One woman retires, another takes her place: On Oct. 1, 2020, Anke Kaysser-Pyzalla, was appointed chairwoman of the German Aerospace Center, DLR. A materials scientist and engineer, she took over for Pascale Ehrenfreund, who had held the position since August 2015. Kaysser-Pyzalla said she is looking forward to “leading such a multi-faceted, interdisciplinary organization.” In addition to developing aviation and aerospace technology, the DLR focuses on research into energy, transportation, safety and security, and digitalization solutions. More than 9,000 people work for a total of 51 DLR institutes at 30 locations in Germany.
Austria
Nikutta new head of Alstom Germany
On Sept. 1, 2017, Jörg Nikutta became responsible for Alstom’s operations in Austria and Germany. The same day, he was also appointed spokesman for the board of management at Alstom Transport Deutschland. Nikutta used to work at Deutsche Bahn and now follows in the footsteps of Didier Pfleger, who has since been in charge of … Read more
On Course for Low-Carbon Society
The German H2 infrastructure is growing steadily. Early this year, Linde expanded its offering around Munich by turning the Linde Hydrogen Center in Unterschleissheim into a public refueling station. What had previously been the industrial gas supplier’s hydrogen R&D facility has been used since Jan. 12 to fill up fuel cell cars such as the ones owned by Linde’s subsidiary BeeZero.
Austria Promotes H2 and Fuel Cell Use
Like Germany, Austria offers government funding and many public-private demonstration projects in support of the introduction of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. Where potential applications are concerned, the country’s focus is on transportation, albeit interest in energy supply seems to be on the rise
Magna Goes Fuel Cell
The idea to use fuel cells as range extenders for electric cars is gaining in popularity. Now, Magna International presented its own approach during the 37th International Motor Symposium in Vienna, Austria, at the end of April. As a base component, the Austrian automotive supplier uses a medium-size van, which can go 90 kilometers (56 miles) on electricity alone. But when the battery charge drops below a certain threshold, the fuel cell is turned on to regenerate the power storage
Hybrid Cars Put the Brakes on Electric Transportation
The number of electric vehicles in use on Austrian roads could grow from 4,700 to around 8,000 this year, according to a statement made by the country’s environmental protection agency. In 2017, the figure could jump to 23,000; in 2020, there could be around 174,000 electric cars driving in the Alpine state. Jürgen Halasz, chair of the association for electric transportation at the federal level (BEÖ, see also HZwei issue from April 2015), an organization founded at the beginning of last year, believes that even a figure of 250,000 will be possible. All of these forecasts, however, include plug-in hybrids as well.
H2 Storage Ground Under
Europe’s first research facility to test the storage opportunities for hydrogen at former natural gas reservoirs was inaugurated last fall in Austria’s city of Pilsbach. On October 5, Austria‘s Minister for Transport, Innovation and Technology, Alois Stöger, celebrated the inauguration of the plant, which is part of the EUR 4.5 million project Underground Sun Storage
Second hydrogen filling station in Austria
On 21st May 2015, the first hydrogen filling station opened in Tyrol, Austria. The new station, on the Andechsstrasse in Innsbruck, is situated on one of the most important transit routes in Europe and is part of an existing OMV crude oil filling station at which it will be possible to refuel six fuel cell cars per hour with hydrogen in the future. On the occasion of the official opening, Austrian State Minister Patrizia Zoller-Frischauf made the following comment: “As a heavily used transit country which has to deal with CO2, particulate and noise pollution, we view an emissions-free