is higher than that of internal combustion engines:

Experience also shows: No! But electric cars burn differently. Statistically, for every billion kilometers driven, about 90 internal combustion engines catch fire, but only between two and three electric cars. Even in the insurance industry, no increased risks are known. The probability of an electric car burning is therefore much smaller. However, handling electric car fires places different, sometimes new, demands on the fire brigade. For this purpose, emergency forces are trained, and suitable extinguishing agents are procured and stationed.

This is only partially true. This mainly concerns the purchase price. However, due to subsidies in Germany, many electric cars are already priced the same as an identically equipped petrol or diesel car. They are becoming increasingly cheaper because batteries are becoming more affordable. If you also consider the running costs, you will find that electric cars are much cheaper to operate: About 60% less maintenance, tax exemption, cheaper insurance, etc.

Special regulations apply to electric cars in many cities and municipalities. For example, in Munich, you can park publicly for free for 2 hours. In Dortmund, you can use the bus lane, etc. (as of July 2022).

#8: Operating the air conditioning leads to a reduced range:

Modern electric cars have an efficient heat pump on board. The air conditioning system only consumes a relatively large amount of power during the heating or cooling phase. After that, it needs about 0.75kW to 1kW per hour. This means that with one hour of air conditioning running, about 5-7 kilometers of range are lost. In an internal combustion engine, the air conditioning compressor also creates an additional load, which results in higher consumption.

#9: Electric cars are not automatically more efficient than internal combustion engines:

The calorific value of one liter of diesel fuel is approx. 9.6 kWh. However, only 2.5 kWh of this is used for propulsion, the rest is waste heat. This means that the efficiency of the internal combustion engine is just under 25%. This is the result of one hundred years of research and development. Due to the physical properties, a significantly higher efficiency is not possible with internal combustion engines. In comparison, electric motors achieve an efficiency of approx. 90%, meaning that 90% of the energy put in is directly converted into motion, the remaining part dissipating in friction and heat. Thus, electric cars have an efficiency three and a half times higher and are therefore more efficient and greener than conventional internal combustion engines.

Thank you, Mr. Thelen, for your time and the pleasant interview. We hope that you, too, were able to benefit from the expertise and learn a lot. For further and in-depth knowledge, we recommend Mr. Thelen's app "Full Juice".

Recommendation for information sources

Since the topic of e-mobility is often discussed one-sidedly or emotionally in the media, it is not easy to find relatively reliable sources of information. Unfortunately, a lot of opinion is used, but little qualitative and fact-based knowledge.

To help every interested person and beginner over the first hurdles, we can recommend Mr. Thelen's app, which brings all information to one place.
It is called FULL JUICE and is available in all stores:

IOS: Full Juice - in the App Store

Android: Full Juice – in the Google Play Store

To cover the development costs of the app, it costs 7.99 EUR. It has a database with all current electric cars. With an intelligent filter, you can also see which vehicles fit your requirements.