E-Mobility in Bonn Obstacles for e-car drivers in Bonn

Bonn · Drivers of electric cars encounter obstacles when charging their vehicles in Bonn. Sometimes the charging spaces are occupied by petrol driven cars, sometimes the street connection is not suitable for charging.

 Two places for charging electric cars can be found at the charging station at Quirinusplatz, for example.

Two places for charging electric cars can be found at the charging station at Quirinusplatz, for example.

Foto: Benjamin Westhoff

The city of Bonn wants to become sustainable, the youth of the federal city protests at Fridays For Future and some Bonners have exchanged their petrol or diesel ones for an electric vehicle. But the latter are slowed down in many places in Bonn.

Among them is Klaus Souren. He bought himself a plug-in hybrid car at the end of September - so you can drive the vehicle with an electric drive or as a gasoline engine. A practical mixture, as Souren finds. "Driving this car is very pleasant. Of course we try to drive purely electric as long as possible," Souren told the GA. He sees the fuel tank more as a reserve. Since Klaus Souren lives in Dottendorf, he has three charging stations in his immediate vicinity that he can use. One is in Friesdorf, one in Kessenich and another in Dottendorf. But he cannot use the latter.

The charging station, which the Stadtwerke Bonn has erected there, is located directly on a parking lot on Quirinusplatz. But the parking lot in front of the column is not reserved for electric cars. "Everybody parks there, so e-car owners can't charge their vehicles," says Souren. So far he has not managed to charge his vehicle there. "If nothing is done, the municipal utility's investment was in vain. That would actually be a great pity and would damage alternative e-mobility," Souren says.

Markus Schmitz from the municipal press office explains that the situation at Quirinusplatz should not be permanent. "The city had already ordered signs to this effect in August. Unfortunately, these could not yet be installed because the contracting company is currently experiencing delivery problems," says Schmitz. This is because it is normally the case that in the vicinity of an e-charging station a corresponding number of parking spaces are reserved for vehicles with an e-registration plate. Other cars may then not be parked there.

According to the city administration, a parking offender must expect a warning fine of ten euros on a parking lot for e-vehicles. "If the driver obstructs others, for example an E-car driver, who would like to charge his vehicle, the warning fine amounts to 15 Euro, explained Markus Schmitz.

The warning fine then increases accordingly with the duration of the parking. After three hours, 20 euros are due, and e-car owners have to pay 30 Euro. "If the charging station cannot be used by the e-automobile driver and there is no free charging station in the vicinity, the parking offender must expect his car to be towed away. Then towing costs, parking tickets and administrative fees can quickly cost him up to 250 Euro," says Schmitz.

Currently, Stadtwerke Bonn offers 58 public and 137 commercial charging points, 47 of which SWB has newly installed this year. New additions include charging points in the Nordstadt (Vorgebirgsstraße), in Endenich (Magdalenenplatz), in Dottendorf (Quirinusplatz) and also in Bad Godesberg (Koblenzer Straße), as the deputy SWB spokesman Michael Henseler explained. More than 100,000 kilowatt hours of BonnNatur electricity had been purchased this year by October from SWB Energie und Wasser's public and commercial charging stations.

Henseler announced that Stadtwerke intends to operate more than 100 public charging points by the end of 2020. In the summer, however, SWB informed the GA that it wanted to operate 100 charging points by the end of 2019. It is certain, however, that by the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020 three so-called DC fast charging stations, each with a capacity of 150 kilowatts, will be built in the Bonn city area. "Compatible vehicles can thus be fully recharged in less than half an hour," says Henseler.

Charging at one of the Stadtwerke's charging stations costs 0.59 euros per start and 0.39 euros per charged kWh of energy, according to SWB. "The cost of fully charging the battery therefore depends on the battery capacity of the vehicle. A full charge of the eGolf (35 kWh), for example, costs 14.24 Euro," explained Henseler.

However, not only can charging at a charging station can be problematic for e-car owners, but also charging at home. According to experts, this is not advisable, not only because charging takes a long time, but also because it is dangerous. "In principle, charging electric vehicles at a household socket is not recommended due to the high thermal load in the cables, as there is a fire hazard," said Henseler. The municipal utilities therefore offer a so-called wallbox, which is equipped with residual current and surge protection. But this sounds simpler than expected. Because it must be ascertained first whether the domestic power grid is at all designed for charging electric vehicles. "With Wallboxes largely 3.7 kilowatts must be required in principle. With the network carrier BonnNet there must be a request whether the supply available at the house connection is sufficient for the installation of the Wallbox , explained Michael Henseler.

The installation becomes problematic with Wohnungseigentümergemeinschaft - there each individual party must agree, if a high performance loading station is to be installed. In the case of tenancies, the owner must grant permission. If the basic requirements are not met, construction work and various tests could follow.

(Original text: Maximilian Mühlens; Translation: Mareike Graepel)

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