MobiliTec, which took place under the umbrella of Hannover Trade Fair 2012, showcased cutting-edge emobility technologies and applications and brought together all the major market players.

The exhibitors at MobiliTec showcased hybrid and electric drive systems, mobile energy-storage systems, charging infrastructure components and alternative mobility technologies. In its role as the central trade fair for the booming emobility market, MobiliTec regularly attracts in excess of 150 exhibiting companies and ties in directly with Energy, the world-leading trade fair for energy technology, which showcases the entire energy value chain, including generation, transmission, distri- bution, transformation and storage.
The show enjoyed the official patronage of Dr Henning Kagermann, chairperson of the steering committee of the National Electro- mobility Platform (NEP) and president of the National Academy of Science and Engineering. He has identified three key areas on which the NEP should focus its efforts in the coming years: research and development (R&D), standardisation and skills training. The German federal government has included these three areas in its current legislative programme and earmarked €1-billion in funding for this purpose.

The NEP’s R&D programme embraces six beacon projects. According to Kagermann, the Battery project alone has funding requirements of about €980-million. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research has adopted a twin-track approach. The first goal is to establish Germany as a major force in electrochemistry research. To this end, four competence centres will be created.

The second goal is to carve out a leading position in the mass production of dependable and affordable battery systems. In this context, special funding will be provided for the competence centre, located in the city of Ulm.

At present, around 20 consortia are com-peting for research grants in the area of battery technology.

The success of electromobility will depend crucially on whether manufacturers manage to develop energy storage systems that are more compact and more efficient. Against this background, the organisers decided to create the Energy Storage Competence Centre at MobiliTec, which provided those concerned with an opportunity to present their products and concepts to an international audience. The competence centre focused on raw materials as well as the integration of individual cells and modules in order to create battery packs.
Individual sectors already boast a high level of expertise in the area of electromobility – for example, manufacturers of electrically powered forklift trucks. Linde Hydraulics (part of the Linde materials handling division) has, over many decades, specialised in hydrostatic and electric transmission systems for industrial trucks, as well as vehicles deployed in the construction, forestry and farming industries. Since 2010, Linde has been making this know-how available to other industrial sectors.

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