An electric car consumes less energy than a car with a combustion engine (diesel, petrol, etc.) because of the low efficiency of combustion cars (15 to 30%, the rest being lost as heat). Driving a combustion car with a fuel consumption of 6 litres per 100 km uses about 60 kWh, while the consumption of an electric car is easily below 20 kWh. So there are huge energy savings!

However, the electricity to power the car still has to be produced. This brings us to a slightly longer answer.

Given the climatic effects of all fossil fuel combustion, we need to reduce our dependency on it.

Electricity is the easiest energy carrier to decarbonise. This is not to say that it is easy, but for other carriers (liquid or gaseous fuel) it is even more difficult.

The technologies to generate renewable electricity are available and are being deployed on an industrial scale around the world.  These include wind power plants, photovoltaic plants, hydroelectric plants and biogas or biomass plants. Some people even consider nuclear power plants to be ‘sustainable’ because of their low carbon emissions.

So if we manage to get around by replacing our combustion cars with electric cars running on renewable electricity, we avoid climate-impacting emissions and reduce energy consumption. Of course, the massive deployment of electric cars must be accompanied by an increase in renewable electricity production and, where necessary, the reinforcement of electricity networks. Note, however, that national electricity consumption would not even increase by 20% if all cars were electric. If we consider a 20-year transition, this represents less than 1% growth in electricity consumption per year, which does not seem to be inordinate.

In order to decarbonise our mobility by using renewable combustible fuels, it should be recognised that the production of biofuels requires huge areas of monocultures of energy-providing plants. To drive 15,000 km in an electric car you need 3,000 kWh, which can be produced with photovoltaic panels on a surface of 15m2. To produce biofuel from rapeseed, 7,500m2 would be needed to drive the same distance in a combustion engine car. Even switching to green hydrogen, given the poor yield of its production by electrolysis, would still require three times the surface area of using electricity directly in an electric car.

As a source of renewable energy, electricity is therefore not only efficient in terms of use, but also in terms of production.

Please refer to this brochure and the Klima Agence website.

Also contact your electrician so that he can check your electrical installation and draw up a quote for you. They will also check that the charging point works correctly and will register it with your network operator.

As with electricity and gas, the prices for the recharging service are not regulated. The ILR does not currently have any legal powers to monitor the prices of electric car charging. Indeed, it should be understood that the recharging service does not constitute a supply of electricity within the meaning of the law, so the powers of the ILR do not currently apply to it.

In terms of tariffs, a distinction should be made between ad hoc tariffs, which are paid directly at the charging station, usually by credit card to the charging station operator, and service provider tariffs. For the latter, a subscription is usually required (sometimes free of charge) and the charge is initiated by a RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) badge or via application from the charging service provider.

Each charging station operator and charging service provider is free to set the prices for their service. The prices issued by the same charging service provider may vary depending on the prices charged to them by the charging station operator, the charging capacity, the duration of occupation, or more generally, its commercial strategy. For example, some charging service providers charge the tariff of the charging station operator (with or without a flat rate), others have their own tariffs. In particular, the latter may be more advantageous than “ad hoc” payment, i.e. payment by credit card at the charging station, at some charging stations, but more expensive at others.

It is therefore useful to check with your charging service provider to find out what prices are charged. This can usually be done via an application provided by the charging service provider.

Beware, however:  free charging stations sometimes require an RFID card to be activated. As soon as a card of this kind is used, the conditions and tariffs of the charging service provider who supplied the card apply and no longer those of the charging station operator.

You should also be wary of time-based charges that apply as long as the car is connected, even if the charge is complete.

The Chargy and Superchargy charging network is currently the most widespread in Luxembourg. These charging stations are accessible via a number of charging service providers, a list of which can be found here.

The Chargy network charging stations are listed on the geoportal website and on the portal https://chargy.lu/. Other stakeholder charging stations can be found on the websites of the respective operators.

Other maps, independent of operators, are developed by private initiatives such as goingelectric as well as by charging service providers.