“Speed limit now!”

All the talk about the usability and range of electric cars omits one aspect that is crucial in Germany: the widespread absence of speed limits, Marcus Rohwetter writes in an op-ed for weekly newspaper Die Zeit. “Whoever wants to help e-cars to have a breakthrough in this country cannot ignore this,” Rohwetter says, arguing that speed limits could do a lot more to facilitate the switch to low-emissions vehicles than quotas or bans. “Lower speed leads to a greater range,” he argues, conceding that this might still turn out to be a veritable problem “in the land of speed merchants.”