Moving away from the ‘exhaust pipe perspective’: a fundamental shift in our approach to sustainable mobility is urgently needed.
Bernhard Geringer, Chairman of the Board of the @Austrian Society of Automotive Engineers (Österreichischer Verein für Kraftfahrzeugtechnik (ÖVK)) and organizer of the symposium, offered a foretaste of the content highlights of the upcoming engine symposium during a press conference with Frederik Zohm from MAN Truck & Bus SE and Ingo Scholten from Horse Powertrain.
Current legislation which focuses on the CO2 emissions of a vehicle, without taking into account the generation of energy and raw materials, is wrong, does not help the environment and must be changed as quickly as possible. Meaningful climate protection will only be achieved with a systematic ‘cradle-to-grave’ approach. We have to move away from the ‘exhaust pipe perspective’!
There is no such thing as a ‘green’ engine, but there is green energy. It is imperative to push ahead with a focus on green energy sources if we are to enable truly carbon-neutral mobility worldwide.’
There is no one single path towards sustainable mobility but many routes which need to be pursued simultaneously. At this year’s summit, manufacturers of new drive concepts from Asia and investors from the Arab world are increasingly coming into focus. A joint venture between the Chinese manufacturer Geely with the European Renault Group and Saudi Aramco, for example, which was founded only a year ago, promises to revolutionise one of the traditional pillars of automotive engineering.
Ingo Scholten, Chief Technology Officer at Horse Powertrain, described the event as ‘pioneering work in a new industrial sector’. A key figure in shaping the up-and-coming powertrain technology sector, he presented a forward-looking vision: ‘The powertrain is no longer just a vehicle component – it has evolved into a complete technology sector that drives the future of mobility.
Drives for commercial vehicles, from electric solutions for local distribution transport and urban buses through to large combustion engines for long-distance transport, some of which are powered by hydrogen, will be prominent agenda items at this year’s international meeting of experts. Dr Frederik Zohm, Executive Board Member for Research & Development at MAN Truck & Bus SE, said: ‘In order to decarbonise road freight transport, our focus is on battery-electric vehicles. These currently have clear advantages over other drive concepts in terms of energy efficiency and operating and energy costs. We therefore expect electric trucks to be best suited to the vast majority of transport applications.
The video recording of the press conference is available here https://lnkd.in/d8xJJNv9, the full press release is available for download https://lnkd.in/dWKJH-vR.
Photo: © ÖVK/Klaus Ranger
