Munich/Pforzheim, May 19, 2022. After three days of exhibition with exciting forums, in-depth discussion and two days of inspiring sessions at the Power2Drive Europe Conference, Power2Drive Europe draws to a successful close. The date for the next exhibition has already been set: The international exhibition for charging infrastructure and e-mobility will take place from June 14–16, 2023, at Messe München.
The growth of renewable energies is becoming increasingly urgent in view of the current political situation, massive increases in energy prices and the climate targets. Electromobility and charging infrastructure will play an important role in future in the intelligent coupling of sectors. This could be witnessed at The smarter E Europe, Europe’s largest platform for the energy industry at Messe München. It provided the stage for the Power2Drive Europe exhibition, which took place at the same time as Intersolar Europe, ees Europe and EM-Power Europe: In virtually every hall and at each of the four individual exhibitions, e-mobility and charging infrastructure solutions were presented and met with great interest from the 65,000 visitors to The smarter E Europe.
Power2Drive Europe showed how the different sectors of energy, transport and heating work together, explains Marcus Fendt, Managing Director of Mobility House. “The current debate around energy policy has made the importance of a renewable and decentralized energy system even more clear. We also see that the industry is way ahead of the policy-makers,” claims Fendt. Power2Drive Europe offers the ideal platform to find out more, discuss the topic and do business with international partners. Fendt: “For us, the exhibition is making an important contribution towards creating a carbon-free future.”
135 million electric vehicles will be on the road in Europe by 2035
One of the main themes of the conferences and exhibition forums was bidirectional charging and Vehicle2Grid (V2G): Batteries of vehicles with bidirectional charging capacity use renewable energy, for instance solar energy, and feed this power back into the grid when needed. In this way, V2G solutions help to stabilize the supply of renewable energy – an approach with huge potential, the experts agreed. Bruce Douglas, Director Business Development & Communications at Eurelectric, also predicted a bright future for the mobility industry: “135 million electric vehicles will be on the road in Europe by 2035, and these will recharge at 65 million charging stations. 56 million of these stations will be located at drivers’ homes.”
The growth of e-mobility in Europe and worldwide was reflected by Power2Drive Europe. Exhibitors presented vehicles from small cars to converted vans. Marlene Freienstein, Head of Marketing at Polestar Automotive Germany: “Power2Drive Europe provided an ideal opportunity to find out about the latest e-mobility innovations in person. We were delighted not only by the many fascinating discussions, but also the great interest in our test drives.”
Electromobility creates new jobs
Kurt Sigl, President of the German Federal Association for eMobility (BEM), emphasized that e-mobility will increasingly become a source of new jobs: “Power2Drive Europe is an exhibition for movers and shakers. It is where innovative SMEs meet, who ultimately create the jobs.” And create them EU-wide, added Philippe Vangeel, Secretary General of Avere: “Power2Drive Europe offers us, as the e-mobility sector’s voice in Brussels, year after year the opportunity to gather the industry’s thoughts on Europe-related issues in the member states and to find out about the latest technical developments in vehicles, charging infrastructure and software.”
The intelligent coupling of e-mobility with photovoltaics (PV) and new storage technologies is another trend which was manifest at Power2Drive Europe. Here, technological innovations such as solar carports are becoming increasingly common and important. At the Power2Drive Forum, speakers and guests also discussed what type of current, alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC), will prevail in future. Among the debaters was Georg Griesemann, CEO of Compleo Charging Solutions AG: “Power2Drive Europe is an excellent opportunity to talk with customers face to face. We can see that the market is growing very quickly. This exhibition is a strong source of inspiration for our team, it motivates everyone hugely.”
The smarter E AWARD for the Fronius Wattpilot
One of the highlights of the exhibition was the presentation of the The Smarter E AWARD: The Fronius Wattpilot won in the “Smart Renewable” category. With Next.e.GO Mobile SE and Smappee, two more exhibitors at Power2Drive Europe were nominated as finalists for the award. “An ever-changing market needs innovative products as well as an innovative platform for presentation and discussion,” stated Martin C. Klein, CEO of Next.e.GO Mobile SE. “We were therefore convinced that our new e.wave X would be off to a great start for its Germany-wide roadshow at Power2Drive Europe. We were then more than impressed by the response at the event.”
An intelligent, sustainable and integrated energy mix consisting entirely of renewables available 24/7, all year round: Power2Drive Europe shares this vision for the energy future with the three other exhibitions at The smarter E Europe (Intersolar Europe, ees Europe and EM-Power Europe). This year, The smarter E Europe was attended by 1,356 exhibitors from 46 countries and over 65,000 visitors from 149 countries.
Power2Drive Europe 2023 will be held from June 14–16 as part of The smarter E Europe at Messe München.