A brutally honest, slightly geeky, and painfully true short version of my plug-in hybrid experience.
Scroll down for the full coloured version… with all the 🇮🇹 drama, sarcasm, and kilowatt-hour rage you can handle.

Intro

I bought a plug-in hybrid not to save the planet, but because I hate wasting energy when braking, and I love tech.
I wanted a silent ride. I got a system error.

The Dream

In 2021, my diesel Audi died.
I imagined peaceful drives with no engine noise, just wind and music.
Charging stations were everywhere in Ticino.
I saw the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and fell in love.
The dealer? More skeptical than me.

“450 km range? More like 300. In winter? Less. In the Alps? Forget it.”

So I settled for a plug-in Kia Ceed. And that’s where things got… educational.

Reality Hits

• First ride: 6 km, uphill, battery drops from 100% to 85%.
• First recharge: 3.5kW instead of 13.
• First trip: Roaming fees — 16 francs for a handful of kilowatts.
• First error: Car and station wouldn’t “talk”.
• First call: 20 minutes on hold.
• First “solution”: “Try another station.”

Some stations just refused to charge. Others charged — then charged me extra for leaving the car plugged in 3 minutes after.

The (Un)Charging Network

In four years, I haven’t seen many new stations in Ticino.
Some old ones are now Tesla-only.
Others require separate subscriptions, cards, apps, and… patience.
Mendrisio train station? Two chargers. Switched off for six months.

Conclusion

Would I buy a plug-in hybrid again? Nope.
Maybe a mild hybrid, maybe a diesel Mercedes that doesn’t vibrate like my old A3.

Was the silence worth the chaos?

Yes.
But only when it worked.

— End of short version —

Electric car: My pains — Full 🇮🇹 drama version

Prologue

Braking, to me, is an incredible waste of energy. All that kinetic energy we build up when accelerating is then turned into useless heat with a system as outdated as mechanical brakes: two pads violently squeezing the wheel (alright, the brake disc attached to the wheel… but you get my point, I hope!).

The gasoline engine: it vibrates, it’s noisy. Diesel? Even more vibration, even more noise.

Between 2003 and 2011, I drove a diesel Passat — beautiful car, we did 350,000 km of road trips together. But when I parked, in garages, I could see the headlight beam trembling on the wall with the engine’s rhythm. Inside, it felt like being in a blender.

…and that was it! In 2021, my Audi A3 (diesel) decided it was time to quit. Electric — or hybrid — cars were now (almost) established technology, and I started picturing long stretches of road, consumed in pure silence, with only the soft hiss of the wind and my favorite music.

By day, by night, in town, on highways!

Very poetic.

I looked around: In Ticino, charging stations are everywhere, even in supermarket parking lots.

I saw the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and my brain jumped straight from science to science fiction.

I had to have it!

The dealership

…was the first to be skeptical.

Too few charging stations.

The battery won’t last as they claim: 450 kilometers? You’ll get 300.

In winter? Even less.

Uphill? Way less.

Downhill? You’ll never regain what you lost going up… just a tiny percentage.

They’re too expensive.

“Okay! But are you actually trying to sell these cars or not?“

So I settled for a hybrid.

It was the end of 2021: the world was emerging from the tough COVID period; electronics companies were backlogged, the whole “just-in-time” model was in crisis:

You produce, keep no inventory, sell immediately.

With COVID: you don’t produce, have no inventory, but still need to sell.

Estimated delivery time: To be determined.

Three months? Six?

“We’re doing our best.“

They had a plug-in hybrid ready to go: I bought it.

Kia Ceed Station Wagon plug-in.

Electric

We (my wife and I) left the dealership showroom (it was open, contract signed: all legal) with a soft whoosh. My old A3 waved goodbye from the lot: thanks for the excellent service.

We left with a 100% battery and a full gas tank.

Got home with 85% battery.

Eleven minutes of driving, six kilometers, 200 meters of elevation gain, 15% battery drained.

I’ll recharge going downhill.

First descent — recharge: 2%.

Fine, I need to get used to it.

After three days I had to figure out how to recharge it.

First surprises

I plugged it into the station “down there in Chiasso.”

Maximum power output: 3.5 kW.

Oh!

But aren’t these stations supposed to provide 13 kW?

I called the support number on the station.

Waited.

Kept waiting.

Fifteen minutes.

A French-speaking operator picked up:

“If you have a plug-in hybrid, the rectifier can only handle 3.5 kW!“

“So to recharge the whole battery (50 km range), I’d need over two and a half hours!“

“Désolé.“

I was traveling back from Zurich, on the highway.

I had learned to save battery (the car would still run on electric at low speeds, in traffic, while coasting…) and switch to hybrid mode, but the battery was nearly empty.

I stopped at a rest stop for dinner: 45-minute break.

Charging station was there. Plugged in.

“Roaming charges will apply“

(Uh?)

Got a card from provider A? Station is operated by provider B?

You pay.

Sixteen francs for maybe a kilowatt.

There must be a mistake. I called customer service.

Fifteen minutes of waiting.

Again in French: “C’est normal.”

(Do you see me now? Take a good look, because you won’t see me again!)

Battery still nearly empty, I was in the parking lot outside RSI studios in Comano, about to have lunch with someone.

Plugged the car in.

Scanned my badge.

Authenticated.

And then… nothing.

Station display said: “Connect the vehicle,” even though it was connected. Charging didn’t start.

I called the dealership: “Vehicle issue?”

“Bring it in — we’ll check.”

Nothing wrong. The car worked fine.

Same thing happened in Lugano, outside the Balestra parking garage, downtown.

That’s when I dug deeper.

Called the usual hotline.

Was told to call another number.

…and another one.

After the usual twenty-minute wait, an operator answered — this time in Italian:

“We’ll send someone to inspect it.”

“Now?”

“Sometime soon!”

“But what about me, now?”

“Try another station.”

Suddenly it clicked. I used the portable home charger — the one with a regular outlet. Charging started, and at a ridiculous speed I managed to add a few “percent” to the battery.

It was clear: the problem was a “communication issue” between the car and certain stations. Some just didn’t talk to each other!

Well, still better than us humans: we only get along with a few — with the rest, we just don’t talk.

Dulcis in fundo

One day I went to the cantonal library in Mendrisio. One charging spot.

Free.

“Wow! Lucky!”

Left the car for about an hour and went home.

My old IT habit: check emails.

Usually after charging, I get an email with: kilowatt used, cost per kWh, parking fee during charge (do you really think parking in Switzerland is free?), VAT, total.

This time… no email.

I checked the app for station status and… my car was still plugged in!

It wasn’t charging anymore but… if you leave your car parked in a charging spot after charging is done, you get fined!

Clearly and disturbingly stated in the summary email: “PENALTY FOR CHARGING COMPLETED: 3 minutes” (sic)

It was Friday at 6 p.m., and everyone was getting ready for the weekend.

Called the usual hotlines: the green number, the red one, the blue one, then the brown one.

Because you must know: the station in Mendrisio is powered by AIM, installed by Enerti, but charging management (or whatever it is) is handled by Greenmotion!

“Excuse me, are you really going to fine me for leaving the car plugged in all weekend?!”

“We’ll send our technician to shut down the station!”

“I get it, but I want to stop the charge! How do I do it?”

“Eh, zorry!”

Epilogue

People have said everything and its opposite about electric cars and charging stations — and the HUGE amount of copper we’d need to keep a fully electric car fleet running.

I don’t want to write more.

This is the story of someone who ventured into electric, not because he’s green, but because:

• I’m a geek;
• I like technology;
• I get sick thinking about the energy wasted every time we brake;
• (Now I’m bitter about how little gets recovered);
• I loved driving in silence, with just the wind and good music;
• I like electronics and gadgets (did I say that already? Worth repeating.)

Would I buy a hybrid again? A plain hybrid, not plug-in.

Maybe a “mild hybrid”: I test-drove a Mercedes A-Class diesel with satisfaction; didn’t vibrate nearly as much as my A3.

Some say it has a Renault Megane engine. Who knows.

Getting back into my Ceed after driving the A-Class… my Ceed felt like a horse-drawn carriage in comparison.

One last word about charging stations: I started mapping them mentally in 2021. In Ticino, I haven’t seen a single new one since four years ago.

Wait — not true: Serfontana shopping center used to offer three free charging spots, usable during store hours. After renovation, those were the first to go — replaced with a dozen Tesla fast-chargers and a dozen third-party stations, each requiring separate subscriptions, separate cards, and run by a company entirely separate from Enerti/Greenmotion.

Or you pay roaming.

Mendrisio train station: two charging spots.

They’ve been turned off for SIX MONTHS!!!

Six months of dead stations.

Why?

Obvious: if you want to park at the station — even just to grab take-out pizza or pick someone up — you PAY.

Seven francs for three and a half hours, minimum.

Don’t want to pay seven francs to wait 15 minutes for “mom getting off the train”?

No problem: register with the app, create a profile, link your credit card…