Mobility goes electric: 150 electric cars at railway stations

Mobility has set itself the ambitious target of becoming climate neutral. This means providing electric vehicles only by 2030 at the latest. You should be pleased at this prospect as surveys show that 98% of electric vehicles users are very satisfied indeed and would not hesitate to recommend Mobility electric cars to others.

But the issue of charging infrastructure presents a major obstacle on the road towards electric mobility. It is expensive and complex to build. In SBB, Mobility has found an important partner to help drive the expansion of parking spaces for electric vehicles. Over the next three years, the car sharing firm will allocate 150 cars to around 50 railway stations across Switzerland. ‘As far as we’re concerned, this marks an important step towards a sustainable future,’ enthuses Managing Director Roland Lötscher. ‘It’s an opportunity for people to give electric mobility a try – without any fuss. I’m confident they will feel enthusiastic about this as electric cars are pleasant to drive, as well as being quiet and not producing harmful emissions.’ SBB also believes the collaboration is a win-win proposition, as Julia Plümper explains, a project manager for electric infrastructure at SBB: ‘From an environmental perspective, it makes perfect sense to combine train journeys with the sharing of electric cars. This is why all parties were so keen on the collaboration.’

The first station is at Europaallee in Zurich, right next to the city’s main railway station. From today, it offers a choice of ten electric cars of different sizes and makes, including a Seat Mii electric, a Renault Zoé, a Hyundai Kona electric, an Audi e-tron, and a Tesla Model 3. Another four models that are available to book – the Honda e, the VW ID.3, the Fiat 500e, and the Aiways U5 – are new to Switzerland. So Europaallee is something of an experiment and will show how popular the various electric vehicles prove. All other stations will offer the popular Renault Zoé and/or the Seat Mii electric for the time being, so this also applies to the electric stations that are due to open next at Aarau, Geneva Eaux-Vives and Morges.

The SBB charging stations feature standard equipment (Juice Charger 2, type 2 charging cables) and are easy to use. Simply plug in the electric car after your journey so the battery has enough ‘juice’ for the next person. On the subject of range, the new models offer really long ones. The Zoé alone can manage almost 400 kilometres, according to the manufacturer’s own information. Hire prices are based on the usual Mobility rates (Electro CHF 2.50/h and 0.65/km, Emotion CHF 4.00/h and 0.95/km).

Even drivers on particularly long journeys don’t have to worry about being left stranded somewhere. The electric vehicles at Europaallee come with a brief vehicle manual and also a charging card for the Swisscharge fast charging service. This enables you to charge a car quickly at 50 stations across Switzerland.