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Every stop along the way will be a mini electric car festival, Source: Pixabay

Electric car convoy is bringing e-mobility to small-town Austria

Electric car convoy is bringing e-mobility to small-town Austria

The silent fleet of 25 cars will pay a visit to 16 towns in Lower Austria

An electric car convoy started a tour of Lower Austria on Monday, 16 August, in the city of Hofstetten-Grünau and is set to finish on 3 September in Göttweig Abbey. The tour is organised by the non-profit organization Energie-und Umweltagentur Niederösterreich (Energy and Environment Agency - ENU) and consists of 25 electric cars that will make a stop in 16 towns in the state.

The point of the tour is to showcase different car models while answering any questions people might have on their specifics and promoting the increased usage of e-mobility.

The ENU is a large NGO dedicated to promoting climate-friendly infrastructure, e-mobility and awareness. They organise numerous events to help support and shape national goals and policies, as well as consumer behaviour, to further the green transition.

A silent fleet of electric cars – driving towards the future

Considering the legislative path the EU is heading towards, electric cars are set to be the future of roads. The silent battery-powered engines of tomorrow, however, are subject to a lot of scepticism.

This is why the e-car convoy will stop in 16 towns during its tour of Lower Austria. Every stop will be a mini electric vehicle festival, where visitors can test out the 25 models participating in the tour, as well as e-bikes and e-scooters. At the same time, trained experts will answer questions and help people discover the advantages of going electric.

Herbert Greisberger, managing director of the ENU tried to address the main criticism against e-mobility – the short range of the vehicles. He explained that in the past, manufacturers used to retrofit fossil fuel models with electric engines. However, now this is a new generation of vehicles with considerably better performance.

A thought experiment on incremental change

Currently, the production of electricity in Lower Austria can handle the massive uptick in electric vehicles, however, this will change as more and more people abandon fossil fuels. This warrants a gradual expansion of energy sources, especially renewables, to fuel the rising green transportation trend.

Herbert Greisberger offered a small thought experiment. He explained that if one million cars in Lower Austria would suddenly turn electric, the consumption of power would rise by 15% to 20%. This corresponds roughly to 330 wind turbines - which is about half of what the state currently has.

This is why power generation needs to follow the rising numbers of e-vehicles, otherwise, electricity providers could end up fuelling green transportation with heavy polluting sources to compensate for rising power demands.  

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