The zero-emission future of the transportation sector has prompted an increasing number of energy policy debates on railroad electrification. At Hannover Messe, it was Alstom’s new fuel cell train that garnered much attention. After having been developed in less than two years, it had its first run in mid-March and will reportedly be used to transport passengers starting in 2018.
Johannes Schiel, formerly managing director of VDMA’s Fuel Cells working group, left the German association of machinery and equipment suppliers at the end of April. His successor, Gerd Krieger, used to be his mentor and had been deputy director of VDMA’s Power Systems department. Krieger has worked for the association for 25 years.
The head of Swatch, Nick Hayek, intends to use the company group’s subsidiaries Belenos and Renata to establish a second stream of income by developing electric cars with vanadium batteries. After many years of work, they are said to be tested soon in China. In summer 2015, Swatch had announced its decision to stop the development of fuel cell versions and transfer activities in this field to Groupe E