European commissioners who regularly travel from Brussels to Strasbourg for European Parliament plenary sessions are being forced to stop and recharge their official electric vehicles: the batteries cannot handle the 440-kilometer trip without a “refueling” stop.
According to POLITICO, citing staff members from commissioners’ offices, the charging stop at a Luxembourg service station takes between 20 and 30 minutes. What is already a five-hour journey becomes even longer, causing growing irritation among senior EU officials.
One official, speaking anonymously, admitted that the alternative would be driving at minimal speed to conserve battery power — but “that doesn’t really work.” Such an approach could stretch the trip to as long as seven hours.
The issue is particularly awkward given that the European Commission itself is the main driving force behind the accelerated phase-out of internal combustion engines in the EU. Since 2022, the Commission’s fleet of 128 vehicles has been undergoing a “green transition,” with the goal of becoming fully carbon-neutral by 2027. Already, around 80 percent of the fleet consists of electric vehicles, including large BMW models that officials say are poorly suited for long-distance travel without recharging.
The issue of mandatory charging stops was reportedly raised during a meeting of the College of Commissioners earlier this year. Commissioners were advised to contact Budget Commissioner Piotr Serafin, who oversees administrative matters.
The commissioners are unwilling to travel by train because they need to conduct confidential phone conversations during the journey.
Czech MEP delegation leader Ondřej Knotek commented sarcastically on social media:
“This is reality once again overtaking Brussels’ green ideology.”
Hungarian Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi appears to have found his own solution — he sometimes travels to Strasbourg in his personal van together with his entire team, leaving the official electric car at home.
Meanwhile, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is spared this inconvenience altogether. Her vehicle must be armored for security reasons, and no suitable armored electric model currently exists.
Benjamin Krieger, Secretary General of the European automotive suppliers association CLEPA, described the situation as revealing:
“When European commissioners are worried about needing to stop and recharge on the way to Strasbourg, it tells us what the market has been signaling for months: range anxiety remains one of the most persistent factors shaping consumer confidence in the transition to electric mobility.”
According to him, the solution lies in a flexible, technologically neutral, and consumer-oriented system that would allow the transition to strengthen — rather than undermine — Europe’s industrial base.
Thus, those promoting the “green transition” for everyone are themselves encountering its real-world inconveniences. And while ordinary Europeans are told to “get used to” spending 20–30 minutes charging their cars, for EU commissioners “it doesn’t work.”
As the old saying goes: one rule for the elite, another for everyone else.
