“What will drive us tomorrow” was a question that was by no means easy to answer at the “Mobility Forum,” which attracted a number of prominent participants at this year’s transport.ch trade fair in the Bernexpo Congress Center . The trail clearly leads to electric drive – but also to other alternatives.

Photos: klk

There is surprising clarity in the assessment that electromobility is currently "sprinting" forward – and that, on the technological side, speed in the implementation of innovative drives and charging systems is currently key to being able to hold one's own against the competition in the coming years.

Although Switzerland is currently "number 1" in Europe due to its favorable LSVA (heavy vehicle fee) regulations, as Jürg Grossen, National Councillor of the GLP (Green Liberal Party), reports. According to him, 18.7 percent of heavy goods traffic in the country is already battery-electric.

High-profile Mobility Forum

According to Julian Galonska, head of eMobility solutions at Siemens Switzerland, the systems now available there can manage charging power of up to 1680 kW for battery-powered vehicles. A program called Sicharge Flex-Power offers a modular range of available capacities, providing energy from the size of a control cabinet (480 kW) up to container-sized units.

Remote maintenance for charging parks

He freely admits on the podium that charging vehicle batteries is still not entirely necessary service, to be able to offer reliable support in the event of an incident.

Remote maintenance is needed. "We don't want to send our people all over Europe for every little thing," said Galonska. E-mobility is still in its infancy overall. Clear political targets for the required emission reductions would certainly be helpful.

Mobile power sources

Didier Genoud, Senior Manager of the "Inline Engines" product line at Liebherr, also emphasizes the importance of appropriate software-controlled energy management on construction sites. The crane technology specialists recently introduced the Liduro Power Port, a battery-backed, self-sufficient power source for electrically operated machines, for use on construction sites with limited or no local power grid access.

GLP National Councillor J. Grossen

past the viewer relatively quietly equipped with an electric motor in addition to its conventional drive, enabling optional emission-free crane movements. Meanwhile, Liebherr continues to push forward with the development of combustion engines that can, for example, run on HVO diesel.

Even more variations

For hydrogen-powered variants, the timeline ranges from a project that started in 2021 to one that should be market-ready by 2031. And then, of course, there's the ammonia engine, which offers greater dynamic performance than hydrogen-powered variants. The disadvantage: ammonia is toxic and therefore
needs to be carefully monitored during storage.

 S. Stainbank: Liquid tank on the roof

of Corporate Development at AVIA VOLT, has absolutely no doubt that e-mobility is the future associated with lengthy approval processes. As is well known, peak electricity demand is crucial for the price of electricity.

Long development times

Those operating with lower peak loads and a battery storage system, however, still only need a medium-voltage connection – and possibly even a smaller transformer. "We need to make progress now – not in five years," says Schwald. "Then it might be too late." Urs Gerber, CEO of Volvo Switzerland, confirms that, given the average lifespan of a truck of ten to fifteen years, the development times are too long to meet the emissions targets by 2050.

Many paths to the goal

The goals couldn't be achieved with just a single technology. Although he considered hydrogen technology more of a "myth." For Volvo, "electric" is practically "standard" anyway. 30 million kilometers have already been covered without any problems using electric drives. Marco Monaco, Head Key Account Manager at Astara, had some fundamental points to make. The right to mobility is deeply rooted in human nature and implies change. This was already the case in the Stone Age and with the invention of the wheel.

A way out of the Stone Age

For Cryotrucks, Sales Director Saigido Stainbank explains the applications of nitrogen, ranging from fire prevention (inerting) to refrigerated logistics. Temperature-controlled logistics is projected to generate €72 billion in global revenue by 2025. Through "engineless" cooling using nitrogen, which lowers the temperature in the cargo space by 1°C per minute from a tank – an unparalleled speed – the industry could save an estimated 3 billion liters of diesel fuel.

"Never had a power shortage"

National Councillor Jürg Grossen presented figures showing that electricity consumption in Switzerland has remained relatively stable for the past 20 years – despite a population increase of 1.5 million. He argued that nuclear power plants would even be unnecessary if surplus energy from the summer could be stored. Grossen added: "We've also never experienced a power shortage, as has been claimed in the past." He described it as purely "fictitious .

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