The presentation by Andreas Pfeffer, Managing Director of TO ZERO GmbH, was met with great interest.
Andreas Pfeffer reported on the world’s megatrends and on the growing hunger for energy, and explained the challenges associated with limited planetary fossil resources
His statement: The longer we wait to switch to alternative drives, the more massive the pressure to act will be and the greater the pressure to act will be to achieve the 1.5°C target.
In the further course of the presentation, he reported on the concept of commercial vehicles, namely converting existing diesel city buses to electric drive vehicles. According to his findings, in many cases buses are no longer usable due to the tightening of emissions standards in tenders and are therefore scrapped or sold abroad. However, the vehicle itself, i.e. the chassis and superstructures of the vehicles, can still be used in the long term at this time.
The current range of converted buses is already over 400 kilometres, and battery technology is constantly improving.
Converting existing assets is more resource-efficient than producing new ones. Passengers are more interested in punctuality, cleanliness, Wi-Fi and USB charging options than the age of the vehicles.
And it is currently clear that subsidies are limited, and the obligation to switch to environmentally friendly drive systems is in place due to the Clean Vehicle Directive. Even more reason to make the most of scarce resources.