Tesla Motors was the beneficiary of high praise at a German automotive conference last week. Stefan Niemand, director of battery electric vehicles at Audi, had nothing but criticism for his colleagues. According to the EE Times Europe, Niemand told the Technical Congress of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) at its annual meeting near Stuttgart that electric cars European manufacturers are bringing to market fall far short of customer expectations.
“These cars are slower than those with conventional drive and they have a much lower range – and in compensation they are more expensive,” he said. Unless the strategy is changed, electric cars will not make significant gains in the marketplace any time soon, he warned.
