Motivated by the promise of the next white scoop of sweat cheese and still surprisingly hot coffee from the thermos, your parents set out in the middle of the night to preferably drive to the south of France in one line. The next generation of kids will have a different summer vacation memory—perhaps one with escargot instead of raisin buns with margarine.
According to Laurent Barria, Marketing and Communications Director at Citroën, “millions and millions and millions of dollars” need to be invested in charging stations across Europe. And even then we have to adapt the way we go on holiday by car. In one line to the holiday destination, that is no longer possible due to crowds at the charging stations.
During the launch of the new Citroën Oli, Barria says: ‘Imagine 24 or 25 July. The whole of the Netherlands on holiday to Portugal, Spain or the south of France. Everyone takes the same highway. How do you charge the car in July and August? That’s almost impossible.’ Not only does a pole have to be free, but if everyone charges at the same time, the charging speed goes down.
Moreover, there will never be enough poles put down to withstand the holiday crowds. ‘You will never have 100 fast chargers next to your Total or BP gas station along the highway. From an economic point of view, that is never profitable. You might have 30 or 40.” Due to long waiting times, you will not be able to drive to your destination in one go.
The journey will be twice as long
That’s why we have to plan longer journeys, with nicer stops, says Barria: ‘What we have to change is that it is no longer a 24-hour journey, but a 48-hour trip. You are forced – or no, let’s be optimistic – you have the opportunity to visit some cities on the way to Spain.’
“You might stop in Paris in the morning and charge the car there. Then you stop again in the south of France, and so on’, Barria gives as examples of future stops along the way. In the future, it will therefore increasingly be about the journey in addition to the final destination.
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