European commissioners are annoyed their Strasbourg trips involve a pit stop in a Luxembourg service station to recharge their electric vehicles — whose batteries cannot quite manage the 440-kilometer haul from Brussels.
The roadside break has become a growing source of irritation for some of Ursula von der Leyen’s top team, officials from three commissioners’ cabinets told POLITICO, as the EU executive’s green fleet struggles to make the regular trip to the European Parliament in one go.
The cars — provided by the Commission to ferry President von der Leyen and her commissioners to official duties — need around 20 to 30 minutes plugged in by the side of the road, turning an already lengthy five-hour drive into an even longer slog, officials from a total of eight cabinets said.
Their complaints echo political groups and industry lobbyists who say the commission is pushing for a green transition to happen faster than consumer habits — or charging infrastructure — allow.
