Two women from Zurich go on holiday to Greece with an electric car: “Our colleagues thought we were crazy”

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Turquoise blue sea, miles of sandy beaches, sunshine from morning to evening – the Greek islands are a dream destination for many holiday-hungry people. Also for Sibylle Hauser (57) from Niederweningen ZH. He loves the Aegean, the temperate climate, nature and people. There was one thing that always bothered the co-founder of solar manufacturer OptimaSolar: “Anyone who goes on holiday to Greece almost always arrives by plane. In terms of air conditioning, this is the worst case scenario; That’s why I wanted to look for an alternative to flying.”

He’s been flirting with an electric car for a long time. However, instead of buying a car for himself for the long trip, he wants to book a rental car first. “However, no provider allows travel to Greece.” So he’s eyeing the market for a new electric car. Criteria: Lots of space and bidirectional charging function. Your choice quickly falls on VW’s new electric Bulli ID. Buzz. “I saw it and was immediately surprised; love at first sight!”

Charging stations in Greece?

Hauser’s best colleague, architect Jacqueline Rondelli, 61, is also immediately excited about the road trip to the Greek island of Paros. Before we left, Jacqueline told me that she would never buy an electric car. But he still didn’t want to miss this adventure.” But they were met with skepticism in their circle of friends. “Most people thought we were crazy,” Sibylle Hauser recalls with a smile. “Some even doubted whether we could reach the sea. Others wanted to know if there were charging stations in Greece. Honest To be honest, we didn’t know exactly at the beginning.”

Hauser and Rondelli also take a relaxed approach when preparing for the adventure trip. «Until then I had almost no experience in electromobility. Before the trip, a colleague recommended me the Chargemap app, which calculates the route itself, including charging stops. He also gave me the charging cable that I could use at any regular outlet. And then it started.”

Vertical passage instead of straight tunnel

Her first aha moment came in Switzerland: “Jacqueline is a passionate driver but had never been behind the wheel of an electric car before. Accordingly, skepticism was also great. But by the time he was in Axenstrasse, his opinion had already changed 180 degrees; He was excited about the electric driving experience!” Instead of going through the Gotthard Tunnel to save battery life, the two then take the route over the pass.

There, in the famous Tremola, two women with the identity of their photographer friend Karin Heer are waiting. Buzz. «I really wanted to take beautiful photos from our trip. For our skeptical colleagues, we put together a few shots that look like we need to go up the mountain. “It should be some fun,” Hauser says and laughs.

Never worry about range over 2600 km

Then the adventure really begins. The route goes first from Ticino to Venice (I); here Hauser and Rondelli travel by ferry to Patras, more than 1,000 kilometers away. The route continues by land from the port city in the north of the Greek peninsula towards Athens, and then takes another ferry to the small island of Paros, south of Mykonos. In total, the two traveled 2,600 kilometers in ID. Return and spend 60 hours on ferries. Five of the 14 holiday days are spent on arrival and departure. “Of course we could have done it faster. But that was never the intention; higher speed means higher energy consumption. After all, we were in no rush.”

What you immediately notice: There is never a shortage of charging stations along the entire route. This offer is already very well developed, especially in northern Italy. It’s not that busy yet in Greece, but there are more and more charging stations there too. «Finding a charging station was never a problem. “Operating them in a way that could charge them with electricity was often a much bigger challenge,” Hauser says in retrospect. Fear of having an identity. He’d never get the chance to stop by Buzz, though. “There is electricity at every campsite and even every restaurant if necessary.”

But he doesn’t understand why almost every provider uses its own billing system, which can often only be run through a dedicated app. He started with a single application; There were five practices in Switzerland. “This is a real tragedy in times when everyone has a credit card. “I am also disappointed in the EU, which on the one hand has greatly encouraged the expansion of charging infrastructure, but on the other hand has failed to implement mundane things like a uniform billing system,” says Hauser angrily.

Transparency is also often left aside when it comes to prices: “Tariffs are different and confusing everywhere. If you do not have a special payment card from the provider for some columns, you sometimes pay double or triple the price. Why aren’t the prices clearly advertised like at every gas station and the same for everyone?”

Awareness about energy consumption

Otherwise, Hauser and Rondelli would have had almost exclusively positive experiences on their long-distance electric journeys. Whether it’s local restaurant guests revealing secret charging points to them, or hoteliers proudly announcing the construction of their own stations, “we’ve found pillars in places we least expect them, sometimes even by the sea.”

Moreover, with your ID. Buzz Hauser is extremely satisfied after the long journey: “Driving an electric car is really fun; There is so much power! “If we wanted to, we could easily leave the Greek scooter drivers behind at the traffic lights.” But the duo mostly avoided such acceleration sprees: “There is much more awareness of energy consumption in the electric car. And frequent, strong acceleration is toxic to range.” In some cases, they went without air conditioning or walked shorter distances instead of taking a car.

Not a gram of CO₂ is consumed

The gentle driving style pays off: e-mobilists use around 500 kilowatt hours (kWh) during the 2,600 kilometer journey. Measured in terms of energy content, this corresponds to approximately 60 liters of gasoline; This is equivalent to 2.3 l/100 km. And despite the sometimes horrendously high electricity charges, they only pay 284 francs for the entire route and haven’t emitted a single gram of CO₂ in the process. “The electrical energy we consume is returned to the grid as solar energy in a way that does not harm the climate. It is an ecological added value that has a high cost, but for which we are happy to pay.”

The conclusion of Sibylle Hauser and her colleague Jacqueline Rondelli after their long journey to the Greek island of Paros and Switzerland: “For us it was a real adventure in a positive sense and does not guarantee the last long-distance trip. ID. Buzz.” The two currently only recommend one thing to all electric car drivers planning a longer trip abroad: “A good smartphone with enough storage and a good internet connection!”

Source: Blick