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What does the future of the passenger car look like? During the international fuel cell specialist forum f-cell, vehicle manufacturers will report on their concepts for future electric mobility with fuel cells and batteries. The congress and trade fair on September 26 and 27 in Stuttgart will also provide information on the latest progress in the use of fuel cells in portable devices, stationary applications for household energy or emergency power supplies, as well as on hydrogen manufacturing, infrastructure, and storage.
“The number of registered visitors already looks like breaking all the records,” say the event organizers.
Stuttgart (eos) – 2012 and 2014/2015: Anyone who is interested in vehicles with electric drives knows these years. This is namely when consumers are to be able to buy the first battery-electric cars or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles from their dealers. Representatives of the vehicle manufacturers Daimler, BMW, Opel, Toyota, and Daihatsu will be reporting on the technologies and strategies they want to use to define tomorrow’s mobility during the eleventh international fuel cell specialist forum f-cell on 26 and 27 September in Stuttgart. At Ride & Drive, f-cell visitors will also be able to test-drive some of the vehicles that are being presented. On the whole, the visitors can expect approximately 70 lectures from international experts in twelve topical forums as well as a trade fair with around 50 exhibitors from the industry.
Daimler: Fuel cell vehicles from 2014 onwards
The fact that the courses the car manufacturers have set for the enhancement of their model ranges differ is underscored by statements from f-cell speakers from Daimler, Toyota, and Daihatsu. Dr. Jörg Wind of Daimler reports that, following the successful F-CELL World Drive, the corporate group wants to place fuel cell vehicles on the market one year earlier than planned – namely in 2014. At the same time, the company is driving forward the market launch of vehicles with hybrid drives and battery-driven electric vehicles. Daimler is also committed to establishing a hydrogen filling station infrastructure: Together with Linde, they plan to set up 20 hydrogen filling stations in Germany as of 2012. An expert from Linde will be reporting at the f-cell on what these “filling stations of the future” will look like.
Plans at Toyota and Daihatsu
Toyota would like to be represented on the markets in the USA, Europe and Japan with battery-electric vehicles by 2012 and with fuel cell passenger cars from around 2015 onwards. A special focal point of the Japanese manufacturer is plug-in hybrid vehicles that combine electric motors and internal combustion engines. “We believe this is the central environmental protection technology of the 21st century,” says f-cell speaker Kojima Koichi of Toyota. “The technological components of hybrid vehicles are also necessary for the development of other ecological cars, which means they prepare the ground.” Dr. Hirohisa Tanaka of Daihatsu will report during the f-cell on the planned deployment of platinum-free, liquid-fueled, anionic fuel cells.
Extensive interest in information on electric vehicles
The interest in this year’s f-cell main topic “Mobile applications – fuel cells and batteries move the future” is extensive. This view is shared by the event organizers, the Peter Sauber Agentur Messen und Kongresse GmbH and Wirtschaftsförderung Region Stuttgart GmbH (WSR – economic promotion). “We have never had so many registrations at the beginning of September as in this year,” reports Peter Sauber, who expects the outstanding results in the f-cell anniversary year of 2010 to be exceeded once again this year with a rise in the number of participants. “The registration are coming in from all over the world: from the USA and Canada, but also from South Africa, Japan, China, and Russia.” An increasing number of participants use the f-cell as a platform to make new business contacts and to reinforce existing ones – the f-cell trade fair is thus developing into an increasingly important element of the event. For the regional economic promotion agency WRS, the f-cell is a central component of activities regarding the topic of electromobility: “With this international event, the Stuttgart region presents itself to experts from all over the world as a location that wants to be involved with a leading position in the gradual transition to alternative drives, thus securing the technological leadership and market shares of tomorrow at an early stage,” explains WRS CEO Dr. Walter Rogg.
More information and registration
Those who are interested will find the f-cell program of lectures by experts, the possibility to register for the congress, and other information at www.f-cell.de. The Peter Sauber Agency provides information at: f-cell@messe-sauber.de
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