Model region for electric mobility: North Rhine-Westphalia Come on board, join the ride! n an internationally networked and globalized world, mobility kilometres are freeways. The state thus possesses one of the densest Iis the key to economic success. Regardless of whether we look at road networks on the European continent and an outstanding basis individual or business transportation, mobility today is based largely for the development of a user-oriented infrastructure for the operation on conventional internal combustion engines. This has a considerable of electric cars. Numerous inner city parking garages, parking lots and impact on our environment causing CO2 and noise emissions, more a network of around 3,300 filling stations can be used to establish traffic congestion and traffic jams. charging stations. These problems are set to worsen rapidly over the next 20 years. North Rhine-Westphalia is a major metropolitan region with a strong Experts expect that there will be 4.5 times more vehicles registered industrial basis. The automotive sector is traditionally an important in 2030 than today, due in particular to the huge pent-up demand cluster. Every year, around 800,000 passenger cars and commercial for individual mobility in the emerging and very heavily populated vehicles come off the assembly lines of the production facilities industrial nations such as China and India, as well as the countries of in Cologne (Ford-Werke GmbH), Bochum (Adam Opel GmbH) and South America. The efficient use of resources and the development Düsseldorf (Daimler AG ). Added to this are trailers, semi-trailers and of new technologies must therefore be central to research. Making containers as well as vehicle parts and accessories. mobility affordable and ecologically compatible is a worldwide necessity and a vital opportunity in terms of industrial policy. Over 200,000 people work in around 800 companies in the automotive and automotive supplier industry, generating annual sales of some The German government has recognized the opportunities presented 43 billion euros. It is therefore particularly important for the state to by this development, launching the “National Platform for Electric keep abreast of new technology. About 100 companies and institutes Mobility” in May 2010. It intends to subsidize the development of active in the fields of battery technology, automotive engineering, electric mobility to the tune of 1.2 billion euros from state funds. electricity generation, transmission and distribution and which The German economy will use its own funds to contribute in equal possess great expertise, offer themselves as industrial and research measure. The goal is to have one million electric vehicles driving on partners. Germany’s roads by 2020. No other product symbolizes the future of electric mobility North Rhine-Westphalia with the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region technology better than the charging plug. Leading car manufacturers has been selected by the federal government as one of eight model from Europe, Japan and the USA agreed at the beginning of 2009 regions, and with good reason. Alongside Paris and London, the state on the basic parameters for a uniform European charging standard is one of the most densely populated metropolitan areas in Europe. for the electric car of the future. The basis of the agreement is an Around 18 million people live in North Rhine-Westphalia on an area innovative standard draft by the company MENNEKES Elektrotechnik of just over 34,000 square kilometres. At present, there are 8.9 million from Kirchhundem in North Rhine-Westphalia. passenger cars registered in North Rhine-Westphalia: 21.3 percent of all the cars in Germany or about 500 cars per 1,000 inhabitants. The tasks of the charging plugs are more complex than one would In parts of the Rhine-Ruhr region there are up to 1,300 vehicles per assume at first glance as they need to cover a large variety of square kilometre. functions. The smart charging connection developed by MENNEKES meets all these requirements. The charging plug is no larger than a Every day in North Rhine-Westphalia, 8.7 million people commute to conventional 16A plug and suitable for both the single-phase 230V work. Around 75 percent leave their home town and use their own car connection and the three-phase 400V connection up to a charging for this purpose. 90 percent of these car commuters cover a distance current of 63A. The charging technology provides not only an of less than 50 kilometres. This is already an ideal distance for the still electricity supply, but also the required communication interfaces limited range of today’s battery technology. between charging station and vehicle. A “plug present” contact, for example, activates the immobilizer and a “pilot control” contact North Rhine-Westphalia provides motorized passenger and product facilitates the exchange of data between vehicle and charging station. transportation with 139,000 kilometres of roads, of which nearly 2,200 Parties to the agreement include the automobile manufacturers Daimler, BMW, Volkswagen, Renault- Nissan, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Volvo, Ford, General Mo- tors, Toyota, Mitsubishi and Fiat as well as the energy providers RWE, E.ON, EnBW (D), Electricité de France (F), Vattenfall (S), Electrabel (B), Enel (I), Endesa (E), EDP (P) and Essent (NL). The charging plug is just the beginning: North Rhine- Westphalia wants to position itself as a model region for electric mobility in Germany and Europe. By 2020 the state aims to bring at least 250,000 electrically powered vehicles – from plug-in hybrids to purely battery-powered vehicles – into the market. It in- tends to significantly increase the market share of suppliers from North Rhine-Westphalia in the overall German market for electric mobility and to promote the settlement of new automobile manufacturers in order to utilize the market opportunities of this future technology for North Rhine-Westphalia and to move forward with the necessary structural changes in the automotive industry. © smartlab 48 WCR December 2010 www.worldcommercereview.com © Stadtwerke Düsseldorf AG © www.rwe-mobility.com To this end, the state has drawn up a “Master Plan for Electric Mobility of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, has set the goal of acquiring in North Rhine-Westphalia”. The most important players are the investors from Asia and North America for the Rhine/Ruhr region. companies and application-oriented research institutes which have the outstanding knowledge and project ideas to make the necessary At present, nearly 100 companies and scientific institutes in North research and development contributions. In the context of the Rhine-Westphalia are involved in the subject of electric mobility. In current Target-2 Contest ElektroMobil.NRW, the state of North Rhine- order to become the leading region in electric vehicle production, Westphalia is also providing up to 60 million euros for research and it is necessary to identify as many companies as possible in the development and industrial funding. production process. Within a very short time, sustainable, electric vehicles will be developed In North Rhine-Westphalia there are 13 companies and research and prepared for market launch in North Rhine-Westphalia. The facilities developing components for hybrid and electric vehicles state intends to assume a leading role on the path from the internal alone. At RWTH Aachen University, for example, a team of researchers combustion to the electric engine and invites competent partners is developing the Street Scooter prototype, a low-cost electric vehicle from Germany and abroad to help shape a new mobility. for urban traffic, with the aim of producing 10,000 units per year from 2012. Also in Aachen, Ford operates the only research centre outside the USA. Together with the city of Cologne and the municipal electric About NRW.INVEST company Rheinenergie, it is testing 10 electrically powered Ford Transits. The Essen-based energy agency Con Energy has launched NRW.INVEST GmbH serves as the central contact point for investments its electro-mobile Mia. Priced at 20,000 euros and with a range of in North Rhine-Westphalia. It provides potential investors from Germany 70 kilometers at present, 10,000 units of the small city-mobile are and abroad with a one-stop service ranging from location information planned to be produced next year. The Essen power company and the and business premises searches to arranging and guidance through French car maker Renault are putting 150 electric cars on the road, to negotiations and approval procedures. In addition to subsidiaries in Japan name just a few cases in point – all examples of pilot projects which and the USA, NRW.INVEST operates foreign branch offices in China, India, have now been launched in the model region for electric mobility Korea and Turkey. In China, NRW.INVEST is represented by three offices in North Rhine-Westphalia. Nanjing, Peking and Shanghai. The new players: energy suppliers in the no. 1 energy state The expertise in the automotive industry and the excellent energy The question has long ceased to be whether we will one day be driving technology know-how present in North Rhine-Westphalia provide electrically powered cars – now it is only a question of when. With the ideal conditions for innovative solutions in the field of electric development of infrastructures and networks for electric mobility, mobility. new players, such as energy supply companies that previously had little or nothing to do with the individual motorization of society, have To effect a clear and resolute change of direction, however, many become involved. questions still have to be answered – particularly with regard to the battery as the new fuel cell in vehicles. Designers are faced with North Rhine-Westphalia is the number one energy state in Germany. challenges due to its size and weight. Storage capacity, vital to the Three of the five largest German supply companies are based here.