The first combustion engine cars in our company fleet were replaced with fully electric vehicles back in 2019. Prior to this, some colleagues had had positive experiences with plug-in hybrids, so the clear goal of only using electric vehicles as company vehicles was set at this point. Currently, 75% of the fleet is already electrified – the remaining quarter are plug-in hybrids. As early as next year, no car registered with PAPUREX will have a combustion engine. This is reason enough to draw an interim conclusion on the subject of e-mobility at PAPUREX.
For this purpose, three colleagues were asked questions about their everyday lives with electric cars, as well as points that are viewed critically by the public, such as range anxiety or charging infrastructure. When selecting the interviewees, the aim was to present as colorful a picture of driving behavior as possible. Gabi, our colleague from the purchasing department, is a classic short-distance driver who has been driving electric for five and a half years and is currently driving a Renault Zoe. In everyday life, “short-distance driver” also applies to Mark, our sales manager, who has been driving electrically for a year. However, he also occasionally takes very long vacation trips in his Škoda Enyaq. Uwe, the workshop manager at PAPUREX, on the other hand, already covers around 90 kilometers a day on his way to work. He has also been driving a Škoda Enyaq since March 2023.
The following interview was recorded and then transcribed. For better readability, the spoken text was slightly adapted without changing the content. You can find the video with the interviewees’ original answers on YouTube:
Question 1: What was your longest ride so far?
Gabi: “My longest journey was to Darmstadt and back.” (That’s about 60 kilometers)
Mark: “That was this year’s vacation trip, from Germany to Croatia. I drove a total of around 3,100 kilometers during this vacation trip.”
Uwe: “That was to Berlin and Hamburg. They were both just under 700 kilometers.”
Question 2: Did you have to change your driving behavior by switching to an e-car?
Gabi: “No, I didn’t have to change my driving behavior at all.”
Mark: “Yes, a little. Especially when it comes to driving on the highway. You have to pay a bit of attention to how fast you’re going because at higher speeds, i.e. over 130 km/h, the range really drops. You should pay a little attention to that.”
Uwe: “Not the driving behavior in that sense, but you have what I call more planned breaks.”
Question 3: What are your experiences with the charging infrastructure?
Gabi: “I can’t really answer that because I charge at home or here at the company.”
Mark: “Good across the board. Especially in Germany, there shouldn’t be any problems at all, there’s always a suitable charging point here. But our experiences during the vacation trip have shown that the charging infrastructure is also very well developed abroad and that something is being done for the future there too. So it all fits.”
Uwe: “Good so far” (Uwe is more a man of action than words)
Question 4: Do you have range anxiety?
Gabi: “No, I don’t have that. I don’t think you need to have it either.”
Mark: “No, not anymore. I was a bit skeptical at first, of course. But now I think there’s no problem at all with the range. You should take frequent breaks on longer journeys anyway and you can combine that with charging. So that also works very well.”
Uwe: “On the first longer trip, when you didn’t really know how it worked, yes. Not since then.”
Question 5: Would you like to switch back to a combustion engine?
Gabi: “No, definitely not.”
Mark: “No, I wouldn’t. In the beginning, as I said, it was a changeover, a new technology, from a combustion engine to an electric car, but now I have to say quite clearly that I wouldn’t want to switch back.”
Uwe: “No.”
Question 6: Would you recommend a friend to drive an electric car?
Gabi: “Yes, I would recommend it, but it’s hard to convince people.”
Mark: “It all depends on what options the friend has for charging the electric car. For example, if he has a photovoltaic system on the roof and a wall box installed, then yes, definitely. Of course, if he has to drive for miles to the nearest charging station to charge the car overnight, that’s a bit more difficult.”
Uwe: “Definitely, if he has the option of charging the car at home, or if, like me, he has the advantage of being able to charge his car at work, then definitely.”