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Porsche unveils electric roadster

Luxury carmaker Porsche has introduced an electric version of its Boxster roadster as part of an e-mobility pilot programme in the southwestern German city of Stuttgart.

Published: 11 February 2011 10:05 CET
Porsche unveils electric roadster
Photo: DPA

The three fully electric prototypes of the small sports car are intended to be “rolling laboratories” that will help engineers gauge the practicality of electric vehicles’ everyday use.

“Electric mobility will be one of Porsche’s central challenges in the coming years, and our engineers are ready to meet the challenge with their usual high standards,” said Porsche boss Matthias Müller in a statement released on Thursday.

The e-Boxsters are part of a larger scheme to maximize electric cars in Stuttgart and the surrounding state of Baden-Württemberg.

Scientists will also use the cars to learn about the infrastructure needed to support electric mobility on a mass scale, Müller said.

Stefan Mappus, the premier of Baden-Württemberg, added that the Porsche pilot project is an important one in a state known for automotive prowess.

“Together with the auto industry, we want to further develop methods of sustainable mobility in Stuttgart and surrounding regions,” he said. “Porsche is an important partner in this endeavour.”

Stuttgart is one of eight “model regions” of electric mobility in Germany, where projects for electric vehicles and infrastructure are being tested through mid-2011.

The Federal Ministry of Transportation has committed about €130 million total for the eight regions to research electric mobility.

Transportation Minister Peter Ramsauer praised the progress Porsche has made.

“We need marketable products that excite the consumer and win him over with their functionality,” he said. “That is why we support research into electric vehicles’ everyday use.”

The Porsche Boxster roadsters each have two electric motors with a combined 240 horsepower, and are intended to perform at a level similar to Porsche’s traditional internal-combustion engines. The electronic components used in the cars were manufactured by Volkswagen, which recent took over the sports carmaker.

While BMW, Mercedes, VW and Audi already offer several electric hybrid models, Porsche currently has only one consumer vehicle, the sports-utility Cayenne, available in hybrid form.

The Local/adn

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CARS

From lizards to water, eco-bumps snag Tesla’s giant Berlin car factory

In the green forest outside Berlin, a David and Goliath-style battle is playing out between electric carmaker Tesla and environmental campaigners who want to stop its planned "gigafactory".

Published: 18 April 2021 15:11 CEST
From lizards to water, eco-bumps snag Tesla's giant Berlin car factory
Tesla's gigafactory outside the doors of Berlin. dpa-Zentralbild | Patrick Pleul

“When I saw on TV that the Tesla factory was going to be built here, I couldn’t believe it,” said Steffen Schorch, driving his trusty German-made car.

The 60-year-old from Erkner village in the Berlin commuter belt has become one of the faces of the fight against the US auto giant’s first European factory, due to open in the Brandenburg region near Berlin in July.

“Tesla needs far too much water, and the region does not have this water,” said the environmental activist, a local representative of the Nabu ecologist campaign group.

Announced in November 2019, Tesla’s gigafactory project was warmly welcomed as an endorsement of the “Made in Germany” quality mark – but was immediately met with opposition from local residents.

Demonstrations, legal action, open letters – residents have done everything in their power to delay the project, supported by powerful
environmental campaign groups Nabu and Gruene Liga.

Tesla was forced to temporarily suspend forest clearing last year after campaigners won an injunction over threats to the habitats of resident lizards and snakes during their winter slumber.

READ MORE: Is Germany’s Volkswagen becoming ‘the new Tesla’ as it ramps up e-vehicle production?

And now they have focused their attention on water consumption – which could reach up to 3.6 million cubic metres a year, or around 30 percent of the region’s available supply, according to the ZDF public broadcaster.

The extra demand could place a huge burden on a region already affected by water shortages and hit by summer droughts for the past three years.

Local residents and environmentalists are also concerned about the impact on the wetlands, an important source of biodiversity in the region.

Tesla Street

“The water situation is bad, and will get worse,” Heiko Baschin, a spokesman for the neighbourhood association IG Freienbrink, told AFP.

Brandenburg’s environment minister Axel Vogel sought to play down the issue, saying in March that “capacity has not been exceeded for now”.

But the authorities admit that “the impact of droughts is significant” and have set up a working group to examine the issue in the long term.

The gigafactory is set to sprawl over 300 hectares – equivalent to approximately 560 football fields – southwest of the German capital.

Tesla is aiming to produce 500,000 electric vehicles a year at the plant, which will also be home to “the largest battery factory in the world”,
according to group boss Elon Musk.

In a little over a year and a half, swathes of coniferous forest have already been cleared to make way for vast concrete rectangles on a red earth base, accessed via the already iconic Tesla Strasse (Tesla Street).

German bureaucracy

The new site still has only provisional construction permits, but Tesla has been authorised by local officials to begin work at its own risk.

Final approval depends on an assessment of the project’s environmental impact – including the issue of water.

In theory, if approval is not granted, Tesla will have to dismantle the entire complex at its own expense.

But “pressure is being exerted (on the regulatory authorities), linked to Tesla’s significant investment”, Gruene Liga’s Michael Greschow told AFP.

In early April, Tesla said it was “irritated” by the slow pace of German bureaucracy, calling for exceptions to the rules for projects that help the environment.

Economy Minister Peter Altmaier agreed in April that his government “had not done enough” to reduce bureaucracy, lauding the gigafactory as a “very important project”.

Despite Germany’s reputation for efficiency, major infrastructure projects are often held up by bureaucracy criticised as excessive by the business community.

Among the most embarrassing examples are Berlin’s new airport which opened last October after an eight-year delay and Stuttgart’s new train station, which has been under construction since 2010.

Brandenburg’s economy minister, Joerg Steinbach, raised the possibility in February that the Tesla factory could be delayed beyond its July planned opening for the same reason.

SEE ALSO: Tesla advertises over 300 jobs for new Gigafactory near Berlin

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