Petrol Mercedes “only a temporary solution”
Rösti gets an electric car after all
The Department of the Environment denies a report that the new Federal Councilor Albert Rösti does not want to know anything about an electric car. The e-company car has been ordered – but not yet delivered.
Published: 15 minutes ago
|
Updated: 14 minutes ago
1/5
Environment Minister Albert Rösti will soon be driving an electric car, his department announced.
The new Environment Minister Albert Rösti will travel by car to the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Monday afternoon. It is a petrol engine, as the “SonntagsZeitung” reported. According to the newspaper, the SVP Federal Council will not take over the electric company car from its predecessor Simonetta Sommaruga (62, SP).
Ordered but not yet delivered
But now the environment department is making it clear: the Mercedes sedan with a combustion engine is only an interim solution. Rösti also wants to be driven around in an electrically powered car soon.
“In the future, Federal Councilor Rösti will drive an electric car as a representative vehicle,” said his spokeswoman Géraldine Eicher. “The vehicle has been ordered but has not yet arrived.” Until then, Rösti will use the car from the federal vehicle pool, which was made available to him immediately after the election. At that time, Sommaruga still needed her company car herself, according to the statement.
E-cars are mandatory – with exceptions
In 2021, Defense Minister Viola Amherd (60) issued the directive that the federal administration may only buy electrically powered cars. Your department is responsible for procuring official vehicles. The aim is for the federal government to set a good example and become climate-neutral by 2030.
Cars with internal combustion engines may only be procured in justified cases. However, according to the “SonntagsZeitung”, such exceptions are made relatively often: Of the 119 civilian vehicles that have been procured for the federal administration in the past two years, only 69 are purely electric cars.
Rösti’s Federal Council colleagues will continue to be on the road in a petrol engine – with one exception. Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis (61) has a BMW sedan with a hybrid drive as his official vehicle. (lha)