EL-MOTION+FC 2019 Vienna

January 31, 2019

And on the second of the EL-MOTION 2019 Conference in Vienna, fuel cells and hydrogen were added to the subject of electric mobility (+FC). The majority of the presentations on this day were about the hydrogen topic in relation to mobility. But, what is still an expandable topic for me in relation to electric mobility, are the two and three wheels. In the picture below, I visited a stand featuring e-bikes and cargo bikes. I would first like to say a word or two on bikes and will come back to hydrogen and fuel cells further on, before ending with another bike story.

Speaking to Flo Weber, the owner of Heavy Pedals, I was introduced to an alternative way of dealing with electric mobility. The company he founded almost 10 years ago is a wholesaler for e-bikes and cargo bikes, in Austria, that started out with families as customers and which has grown to delivery services. It is image, it is light, it is your advantage in the mews when it’s too narrow for the van. The above picture shows me on a cargo bike (by Urban Arrow, Dutch company). I was told that there are bikes that can handle Euro pallets of 300 kilograms (661 pounds) and that there now is a concept of ‘containerisation’ for these electric bikes; just like big containers but in small. Interestingly, “long johns” and also “short johns” (i.e. cargo in front of the driver) already existed in the 1920ies. Some 100 years later, the difference is, among others, the addition of an electric motor and an accumulator. The accumulator (or battery) takes two to three hours to charge, lasts for anything between three and eight years pending how you treat and tread it, and with LED (light-emitting-diode) lighting, ABS (anti-lock braking system) and many more neat inventive things to come, I continue to believe that before you step into an electric car one should always consider downsizing and reduce the number of wheels; where applicable. These days, it is tight on the streets, I encounter traffic jams here and there, and there are many ways to put electric mobile technology to good use. Needless to say, it is cheaper, or you can even rent, borrow or share it. The dealerships cooperating with Heavy Pedals have many possibilities, and I look forward to test a long john soon.

HYUNDAI NEXO Buttons

Following the picture-taking of the first EL-MOTION day with the HYUNDAI NEXO, I took the opportunity to sit inside this fuel cell-electric vehicle (FCEV) while chatting to people and exchanging experiences with hydrogen. Just as an aside, I noticed that younger generations are more attracted to this-style cockpit, as seen in the picture below, while I belong to the other contingent that may need to take it step-by-step.

In my Winter Test-Blog, I reported on the button that turned on the steering wheel heating. Now, it was time for me to learn the next button that was new. Mr. Heilmann of the Hyundai company explained that the button showing the car and the letter ‘P’, in the below picture (bottom right corner), when pressed, searches a parking booth for you while you are still driving, and when you are level with the other parked cars, you may already leave the car (the HYUNDAI NEXO), for it will park itself by itself and lock the doors for you. Same thing upon return, pressing a button on your key signals the car to come out of the parking booth by itself, you step in, put the seatbelt on and drive. I yet have to try it out, with all due respect.

Admittingly, one may ask to the Energytours-blogger (i.e. me, Mortimer #HydroChan): so what does this button have to do with electric mobility and the conference, let alone hydrogen and fuel cells? Answer: Everything! Well, I am here to find out stuff that catches my attention. And, when I have made the experience, then I share it. I write about it, I hold presentations and then we can entertain a dialogue. I am here to find solutions in energy and develop new business models. I have test-driven CNG (compressed natural gas) cars, electric cars purely powered by batteries and electric cars powered by a fuel cell and hydrogen gas. I have driven with fuel cell in 10 countries and refuelled hydrogen 100 times, and I have sat in electric and hydrogen fuel cell buses as a passenger. You can tap my knowledge and experience.

For more information on the conference, the presentation topics and insights, please feel free to contact me. I close with a picture of the hotel (the Radisson Blu Hotel Park Royal Palace in Vienna Schönbrunn), some banners of the conference logo and colours AND the bicycle of one of the delegates who happened to be working with an Austrian Ministry. His bike did not have electrical support. It was just a bicycle; and now I realised how far our society has come, hosting such a kind of conference and seeing this very KTM bike parked in front of the conference venue.