European commissioners are annoyed their Strasbourg trips involve a pit stop in a Luxembourg service station to recharge their electric vehicles — whose batteries cannot quite manage the 440-kilometer haul from Brussels.

The roadside break has become a growing source of irritation for some of Ursula von der Leyen’s top team, officials from three commissioners’ cabinets told POLITICO, as the EU executive’s green fleet struggles to make the regular trip to the European Parliament in one go.

The cars — provided by the Commission to ferry President von der Leyen and her commissioners to official duties — need around 20 to 30 minutes plugged in by the side of the road, turning an already lengthy five-hour drive into an even longer slog, officials from a total of eight cabinets said.

Their complaints echo political groups and industry lobbyists who say the Commission is pushing for a green transition to happen faster than consumer habits — or charging infrastructure — allow.

While the Commission wanted to phase out the new sale of combustion engine vehicles from 2035 onward, the automotive industry and its policial backers have consistently said infrastructure and buying habits are not on that timeline. Consumers often cite range anxiety as a key reason for not purchasing an electric vehicle.

The cars are part of the Commission’s efforts to green its operations — a 2022 push during von der Leyen’s first term, reaffirmed last December, to make its 128-vehicle fleet fully zero-emission by 2027. Roughly 80 percent of the fleet is now electric, according to a Commission spokesperson.

The fleet includes large BMW models ill-suited to long-distance travel without recharging, another official said. The Commission did not confirm the vehicle model used in the fleet.

The Commission has caved on the emission targets for European automakers, allowing all types of powertrains past 2035 so long as the brands incorporate climate offsets. But the relaxation has yet to reach its own staffers.

The issue of having to make recharging stops was raised during a College of Commissioners meeting earlier this year, another official said, after one commissioner complained about the inconvenience of the EVs. They were told to take it up with Budget Commissioner Piotr Serafin, who handles administration.

The alternative to stopping is to drive at a crawl along the motorway to conserve battery power. “But it doesn’t really work,” said one official working for an irritated commissioner, granted anonymity to speak frankly like others in this article. The trip can stretch to as much as seven hours that way, another official said.

Commissioners are reluctant to take the train to Strasbourg because they may need to conduct sensitive phone calls en route, an official working for a second annoyed commissioner said. But they are also unhappy about having to pull over to recharge, sometimes late at night, after long plenary weeks when they are eager to get back to Brussels, they said.

One commissioner appears to have found another way around the problem: Three officials said Hungary’s Olivér Várhelyi has at times traveled to Strasbourg in a van with his team, ditching the official car. Várhelyi’s cabinet did not respond to POLITICO’s request for comment.

Von der Leyen is also exempt from the EV headache. The Commission president’s car must be armored for security reasons, one official said, adding that no suitable armored electric model is currently available.

The Commission is due to present its long-awaited electrification plan in July, after the package slipped from its original mid-June timeline. As part of the plan, the EU executive is expected to unveil what officials describe as an “ambitious electrification target.”

The package was first announced in April by von der Leyen as part of the EU’s broader effort to reduce dependence on fossil fuels in the wake of the Middle East crisis. “We also need to accelerate the electrification of our economy, of our industrial operations, of how we heat our homes, of our mobility,” the Commission president said at the time.

Jordyn Dahl and Gabriel Gavin contributed reporting.