POSITIVE ENERGY FOR THE MOBILITY TRANSITION
THE SLEEPING GIANT
—— — Hydrogen technologies are already being used in many industries, but it is still a long road before they will be mainstream.
- Mr. Cizmar, how do you get around the city these days?
- ———— I work in Munich, but I live sixty kilometers outside the city. This means a car is the best choice for me. That said, I’ve been driving an electric car for the past year and have already racked up 35,000 kilometers on it. I charge the car at home with electricity from my photovoltaic system. This allows me to have net-zero emissions out on the road, which is very important to me.
- Many people are still struggling to make the switch to electromobility. What convinced you to take the leap?
- ———— As an engineer, I’ve always been interested in learning about and understanding new and especially forward-looking developments in the latest technologies. I try to form my own opinion before I evaluate something. It had been clear to me for quite some time that I wanted to drive an electric car. The fact that I can charge it at home was one of the key points in my decision to buy one.
- Can the phenomenon of “range anxiety”—the angst of one’s battery running out before reaching a destination—still be used as an argument against switching to electromobility?
- ———— Many people have realized by now that this mindset has to change. You don’t need to “fill up the tank” but can simply stop for a ten-minute charge along the way and get an additional two hundred kilometers of range. It’s like the expansion of the mobile telephone network: the coverage is getting better and better everywhere you go.
- As an expert on the power grid, what are your thoughts on the growing charging infrastructure, which seems primarily based in urban areas?
- ———— Infrastructure doesn’t describe just the charging stations, but actually begins with power generation. How is the electricity being produced? How is it being distributed? How do we store the energy generated by photovoltaics or wind turbines? We’re moving increasingly towards decentralized energy generation and storage. If we generate and consume energy in a decentralized way, then we need fewer massive powerlines running across the country.
- That is surely something that concerns your clients as well...
- ———— Regulations are always a hurdle for our clients, who are naturally looking for good opportunities to enter the market. The new battery ordinance, which more strictly regulates batteries, is one of the top concerns at the moment, especially for manufacturers of battery storage systems. In this context we are currently receiving a large number of inquiries from clients who want to make their storage systems market-ready. The grid connection guidelines will also play a strategic role, since they form the cornerstone for topics such as bi-directional charging, known as vehicle-to-grid or V2G. This enables drivers to be paid when their parked vehicles feed electricity back into the grid when needed.
- How does the German energy sector compare internationally?
- ———— Our nation, with its population and industry, is a major energy consumer and has proven that we can manage without nuclear power plants for the time being. We’re already doing a lot in the field of renewable energies—I would say that we’re making good progress overall.
- What trends do you see for the future of your field?
- ———— I’m inspired by new ways of thinking in the area of power generation. For instance, what will the power station of tomorrow look like? There is talk of virtual power plants, meaning decentralized plants consisting of multiple individual systems. Together, these will have a certain swarm intelligence and act as one large virtual power plant. Digitization processes and artificial intelligence will certainly play a future role here. This is where we have a leg up in Germany and Europe, since there are some providers who are way ahead in the game.
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