Of Maximilian Gerl, GersthofenAt what is probably Bavaria's youngest vehicle brand, no robots work on a piece-work basis. There are also no conveyor belts on which parts travel from A to B. Even the heavy smell of oil is missing, the floor in the workshop looks like it has been polished. Only a used diesel engine, stacked on a pallet against the wall, is a reminder that there is actually work going on here. Andreas Haller leads us in a...
Of Maximilian Gerl, GersthofenAt what is probably Bavaria's youngest vehicle brand, no robots work on a piece-work basis. There are also no conveyor belts on which parts travel from A to B. Even the heavy smell of oil is missing, the floor in the workshop looks like it has been polished. Only a used diesel engine, stacked on a pallet against the wall, is a reminder that there is actually work going on here. Andreas Haller leads us in a...
Of Joachim BeckerHydrogen is the eternal technology of the future. For three decades, car manufacturers such as Mercedes, Toyota and BMW have been researching vehicles that generate their own drive power. The fuel cell systems have become smaller and more powerful over the years, "the drive works even at minus 30 degrees," promises BMW development director Frank Weber after tests in the Arctic Circle. source site
In order to understand how quickly times are changing in the German automotive and supplier industry, it is sometimes enough to scroll through an e-mail inbox. At the beginning of April, the invitation to the balance sheet press conference of Mahle, one of the five largest German automotive suppliers, landed there. A speech by Matthias Arleth, the CEO, who had been in office since the beginning of the year, was announced. But only three weeks later, someone else led through...
from Joachim BeckerHydrogen? No thank you! For Audi CEO Markus Duesmann, the matter is clear. He sees no future for fuel cells in private transport. "We will not be able to produce sufficient quantities of the hydrogen required for propulsion in the next few decades in a CO2-neutral manner. I therefore do not believe in hydrogen for use in cars," he told the weekly newspaper The time, "The solution for the car is the battery." .source site
The vision is half a century old, it comes from the oil crises of the 1970s: The Middle East as a center of global oil production would also be an ideal region for non-fossil fuels. With enough sun to produce photovoltaic electricity for now barely more than a cent per kilowatt hour. The sun enters the tank with hydrogen. This universal fuel can also be produced cheaply by hydropower in Canada or by wind energy in Patagonia, on the stormy...
Does hydrogen have no future? Not so with BMW. Unlike other car manufacturers, the group continues to rely on this technology. The engineer in charge explains exactly how in an interview. .source site
The majority of politicians, researchers and car manufacturers seem to agree: the future of road transport is electric. In order to achieve the climate targets, CO₂ emissions must be massively reduced, and this is only possible with vehicles that do not emit any greenhouse gases locally. But what about hydrogen cars? They appear again and again in the discussion when it comes to alternatives to the electric car. The opinions on the drive couldn't be more contradicting. Politicians like Transport...
from Christina KunkelFor many years there was no lack of self-confidence at the Swabian auto supplier Mahle. The company premises in the northeast of Stuttgart are so extensive that the taxi driver will only find the right factory building on the second attempt. But a lot of space and many employees (72,000 at Mahle worldwide at the end of 2020) also need a profitable business model. And that's where it gets tricky. .source site
