Plug and operate

E-cars are gaining in popularity. Although under controversial debate regarding their ecological footprint, they constitute a clear trend. All automobile manufacturers are now looking to electric current instead of fuel and the technology is subject to ongoing improvement. To do justice to this development and strengthen infrastructures for battery-driven vehicles, we have set up a large number of parking spots, each with their own charging station, for cars on our company premises in Tübingen.

Granted, E-cars are not completely emission-free; energy and raw materials are required to manufacture them and battery production is complex, but you do drive fuel-free and can opt for green electricity. On the path to a CO2-neutral future as strived for by Germany and many other countries, this constitutes a key milestone. Industry must do all it can to put infrastructures in place and create incentives for employees to take this route. “When acquaintances ask me how many charging points we have on company premises, they expect me to say ‘one or two,’ but I can answer: 40,” Christian O. Erbe reported this past September. In fact we have already installed 40 charging points, which our employees can use at any time to charge their own private vehicles inexpensively.

Our vehicle fleet already has quite a few fully-electric vehicles, among them several Volkswagen ID 3s and BMWs. But we also observe this trend among our employees. In the meantime you see several fully-electric Teslas, Volkswagens and Smarts in our parking lots.