A man wearing lederhosen runs from the sidewalk onto the street without first looking around. For God’s sake! Doesn’t he have eyes in his head! I abruptly step on the brakes, but the jaywalker doesn’t even notice that. He obviously has only one thing in mind: the fastest way to the Oktoberfest.

But then I think to myself: Gosh, he probably didn’t hear me coming, because I’m gliding almost noiselessly down Munich’s Lindwurmstrasse. The Peugeot iOn I’m steering through the Bavarian capital is a fully electrically powered vehicle with no CO2 emissions whatsoever.

I can even hear the birds singing. The usual annoying motor sounds do not attack my ears. The soft whirr of the tires on the asphalt and the rush of the house facades as I ride by are the only indications that I’m actually driving. The future is quiet and comfortable: Although the Peugeot is a mere three-and-a-half meters, it is a cozy four-seater with just about all the equipment one might expect from a state-of-the-art vehicle.

PUTTING THE PEDAL TO THE METAL
At Stachus, a large square in central Munich, a silver Mazda MX5 pulls up alongside me. When the traffic light turns green, however, all eyes are on me. “Electromobility is becoming a reality” is printed on the rear door of my car, which has absolutely no trouble keeping pace with the sports car as we start to accelerate.

I drive over the Isar River to Munich’s Au district, where the great comedian Karl Valentin was born. He certainly would have been delighted with a car that neither stinks nor makes noise. With the gift of audacious foresight, Karl Valentin, as early as the 1930s, had a hopeful vision of Munich as an accident-free city in which the central public square, Marienplatz, would only be free for bicycles on Mondays, for pedestrians on Tuesdays and for vehicles on Wednesdays.

Complete article: http://www.bilfinger.com/en/Magazin/Mobility-bavarian-style?opendocument

Text: Philipp Mausshardt, Photos: Antonia Zennaro
Bilfinger Berger Magazine 1/2012