April Fools hits the world of electric mobility

Once again this year, we have discovered a few April Fool's jokes with an eMobility connection. We have collected some of the best and biggest, for your reading pleasure, starting with charging stations speed dating to new truck regulations from Germany.

This year’s April Fool’s pranks include a pilot project from EWE Go for speed dating at the charging station, an autonomous mobility solution from Hyundai for urgent trips to the toilet and a charging mat from Leapmotor, which should allow you to charge your electric car at any time with physical movement.

A representative from EWE Go explained: “Our charging points are usually located where customers spend a little more time, such as when shopping. So why not use the charging time in the supermarket car park for a nice get-together?” And in the event that the love of your life isn’t waiting at the charger after all, you can at least continue your journey with a charged battery.

Hyundai’s campaign for a fictitious mobility solution called Mobilet – the first autonomous toilet on wheels! The idea: Mobilet is only a few minutes away, wherever and whenever the bladder pinches. You can call the mobile toilet like a taxi via an app.

Leapmotor’s charging technology, called ‘Leap Mat Charger’ would allow users to charge their vehicle simply by exercising. “By leaping, jumping and running owners can easily add electricity free of charge,” the company wrote, showing an image of an exercise mat plugged into an EV, which would purportedly use the kinetic energy to charge the battery. However, considering how much kinetic energy is released by the average jumping jack, drivers might consider taking a stroll rather than driving…

In other, less believable April Fool’s pranks, Hagen Knoll from BearingPoint is floating the idea of a mini-reactor for the glove compartment on LinkedIn. He wrote: “The so-called ‘MicroCore-X’ module fits into any standard glove compartment and supplies enough energy for over 1 million kilometres – without any charging stops, wall boxes or electricity costs. Particularly exciting: the mini-reactor also warms the vehicle interior to a cosy temperature in winter – without any loss of range.”

Meanwhile, ChargeUp Europe makes light of the US government’s ‘Signal-Gate’ security breach on LinkedIn. The company wrote: “Journalist added by mistake to the ChargeUp Europe secretariat’s Hashtag#Signal group releases exchanges on 2025 flexibilities. In exclusive texts, ChargeUp’s team are seen celebrating the 3-year flexibility granted to car manufacturers on meeting CO2 targets – a move that many within the Hashtag#eMobility ecosystem, including ChargeUp itself, recently criticised as a potential blow to investor confidence.”

Last but not least, Eurotransport claims to have learnt from the German government coalition talks between the CDU/CSU and SPD that there is to be a penalty tax for diesel trucks with 500 hp or more, in order to create a further incentive for the purchase of electric trucks.

“The idea behind this is to provide a further incentive for less powerful trucks with lower fuel consumption and, of course, for electric trucks,” the paper’s cited insiders explain: “The aim is to noticeably curb the sale of trucks with particularly voluminous diesel engines.” The fact that this would make heavy goods transport more expensive, for which powerful diesel trucks are usually used, is – quote – “of no further concern” in the eyes of the negotiators, the report adds.

instagram.com (EWE Go), hyundai.com, stellantis.com (Leapmotor), linkedin.com (ChargedUp Europe), linkedin.com (Hagen Kroll, in German), eurotransport.de (in German)