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110
French newspaper : Many Germans have a deep relationship with combustion cars. For them, buying a quiet electric car is emotionally hard to accept. (www.lemonde.fr)
submitted 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) by Kastael@lemmy.world to c/europe@feddit.org
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[–] rekabis@lemmy.ca 4 points 47 minutes ago (1 children)

I don’t know how valid it is these days, but when I was last in Germany in 1989, I asked my much older cousin about automatic vehicles.

Conceptually he knew what they were and that Americans drove them, but aside from large commercial vehicles - and it was rare at the time even there - he had never come across a consumer vehicle with an automatic transmission in his life. Like, everything at the time was stick and three pedals on the floor. Everything. If you wanted an automatic it had to be special-ordered and shipped in at significant expense from America or something like that

[–] hector@lemmy.today 1 points 8 minutes ago

Automatics used to be less efficient, they have since reached parity, long since.

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 hour ago

German newspaper: french eat frog.

[–] ClassifiedPancake@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

I hear more and more people in Germany saying „my next car is going to be electric“ and sales are ramping up. This starts now that the tabloid media reduced their anti-propaganda and it’s generally not a big topic anymore. People don’t feel pushed anymore and can form their own opinion by seeing others live a normal life with electric cars.

[–] nikalrest@feddit.org 3 points 1 hour ago

They have a deep relationship with trains too, but things are getting worse every year..

[–] gabelstapler@feddit.org 14 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

I doubt this is a majority speaking. A few people may be petrol heads and love the roaring sound of a v engine (or an underpowered r4 with a loud exhaust). Most Germans drive standard cars, where the manufacturer is trying to make the engine as writer and smooth as possible. Their real fear is that their electric car won't take them the 1500km to their holiday destination, without any stops, with a caravan in tow, which they will do once per year.

[–] Melchior@feddit.org 3 points 3 hours ago

Their real fear is that their electric car won’t take them the 1500km to their holiday destination, without any stops, with a caravan in tow, which they will do once per year.

And they can do that with fast charging and there are enough fast chargers. This fear is going to go away, as friends and family members buy EVs. The sales numbers are pretty good and prices for EVs are falling, so this is probably going to happen in a lot of cases. Especially with "cheap" German branded EVs like the VW ID.Polo and new subsidies. Germany is past the early adopter phase for EVs and in the early mass market phase already.

[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 5 points 4 hours ago

If you have difficulty letting go of your emotional attachment to vroom vroom, then you need to seek help

Hell,neven electrical cars are bad, they won't be THE solution, but try explaining that to car brains

[–] Melchior@feddit.org 16 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

BEV sales in France are 20% of cars sold and in Germany it is 19.1% in 2025. So it is pretty similar, but Germany has had much faster growth recently, so it is very possible that this is going to change this year.

[–] CosmoNova@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (1 children)

It‘s almost as if this heavily generalizing portrayal of Germans through a French lens is rather… emotional. Heh.

[–] Pip@feddit.org 1 points 1 hour ago

It's a genre in France. Lazy stereotypes about Germans. I think Germans have many lazy stereotypes about Brazilians. Passing it on :)

[–] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 74 points 8 hours ago (39 children)

As a German, many of my countrymen and -women are rather embarassing.

[–] CosmoNova@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

The article generalizes to a dangerous degree. It‘s really just an opinion piece. You can say the same thing about every single country. All you have to do is find one person who feels attached to combustion engines.

[–] DagwoodIII@piefed.social 6 points 5 hours ago

I think everyone is embarrassed by their fellow citizens

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[–] BigShammy80@feddit.org 4 points 4 hours ago (3 children)

I would immediately buy an electric car if i had a loading station at home... with the loading infrastructur in germany and the costs, it's simply not viable for me.

My coworker has a home with solar on the roof and a wall box, he basicly drives for free.

[–] ClassifiedPancake@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

I exclusively use public chargers here in Germany, it’s a 10 min walk from me. Costs me around 9 euro per 100 km. Doesn’t seem too much. Plus maintenance is cheaper.

Finding the right charging provider is a bit of a mess but makes a big difference.

[–] gajustempus@feddit.org 6 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

I switched to an EV in 2019 whilst living in a flat. No chance to charge at home, very limited public charging opportunities, with the next public charger a 20 minute walk away and ONE fast charger on the other end of town, a 30 minute drive.

It did work despite all these issues. And now, 2026, charging is so much less of an issue. Almost every supermarket has some kind of Fast Charger available. Just look at it if it's EnBW, MER, EWE or whatever else, pay the 5-10 Euros per month for their subscription and you'll charge for almost the same price like home. And, as most of us go shopping at least once a week, that's a huge nothingburger there.

Just give it a try. Maybe rent an EV is a good start. But be careful: Driving an EV is addictive. Once you've tasted it, you don't want to go back

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[–] gabelstapler@feddit.org 2 points 3 hours ago

This! The next public charger is a 15 minute walk away, I would have to pick up the car once it has finished charging, and they are costing an arm and a leg. So it's more comfortable and cheaper to drive a combustion car, even though I like the silence and torque of an electric car.

[–] Eternal192@anarchist.nexus 26 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

It's not "emotionally hard to accept" it's financially hard to purchase.

[–] InabaResident@feddit.org 9 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

While I would agree, many people really do hate the idea of electric cars for no other reason than nostalgia for combustion engines. But it's changing.

[–] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

There's more than the polar facets of EV v ICE.

  • Driving EVs feel sterile and unfun, the constant haptic feedback of the gentle purring of the IC engine is like a warm hug that helps folks relax. There's a lot of bad around internal combustion but one of the biggest draws is how sitting in a car can feel comfortable. It helps children and the tired fall asleep.

  • EVs feel like the techbro solution to mobility, the dry and single serving purpose of "cleanly move the thing" without understanding the little parts of the experience that are really inviting.

  • EVs also don't have a lot of feedback when driving like a manual transmission. There is no thrill. No opportunity to thrill unless you subscribed to a service package. Fun is gated so you only get a boring transport experience.

There's a lot of reasons that EVs aren't appealing to a generation that can compare the old and new.

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[–] Swemg@lemmy.world 24 points 8 hours ago

Muh big machine vroom vroom. Some people are so dumb 🤦🏻

[–] MaggiWuerze@feddit.org 20 points 8 hours ago (4 children)

Our electric car is currently in the shop and we got a IC one as a replacement. I can't even express how much it annoys me to feel the car shift (at least its an automatic) and make noise when I accelerate. And that's a quality car, so it's muffled already.

[–] Fusselwurm@feddit.org 11 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

after riding in an electric car, every IC engine sounds like a tractor

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