Tesla driver enjoys trouble-free trip round Scandinavia

Diego Dudli of Hünenberg has just returned from a trip through Scandinavia and Finland in what he calls the best car he has ever had, a CHF 110,000 Tesla. On his return to Zug, it struck him how more needs to be done to encourage people to buy more electrically-powered vehicles such as these and make it easier for them to be recharged.
 
“My family and I spent three weeks driving through Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland, covering 6,150 kilometres,” said Dudli, as he added that never before had he felt so relaxed, safe and comfortable driving. “We covered between 400 and 600 kilometres a day, but, thanks to the Supercharge quick recharging system network set up by Tesla itself and widely available there, we encountered no problems at all. It only takes between half-an-hour to an hour to recharge the batteries and this was just fine to be able to take a break for a coffee.”
 
It all sounded idyllic, with these Nordic countries clearly more geared up for electric vehicles. But what is the situation in this regard in the canton of Zug? There there is no Supercharge network here, the nearest one being in Beckenried in the canton of Nidwalden, though there is one in Wallisellen, to the northeast of Zurich, too. In all, there are only seven public e-vehicle recharging stations registered in the canton of Zug.
 
It is as a result of this lack of places to recharge that Dudli has set up his own recharging station in the underground garage of his home, using 100% eco-electricity supplied by the Elektro Cooperative of Hünenberg. “If I did not have this source, it would not be so good. I could not continually keep going to the Zugerland or the WWZ or anywhere else and wait for hours until the car was recharged,” he said.
 
Dudli went on to say how he felt too few people in the canton had opted for e-vehicles, for which he felt the main reasons were a poor range of such vehicles on offer, lack of impetus on the part of the authorities to encourage citizens to drive such cars, and a poor infrastructure with regard to recharging. “What you need above all is a uniform, nationwide recharging network using the same plugs. Then access to recharging stations needs to be improved, too, without having to use these complicated RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) card systems provided by local suppliers. You need to be able to pay by credit card or app. Furthermore, to encourage more people to use these cars, I think recharging should be free until 2025.”
 
Actually it is possible to recharge e.vehicles free at Zugerland and at Amag, though it does cost CHF 2 each time you go to the new WWZ re-charging station in Baar, a fee brought in to discourage e-vehicle owners from using the space as a parking facility once they have been recharged.
 
It seems only a few drivers of e-vehicles have made use of this recharging facility there, though the WWZ has announced plans for seven further such stations to be set up by the end of this year.  Robert Watts, the head of communication at WWZ, said that the company was working intensively on the provision of more recharging facilities in private homes, through charge@home, and also on extending the public recharging network, to include a fast system.
 
“What is essential for purchasers of such vehicles is that they know where they can recharge them, especially in the area where they live. Even if the range of such vehicles is continually being extended, the certainty of knowing where you can recharge it in a simple way is a decisive factor in whether people opt to buy such cars,” he said.
 
Despite the lack of recharging facilities here, Dudli remains very much an e-vehicle enthusiast. “The environment benefits from less noise and a reduction of 7,200 kilogrammes of CO2 a year, with energy consumption far less than cars powered by petrol or diesel,” he said. He has worked out his average consumption is only 24.1 kilowatt hours per 100 kilometres, with annual fuel savings of more than CHF 4,000 possible, based on driving 25,000 kilometres a year. 
 
Out of interest, e-vehicles can be recharged on Bundesplatz and Zugerbergstrasse in Zug, at number 6 Poststrasse in Baar, at Amag at number 13 Alte Steinhauserstrasse and at the Tesla service point at number 12 Lorzenparkstrasse in Cham, at the Zugerland shopping centre in Steinhausen and at Garage Bircher at number 75 Zugerstrasse in Unterägeri.