There are a number of myths surrounding e-mobility.However, many of these are long outdated.We answer the most important questions in the FAQ about electric cars.(This article is also available in German)E-cars are no longer a novelty, but many details about them are no longer up-to-date.This may cause some insecurities.Our answers clarify the most important questions about e-mobility.What are the charging options?The emergency charger with Schuko plug supplied with each vehicle charges the vehicles at the usual socket.However, the socket and its wiring must be designed for such a permanent load, which should definitely be checked by an electrician beforehand.At the Schuko socket, the vehicles usually charge with 2.2 kilowatts, maximum with 3.6 kilowatts - a full charge takes several hours to more than a day with the current battery capacities.The somewhat better and faster alternative is charging with alternating current at a wall box.However, many vehicles can only charge with 7 or 11 kilowatts.For a surcharge you can get rectifiers that can absorb up to 23 kilowatts of alternating current (AC).AC charging also plays a role with free chargers or at holiday locations far away from the main roads.Charging with direct current (DC) is called fast charging.Because of the complex charging infrastructure, it only takes place at public charging stations.Here, too, the weakest link in the chain determines the maximum charging current: Some chargers only output 42 kilowatts via CCS (Combined Charging System), others up to 300. The vehicles also differ greatly in their power consumption.The starting point is usually 50 kilowatts.In principle, vehicles can also be charged three-phase at high-voltage connections.However, you then need a mobile wall box.Devices such as the go-eCharger or the juice box are supplied with many adapters so that you can tap into any power source on the go.How long does charging take?The charging time differs for each model as it depends on the capacity of the battery and the maximum current consumption of the vehicle when charging.In theory, the charging time can be easily calculated by dividing the battery capacity by the charging capacity: For example, if the car has a 50 kWh battery and charges with 100 kilowatts, a full charge takes 30 minutes.Calculated times should only be used as a guide, since the maximum loading speed is rarely reached.If the car is connected to an 11-kilowatt wall box, charging takes just under five hours.In the case of the example vehicle, it is almost 14 hours at a Schuko socket with 3.6 kilowatts.If you want to go fast, you have to use the public infrastructure of fast charging stations.They deliver a peak of 100 to 300 kilowatts and, depending on the vehicle and its battery size, can theoretically be fully charged in around 15 minutes.Since quick charging puts stress on the batteries and causes them to age more quickly, the car's electronics limit the charging current if necessary: ​​the maximum speed is only achieved when the battery is in the optimum temperature range of around 20 degrees Celsius and has a charge level of less than eighty percent.As a rough rule of thumb, current vehicles with temperature-controlled batteries charge to 80 percent in around 15 to 20 minutes at a fast charging station;for the remaining twenty percent you have to schedule around three quarters of an hour, because the charging electronics throttle the charging current to almost 100 percent in order to protect the battery.Can I drive abroad with an e-car without any worries?There are charging stations in every direction and most of the payment cards used in Germany work across Europe.Traveling on highways is not a problem in many countries because of the thin but even cover of fast charging stations.It is more important to find out about the situation at the holiday destination.If the nearest DC station is 100 kilometers away and there is no charging facility at the hotel, you have to rely on public (and slow, see above) AC chargers.If you want to go on holiday with an e-car, you should pay attention to the AC charging capacity of the car when buying it and pay attention to charging options at the destination when booking.What about the plug mess when charging?Fortunately, the charging chaos of the past is largely history.With the "Combined Charging Standard" (CCS), the DC charging variant has prevailed in Europe, which includes the AC part in the form of a type 2 plug.Either you charge AC with a type 2 plug like on the home wall box or a destination charger with a maximum of 22 kilowatts or with the CCS plug.The competitor standard CHAdeMO no longer plays a role in this country.Even the former CHAdeMO advocate Nissan switched from CHAdeMO to CCS for the current Ariya model.Thanks to the charging station ordinance, there is no chaos at public fast charging stations either: They are equipped with CCS and CHAdeMO for DC charging and type 2 for AC charging.What you should definitely pay attention to when buying, however, is the maximum AC charging speed on the type 2 plug.A number of manufacturers charge a surcharge for powerful converters.In the standard configuration, many cars only charge on AC type 2 with only 7 kilowatts.If there is an upgrade to 11 or even 22 kilowatts in the surcharge list, you should order the extra, because in rural areas and abroad you sometimes only find AC columns - there a faster converter in the vehicle makes a difference of several hours the loading time.Are the costs lower than with combustion engines?The e-car premium on purchase and the tax exemption are offset by higher acquisition costs overall.The question of "cheaper" driving is mainly decided at the charging station and at the foot on the gas or electric pedal.With internal combustion engines, the driving behavior is much less important than with an electric car because of the already inefficient technology.Combustion engines consume more fuel in built-up areas, even though you are driving at lower speeds.In the much more efficient e-car, consumption increases noticeably at higher speeds due to air resistance and falls just as noticeably if you use the accelerator and brake sparingly and do not max out the maximum speed on the motorway.Charged with electricity and driving sensibly, an e-car is cheaper to move than a combustion engine: If the vehicle consumes 20 kWh/100 km, for example, you pay seven euros for a journey of 100 kilometers at an electricity price of 35 cents per kilowatt hour.With a combustion engine with a consumption of 6 l/100 km, it is more than ten euros at current fuel prices.How long does the battery last?E-cars have now been on the market long enough for the first long-term experiences to be made: it has been shown that with models that are ten or more years old, it is usually not the battery that causes problems, but the usual car wear and tear such as rust or worn sockets and bearings on the chassis.Due to more complex temperature control of the batteries and improvements in the cell chemistry as well as hidden reserves, practically all manufacturers are now confident enough to guarantee a battery life of at least eight to ten years.Similar to batteries in mobile devices, reaching this threshold does not mean that the vehicle is then a case for the disposal company.Service life usually means the point in time at which the battery still has a remaining capacity of 70 to 80 percent of its original value.How quickly the battery ages is also largely determined by how you treat it: Frequent rapid charging, charging at very high or very low temperatures and charging or discharging below 20 or more than 80 percent of the capacity stresses the battery more and shortens its service life.If you always charge your vehicle slowly on a wall box and keep it within a window of 30 to 70 percent most of the time, you will probably only have lost around 10 percent of the original capacity after eight years.But that doesn't play a major role in everyday life: if you buy a vehicle with a large battery and a range of 400 kilometers today, you can still cover around 360 kilometers after ten years with good battery care - this loss can be almost completely offset by economical driving.That depends on three factors: the daily mileage, the battery capacity of the car and the average consumption.Since most people often significantly overestimate their daily mileage, they usually get by without a wall box.If you want to know more about it, you can answer the question mathematically.A sample calculation looks like this: The car consumes 18 kWh/100 km in summer and 26 kWh/100 km in winter.In order to always have enough juice in the battery even in the cold season, you take the maximum consumption for the calculation.If the vehicle is driven around 50 kilometers a day, the charging requirement is 13 kWh per day.If the car has ten hours to charge overnight, you can easily get the necessary power into the battery from a conventional Schuko socket with 2.2 kilowatts to a maximum of 3.6 kilowatts.Depending on the socket, recharging for the day's consumption takes between three and a half and six hours, which means there is still enough time left over if a longer tour has to be compensated for one night.Do e-cars drive like ordinary cars?Yes and no.In e-cars, the driving behavior from the interaction of gas, brake and steering is even more dependent on the software than in combustion vehicles.The electric motor brakes the rolling vehicle and returns energy to the battery as soon as you take your foot off the pedal (recuperation).The engine brake is therefore stronger than with the combustion engine.However, this can certainly be simulated using software - and many manufacturers do this to make it easier for customers to switch from combustion engines to electric cars.Most vehicles therefore have at least one driving mode up their sleeve that is based on the behavior of the combustion engine.If you take your foot off the gas while the vehicle is rolling, the electric motor remains energized in order to simulate the rolling behavior of the combustion engine.Other driving modes recuperate more, some manufacturers allow recuperation to be adjusted by rocking the steering wheel.The maximum "electric" driving mode is the "One-Pedal Drive".This means that the vehicle comes to a complete standstill when you take your foot off the accelerator, so that you only need to use the brake pedal in emergency situations.As far as driving dynamics are concerned, the cars feel more solid on the road than comparable combustion engines due to their higher weight and the low center of gravity of the battery pack.The smaller the vehicle, the greater the differences.A battery-electric Fiat 500 proved to be significantly more flexible in terms of driving characteristics than the model with combustion technology.Another special feature is the changed starting behavior.Since most models get by with only one gear due to the high maximum speed of the engine, they can accelerate out of the transmission without a pause for thought.This cable winch effect increases driving pleasure even with moderately motorized e-cars and means that combustion engine technology is no longer missed.When it comes to refueling, there are often changes in behavior over the useful life of an e-vehicle.While the rhythm with a combustion engine is more defined by filling up and driving empty, regular use of an e-vehicle results in changed refueling behavior with a large number of possible charging points: 30 minutes free of charge in front of the discounter, 2 hours at your favorite Italian on the (usually only) free E -Parking space in the city center or a few hours under the PV system at your home carport.After about a year, there is an inner map with possible charging points and the vehicle's battery is rarely completely full or completely empty.So far, no serious statistics can be found that prove this.With regard to vehicle fires, the opposite seems to be the case: According to the German Insurance Association, there are 15,000 fire damages to vehicles of all drive types in Germany every year - most of them are comparatively harmless cable smolders.In the media, however, such everyday fires are hardly reported.A Tesla burning down an underground car park is just more exciting than a burning Corsa with a burst fuel line on the side of the road.The bad reputation of e-cars is therefore probably also due to a certain media distortion.In the case of serious car accidents, the risk of fire is likely to be even higher for petrol engines: petrol is highly flammable and its volatile vapors are explosive.Should there be a leak somewhere in the fuel lines due to the force of an impact, the heat present at the brakes or the exhaust system is sometimes enough to trigger a deflagration and subsequent fire.But that doesn't mean that rechargeable batteries are generally less dangerous.They usually ignite due to internal short circuits.This can happen if the charge control is defective or if it is damaged after an accident.In order to minimize the latter, the cells are well protected in very stable and waterproof housings.However, should a battery fire occur, the housing is a hindrance, as it hardly allows extinguishing water to reach the source of the fire.And unlike petrol, batteries are harder to extinguish.At high temperatures, the electrolytes vaporize and form highly combustible gases.The bigger problem, however, is that the metal oxides of the battery cells give off oxygen at high temperatures, which then feeds the flames.Traditional extinguishing – i.e. removing the oxygen from the fire with water or foam – then has hardly any effect, because the battery supplies the fire with oxygen itself.In the past, such extreme fires have led to reports of firefighters having to sink the burning car in a water tank.In c't 18/2022 we bring Windows and Linux together and explain how you can use both systems hand in hand on one computer.We also focus on used hardware, because it's as easy on the wallet as it is on the environment - 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