EU meeting in Lyon: electric cars powered by diesel generators | life and knowledge

Preach water and drink wine?

At the EU Foreign Affairs and Health Ministers meeting (9/10 February) in Lyon, France, things are said to have gone similarly, according to the Dutch news portal AD: electric cars were driven there and diesel exhaust still went into the air!

The meeting took place at the Lyon Congress Center. After the event, the participants should be driven to the airport in around 50 electric cars, that was the specification of the organizers.

A signal in terms of climate policy to limit harmful emissions. So far, so good: politicians as role models, as pioneers of alternative mobility.

But there was a catch: At the conference venue, electric cars were hooked up to huge diesel generators to recharge batteries. These were rented separately and installed next to the building. Eco madness!

Local authorities tried to make excuses that because there were only four charging points on site, generators were the only way to charge the cars. However, this contradicts the Belgian site Gocar.

According to their information, there are more than 200 charging stations in the French city (more than 500,000 inhabitants). Many of them with multiple charging points, in addition to some fast chargers. A more environmentally friendly refueling of the Stromer would have been possible.

Similarly, actor Ewan McGregor did

Hollywood star Ewan McGregor also criss-crossed South America on an electric Harley-Davidson for the first season of the pay-TV series “Long way up”. The diesel generators needed for the traction power in production were not mentioned.

Is this the correct path? Leading politicians constantly ask the population to switch to more environmentally friendly means of transport, and they should also accept financial losses and additional work (for example, when charging electric cars) for it. And then this?

Lead by example anyway it works differently!