TESLA

Tesla Model S: An impressive car ... (but) only for owners with garage
As fun as it is to drive a Tesla Model S, it must be borne in mind that this is a car intended for the premium market and is therefore inaccessible to most consumers. For the most comprehensive segment of the market we have the Model 3 that - with a price that "should not be far from the 35 thousand euros" - will assume as one of Tesla's main bets.Yes, for that, the Model 3 will have to have a power and autonomy that not only are attractive but also meet the standards and expectations of the brand. We can now talk about the different versions of Model 3 (whose batteries offer more or less autonomy), but this would be on the side of a more important and relevant issue for the market of electric vehicles in Portugal: the infrastructure.The advantages of an electric car are obvious. Whether it is to reduce emissions of polluting gases or to reduce noise pollution, the benefits are consensual. Still, none of this will work if the necessary infrastructures are not in place to support this market. The public charging stations currently installed in Lisbon, for example, are insufficient for a future of electric cars.We had the opportunity to try the Tesla Model S for four business days and took the opportunity to see what it's like to have an electric car without the 'backing' of a garage. During this period we used the car as we would use a personal vehicle, making commuting between the surroundings of Lisbon and the area of ​​Restelo. It was at least 70 km per day (not to mention other 'turns') that the Model S had to do, which necessarily forced to recharge it since it 'only' has autonomy for 632 km.
Not having a garage to recharge the car at night and having only a few public charging points from Mobi. And in the vicinity of the workplace, the Model S test showed that the city of Lisbon is not really prepared for the market. electrical installations.
'Just putting the car to load during the day, is not so difficult to solve,' the reader may think. However, among the seven possible public points to load the car, four of them were broken, with two having the screen broken and two others not working at all. It was only possible to load at this point with a faulty screen because another driver with an electric car helped us to activate the charging. In fact, the feeling of mutual support among electric car drivers was a pleasant surprise (perhaps because they identified with the problems of those who had never dealt with a similar vehicle).
This mutual aid between drivers still manifests itself in an application for mobile devices named Electromaps. The app shows all available charging stations on a map, all so that the driver is able to plan their route according to the need to supply power. The key word in the life of the driver of an electric vehicle ends up being 'planning'.

Anxiety and hours lostEven if it does not emit any sound, it's easy for a Tesla Model S to draw attention to why it's a sleek car. However, we can assure you that the driver's feeling can be very different, with high levels of anxiety. Do you know that feeling of having your smartphone battery almost gone? Well, it is very similar, but in this case, if you run out of energy you can not go anywhere and you will have to ask for a lift.This means that, just as when you have a low battery on your smartphone you are constantly looking for an outlet, in which case you are constantly looking for a charging point, whether public or integrated into a conventional petrol station.During the four days we had the opportunity to test the Tesla Model S we gave it to us at 6:00 am on the 2nd round of Lisbon to have just over 30 minutes of loading. There was also an opportunity, after leaving the newsroom, to load the car at a public loading point late in the afternoon, next to a McDonald's, where we dozed in the front seat.If this sounds like a 'sad' situation ... it's because it is. No one who buys an electric car should go through such a situation just because it has no garage. It is therefore imperative that both the Government and municipalities and private companies create the necessary infrastructure to provide the growth of this market.But it is not enough just to create these infrastructures, it is also necessary to take care of them. As we have already mentioned, we have seen that a considerable number of public loading stations were damaged, a situation which could be solved when the charging of electric vehicles began to be paid.

As already mentioned the Ministry of the Environment to Lusa, will have to pay to charge electric cars from this year. An end date has not yet been advanced, but however much the prospect displeases at first, we would say that paying to load can have a beneficial effect in that it will help to maintain those positions.

Miguel Dias