The Sound of Silence: Test driving the Opel Ampera

Ever wondered what it’s really like to drive a battery-powered car? The Opel Ampera is one of the latest green cars to hit the German market. Allianz Knowledge took it for a spin.
“Have fun,” says car salesman Marco Plamann as he hands over the keys and slams the door shut. Have fun? Driving a green car may help to save precious energy, reduce pollution and fight climate change, but since when has it been considered fun?
Upon pushing the blue start button the Ampera emits a swooshing sound which makes me think of a spaceship. I half expect the wheels to fold up and leave me hovering above the ground. A huge grin spreads across my face. Maybe fun is not too distant a prospect after all.
Until recently, aesthetics and emotional thrills were not exactly e-mobility’s greatest assets. Most electric cars are small and look like somebody hastily glued them together at a do-it-yourself store.
But style was never the point of these cars. Good looks are outweighed by the ecological advantages.
Of course, there are the cooler models that combine the look of a sports car with a top speed of 300 km/h. But they cost as much as a decent family home!

German car manufacturer Opel’s Ampera aims to unite the best of both worlds.

Opel thought about a very specific target audience and I guess I am a part of it. The Ampera is for the townsfolk of the iPhone generation who don’t drive more than about 50 kilometers a day and are comfortable with the latest touchscreen technology. More importantly, they have petty cash of about 48,000 Euros, which I don’t! So much for my membership of the target group.

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But it’s time to get going. I smoothly roll along the street and notice that it’s really quiet. As in totally silent. Truly amazing, that the electric engine of a car of 4.5 meters in length with a weight of 1.7 tons does not make any sound.

I enjoy this feeling for 50 kilometers until – just as predicted - the battery dies away. In a purely electric car I would now need to find a electrical socket quickly and better have some spare hours (four to six, to be precise) to refuel the engine. Too bad that I’m in the middle of an open country road.
Two words: range extender. A little less silent than before, but still barely noticeable, the Ampera’s supporting four-cylinder conventional fuel engine jumps in. But wait – wasn’t I supposed to drive eco-friendly? Technically, I still am. The engine functions as a generator to repower the battery, not the tires or the drive, which basically means, that the car is still running on electricity. Except it doesn’t come from the socket but is generated by an engine.
Admittedly, charging the battery is complicated. Either you have easy access to electricity or you put up with not being able to completely do without fossil fuels.
Personally, I would have to take the second option, simply because I live in a rented apartment without a garage. Where am I supposed to plug the car in?
“It is a problem,” admits Plamann, “given that electric cars are designed for townspeople. And regional governments do not really see the necessity yet to subsidize public plug-in stations while the technology is in its infancy.”
Other cities, like Rome, are one step ahead. Public plug-in stations are as normal there as conventional gas stations.“It is an ongoing development,” Plamann adds. “A couple of years ago, natural gas was as exotic a fuel as electricity is today. And the infrastructure did make a serious improvement there as well.”
Let’s see how the range extender likes acceleration. I turn to the highway and easily reach 170 km/h. And this is where it ends. It’s the Ampera’s build in speed limit. There is no way of going faster.
It’s a matter of energy efficiency, according to Opel, and the Ampera is supposed to be a green car after all. The faster you drive, the more fuel you burn. If electric cars really dominate the street scene one day, the everlasting discussion about a general speed limit on German highways will take care of itself.
After a couple of hours on the road, I feel a bit like a convert. I usually brag that a speed limit that stops me needs to be invented. Now, I would rather do a reasonable 100 km/h per hour for the sake of efficiency.
When asked for my favourite car, I usually say “the bigger the better” and shrug off the images of impossible gas-guzzlers in city traffic. Now, I’m thinking about ways to let the battery last longer (who needs air conditioning?) to drive in as eco-friendly a way as possible.
And yes, I do have fun. and you ?