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“There is always a socket somewhere”

“There is always a socket somewhere”

The Audi e-tron Sportback has become an integral part of Marco Voigt’s everyday life. In this edition of the ‘Audi e-tron Stories’, the founder of Greentech Festival explains why that is the case, how much time he spends at charging stations and what he experiences there.

Copy: Nadia Riaz-Ahmed - Photo: Chris Noltekuhlmann Reading time: 4 min

Only consumption and emission values according to WLTP and not according to NEDC are available for the vehicle.

Marco Voigt connects his white Audi e-tron Sportback to a charging station in the city of Berlin.

According to Marco Voigt, he is living proof that an electric vehicle makes sense even if you regularly drive long distances. The entrepreneur has already covered more than 30,000 kilometres within a year with his Audi e-tron Sportback*. What has changed for him now he owns an electric car? ‘I hang out at charging stations a lot,’ says Voigt, who runs Greentech Festival and the Green Window Agency from the Berlin-Mitte district. ‘That doesn’t bother me, it’s just part of it.’ Having meetings, answering emails, listening to music, drinking coffee – he always puts his charging time to good use. Voigt has long since ceased to worry about not finding a charging facility on long journeys. ‘The way the charging infrastructure on motorways has developed in recent years is amazing,’ he says. He almost always finds a charging station – but ‘almost’ is the operative word. Once, he recalls, he was stranded in a village, with the battery of his car almost empty. ‘I saw an old lady standing in front of her house and asked her if I could use her socket,’ Voigt recalls with a grin. ‘That was one of my funniest experiences with the e-tron.’ He sat with the elderly lady in her garden and drank coffee while his car was charging. ‘There's always a socket somewhere,’ he says.

Marco Voigt sits at the steering wheel while the e-tron route planner shows him the available charging stations nearby.

‘My car sounds like a spaceship’

Sustainability plays an important role in Marco Voigt’s life. As an entrepreneur, he leads the Green Window Agency in Berlin, a creative and advertising agency for sustainability, and founded the international Greentech Festival in 2018. He has been convinced by electric vehicles for years.

Three questions about electromobility for Marco Voigt

01. Why did you choose an electric vehicle?
On the one hand, I was curious and always found it exciting to see and experience what electromobility actually means. On the other hand, because we talk about sustainability all the time at Greentech Festival, I just wanted to gain experience with an electric car myself.

02. What detail do you like most about your Audi e-tron Sportback?
My neighbours keep telling me my car sounds like a spaceship. And that’s true. It’s not particularly noisy, but pretty cool. I sometimes lower the windows when I drive into the underground car park because I like to hear the noise myself. It sounds so futuristic.

03. Do you see yourself as a pioneer with your electric car?
A little bit. I have actually been able to convince people around me to go for an electric car. Often it is only the convenience that prevents people from trying something new and sustainable.

A close-up of Marco Voigt’s hand as he plugs the charging cable into the electric vehicle.
A view of the mobile phone screen; the myAudi app shows information about the charge level.

The way the charging infrastructure on motorways has developed in recent years is amazing.

Marco Voigt

A close-up of the white Audi e-tron Sportback charging.
 
The front of the Audi Q8 Sportback e-tron

The new Audi Q8 Sportback e-tron

The Audi e-tron Sportback played a pioneering role. Now it is time to integrate it into the ranks of Audi models. The new Audi Q8 Sportback e-tron* impresses with increased charging power and can drive further than ever before on a single battery charge.

Only consumption and emission values according to WLTP and not according to NEDC are available for the vehicle.