Horsepower-pro and Youtuber JP Performance aka Jean Pierre Kraemer competes against himself and his driving style at Bilster Berg with the electric mobility app “EnBW mobility+”. Is an electric car a good fit for JP? The app has the answers.

Actually, e-mobility is quite straightforward: when the battery is empty, simply recharge it, and then you can continue driving. However, electric mobility is confronted with some prejudices: The battery range is not enough for me! It’s far too complicated to charge it, with all the different plugs! Not to mention paying for it! But what would it be like if you could give an electric car a try? That’s what the energy supplier “Energie Baden-Württemberg” (EnBW) asked itself. For this purpose, it developed a free app with which anyone can record their driving and transfer the data to a simulated electric car. The app was put to the test by JP Performance at BILSTER BERG.

“Our ‘EnBW mobility+’ app uses satellite data to calculate whether an electric car is suitable for one’s own driving behaviour and route – and if so, which vehicle model suits it best,” says Christoph Ulusoy, an employee of the energy supplier Baden-Württemberg (EnBW) and inventor of the mobility app. “The app is there to help you try out which routes are possible with an electric vehicle.” The average consumer can find out, for example, whether his commute to work could also be managed with an electric battery instead of with fuel.”In many cases, this is already the case today,” says Ulusoy.

JP Performance wants to know more: He puts the app through its paces – with his own Lexus RC F sports car with a combustion engine and at the highest possible speed on the BILSTER BERG test track. After all, the Youtuber wants to find out whether any e-mobile can even keep up with this driving style.

The app has an answer to Kraemer’s fast driving style: The electric Tesla P100D, the fastest car of its kind. “It accelerates from zero to 100 km/h in just 2.7 seconds,” says Lars Ehrenfeld, Christoph Ulusoy’s partner and project manager for e-mobility at EnBW. The official range per battery charge is 505 kilometres. “It is mostly range anxiety that prevents many people from buying an electric car,” says Ehrenfeld. It is precisely this fear that the app aims to allay by not only indicating whether one’s own driving style and, for example, commuting route are suitable for an electric car, but also showing which model would be suitable, how far it would travel and where the next suitable charging station is. According to the EnBW app, the nearest one from Bilster Berg is in Nieheim, which is not far away. “That’s actually where we charged our vehicles,” says Ulusoy.

Kraemer is enthusiastic after the test drive: “I am a very technical person and love acceleration. A combustion engine always has to work its way up the power curve first. With an electric motor, you step on the gas and immediately have full torque.” That is a clear improvement over conventional powertrains. He is also impressed by the app: “The app works – even under extreme conditions on the race track.” What Kraemer would like to see regarding e-mobility is a little more openness among drivers: “It’s a journey we’re going on.” However, Kraemer also criticises the design of electric cars. Often this is not appealing enough: “I think the automotive industry thought, hey, we’re making an electric vehicle and that’s why the car has to be round everywhere. But the customer wants emotion,” says Kraemer. In his opinion, manufacturers should cut back on flow resistance in favour of a more powerful exterior. But JP can already say that he enjoys electric cars after several fast laps in a Tesla on the Bilster Berg. In other words: when the battery is empty, recharge it and then let’s go!

Photos: EnBW AG, Paul Gärtner

Text: Nicole Thesen (Zimmermann Editorial)