THE boss of a major car brand has admitted that there is a “huge issue” with electric cars – and it won’t be fixed anytime soon.
Frank van Meel, CEO of BMW’s high-performance arm BMW M, said that delays to infrastructure development would leave drivers having to deal with the problem for years.
GettyBMW M boss Frank van Meel admitted that EVs will remain exceptionally heavy for the foreseeable future[/caption]
Speaking at the launch of the new BMW i5 in Lisbon, Portugal, Frank said that a lack of charging points would mean that EVs would remain much heavier than traditional cars for the foreseeable future.
The demand for greater range coupled with a shortage of chargers means that the cars have to come equipped with much larger batteries, adding plenty of heft.
Frank said: “Now you see the tendency to go to bigger [with] batteries.
“Of course, then you can take another 100 or 200kg out of the car [with smaller batteries] but the customer is not happy [due to long charging times].
“In some countries, it’s getting better, but overall, worldwide, it’s still a big issue.”
He concluded that this meant motorists would have to deal with the significant extra weight for at least “the next five to ten years.”
Given that the UK Government is banning sales of new petrol and diesel cars across the nation in just seven years, this could see heavier EVs on our roads for some time.
Some experts have even suggested that this could worsen Britain’s pothole pandemic as weighty motors put extra stress on the tarmac.
According to a report in The Telegraph, the average EV puts more than double the strain on the road surface compared to a petrol equivalent.
Likewise, the picture for charging stations looks bleak, as The Sun Online gave readers a look inside the current fiasco that has seen hours-long queues form for single chargers and dozens taped off due to power issues.
One driver told of how he had bought an EV to save the environment, but was left feeling “stitched up” by astronomical energy prices.
And the problem is even worse in rural areas, where millions have been left fighting over fewer than 6,000 chargers.
Thousands of motorists have already backed The Sun’s Give Us A Brake campaign, calling on ministers to push the ban back until the necessary infrastructure is in place.
However, ministers appear determined to forge ahead, with Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove describing the 2030 cut-off date as “immovable“.
It comes after one EV owner explained why it is a “nightmare” to drive one unless you can afford a luxury Tesla model.
Meanwhile, a popular EV was discontinued this year as consumers are increasingly put off by mounting issues with electric power.