Photo: Tesla Motors
The officials of those countries that have at least one car brand in their portfolios are usually seen driving around in domestic-built vehicles. They may not necessarily be the best vehicles around, but it's a sacrifice the elected need to make to remain credible in the eyes of the voters.
That's why the French president could be seen in Peugeots or Citroens, the Italian one uses Lancias, and Vladimir Putin has a... Mercedes-Benz Pullman limousine, because he's Putin.
For the German chancellor Angela Merkel, the real difficulty isn't finding a suitable car produced by a German brand, but picking just the one out of the very rich offer. And the rest of the German high-ranking officials are faced with the same difficulty.
One of them, however, had a very easy task. His job description preventem him from using a vehicle with an internal combustion engine, so after browsing through the local electric vehicles available, he made the only reasonable choice and bought a Tesla Model S.
Johannes Remmel is the Environment Minister for North Rhine-Westphalia, and his decision has not gone unnoticed. The problem did not arise from the fact the vehicle wasn't German-made, but that it cost 110,340 euros ($115,000) and was paid with public money.
According to the German publication Bild, the Minister has a pretty darn good excuse for his decision: the Model S was the only EV with a long-enough range to enable traveling in the large state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The version chosen is also backing this claim: the Minister went for a Model S 90D, which offers the longest range save for the most expensive, the P100D.
The public will probably get the chance fo feel outraged one more time in about two years when the German manufacturers will finally come out with decent EVs and the Minister will want to change his car with a domestic one. Until then, though, they can sleep soundly knowing their Minister's travels around the state do not contribute directly to the air pollution one bit.
For the German chancellor Angela Merkel, the real difficulty isn't finding a suitable car produced by a German brand, but picking just the one out of the very rich offer. And the rest of the German high-ranking officials are faced with the same difficulty.
One of them, however, had a very easy task. His job description preventem him from using a vehicle with an internal combustion engine, so after browsing through the local electric vehicles available, he made the only reasonable choice and bought a Tesla Model S.
Johannes Remmel is the Environment Minister for North Rhine-Westphalia, and his decision has not gone unnoticed. The problem did not arise from the fact the vehicle wasn't German-made, but that it cost 110,340 euros ($115,000) and was paid with public money.
According to the German publication Bild, the Minister has a pretty darn good excuse for his decision: the Model S was the only EV with a long-enough range to enable traveling in the large state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The version chosen is also backing this claim: the Minister went for a Model S 90D, which offers the longest range save for the most expensive, the P100D.
The public will probably get the chance fo feel outraged one more time in about two years when the German manufacturers will finally come out with decent EVs and the Minister will want to change his car with a domestic one. Until then, though, they can sleep soundly knowing their Minister's travels around the state do not contribute directly to the air pollution one bit.
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