Eco-Mobility 2021 - 15 Years A3PS

16^th International A3PS Conference

Eco-Mobility 2021

Paths to Climate-Neutral Mobility

Sustainable Propulsion Concepts and Energy Carriers for Carbon-Neutral Future: Europe as Frontrunner

took place on November 18th and 19th, 2021 as a hybrid Event in the Gironcoli-Kristall | STRABAG Art Forum, Vienna and online.

We would like to thank all physical and virtual participants and guests and especially all exhibitors who contributed to the success of Eco-Mobility 2021!

With up to 70 physical and over 300 virtual participants from 19 countries* worldwide the conference was a big success for those times.

(* Participating Countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, United States, Poland, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Slovakia, South Korea, Netherlands)

Photo Gallery      Presentations       Programme

Review of Eco-Mobility 2021 - 1st Conference day

A3PS Chairman DI Hanno Miorini and CEO Dr. Michael Nöst opened the 16^th A3PS Conference with a warm welcome to all participants both in the audience and online. State Secretary Dr. Magnus Brunner sent his opening words via video. Relating to COP26 he pointed out the need to scale up the efforts to decarbonize the transport sector.

DI Anton Plimon, AIT, congratulated A3PS to its 15^th Anniversary and asked Dr. Andreas Dorda, as co-founder of A3PS on the stage. Dr. Dorda pointed out how important and unique A3PS has been over the last 15 years and expects that 15 years from now A3PS will still be an important partner for the ministry for climate action, environment, energy, mobility, innovation and technology.

Dr. Gerd Hillenbrand, Director Strategy of ZF eMotors gave an impressive keynote presentation as Tier 1 supplier how to meet future electrification challenges. The company has the target to become carbon-free in 2040 and not only requires carbon-free propulsion but also carbon-free production.

Session 1: Primary Energy & Energy Carrieres

(Chair: Prof. Dr. Peter Prenninger)

Chairman Prof. Peter Prenninger from AVL, who is member of A3PS since the beginning, showed us achievements in the field of advanced propulsions within the last about 20 years. Dr. Armin Buchroithner from TU Graz explained to us the Project “FlyGrid” – a solution for fast charging applications. Afterwards we learned about Korea’s plans to reduce CO2 emissions and import less primary energy by using hydrogen energy from Prof. Dr. Jonghee Han from Korea Institute of Science and Technology. Mats Hultman, MSc from Neste Finland visualized the main advangages of HVO compared to conventional diesel and biodiesel (FAME). Neste’s ambition is using low quality feedstock (waste) material to produce high quality drop-in fuels and experts that in 2040 EVs and renewable fuels will substitute more than 50 % of fossil oil. MMag. Alexander Decker from Verbund sees hydrogen as an important energy carrier for the electric system but with application mainly in the industry and for mobility only in not from battery technologies coverable areas.

Session 2: Passenger Mobility

(Chair: DI Hanno Miorini)

Dr. Franz Androsch showed VOEST’s commitment to sustainable processes and production before DI Mateusz Figaszewski explained Soaris’ approach to zero emission public mobility using both battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell busses. Dr. Merit Bodner from TU Graz gave us insights from fundamental research on fuel cells such as fuel cell durability during cold start. In the last presentation on the first conference day Mag. Florian Wiedrich showed us Miba’s innovative flexible liquid cooling gadget which helps to increase safety and battery performance.

Evening Reception

15 years A3PS is a good reason to celebrate – this was done in the evening of the 1st conference day of Eco-Mobility 2021. Besides networking the evening allowed us to bridge technology with art and culture. Many thanks to Dr. Martina Reinhart  for the art exhibition at the social evening and also to our great jazz group Pavle Jovanovics and to Florian Kitla for the great wine tasting event.

2nd Conference day

Sarah Bittner-Krautsack, MSc. opened the second conference day on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology.

Henrik Engdahl, MSc. presented us Volvo’s path to a climate-neutral mobility in his keynote presentation including heavy duty battery trucks. Dr. Thomas Grube from FZ Jülich showed us the cost perspective of road traffic with the result that electrifed vehicles (BEV and FCEV) becoming the cheapest option in all cases studied.

Sesson 3: Commercial Vehicles

(Chair: Dr. Alexander Trattner)

Josef Macherhammer, MSc. explained to us the importance of fuel cell vehicle in the AVL Roadmap 2030+ and Dr. Hussein Basma from ICCT showed us techno-economic analysis of battery electric vehicles in the EU. Kristin Kahl, MA showed us insides of Contargo, a real operator with battery electric vehicles in their fleet. Dr. Reiner Lehnen & Dr. Marco Warth presented together about H2 powertrains.

Session 4: Resources, Recycling & LCA

(Chair: Univ.-Doz. Dr. Bernhard Brandstätter)

The last conference session dealt with an topic of increasing importance – we have to consider how materials are used and what happens after their use/life, including all processes and resources in the whole life cycle. DI Martin Beerman from Joanneum Research compared future scenarios with only battery electric vehicles and including e-fuels. Dr. Christian Chimani from AIT focused in his presentation on the important impact of weight to increase efficiency and the very material-efficient process of 3D printing in lightweight construction. Sustainability of hydrogen and recycling of fuel cell material was part of DI Sebastian Goldner’s presentation from Proton Motor Fuel Cell GmbH. In thee last presentation Dr. Kyriakos Maniatis explained us the role of advanced biofuels for decarbonizing transport and passed criticism on the recent outcome of COP26 since biomass and bioenergy are critical for the 2050 targets and their contribution should not be ignored.

Plenary Discussion

The conference was completed with the Plenary Discussion moderated by Christian Clerici with DI Theresia Vogel (klimafonds), Dr. Kyriakos Maniatis (independent consultant and former member of EU commission), DI Frank Heine (Bosch), Dr. Gerd Hillenbrand (ZF), Dr. Christian Chimani (AIT) and Dr. Hussein Basma (ICCT). Compared to 30 years ago when there was no dynamics of coming out of greenhouse gas emissions we now see a clear path to climate-neutral mobility. The speakers agreed that we need all technologies available to reach climate goals. The technology is already capable of solving problems but the society approach is still challenging. Therefore, we need to deliver a positive picture of the future mobility and support the frontrunners. 

Organizers