The future of suppliers

The future of suppliers

Florian Danmayr, manager of the automobile cluster of the Upper Austrian location agency Business Upper Austria and organizer of the automotive.2024 conference, ventured an optimistic outlook: Based on an analysis by the Austrian Supply Chain Institute, he showed that the majority of domestic suppliers, divided into the categories “combustion engine”, “battery-electric” and “technology-independent”, are prepared for the upcoming challenges. Wilfried Sihn from Fraunhofer Research was also able to demonstrate the possible effects of the transformation using a study. According to this, due to the reduction of the internal combustion engine in the period up to 2035, almost 10,000 of the approximately 41,000 production jobs in the automotive industry could be lost across Austria and around 23,000 new ones could be created through alternative technologies. “The prerequisite for this is that the companies’ market share remains the same,” said Sihn. The technological know-how is there, but the labor costs should not become a competitive disadvantage. Overall, Sihn believes that e-mobility is a given – at least in Europe and China. The other half of the world will still need combustion engine technology. "The question mark is the timing. Whether this will happen in 2035 depends on the availability of green electricity," added Sihn. As far as battery-electric drives are concerned, Sihn sees the standardization of battery cells as an opportunity for European manufacturers.

A large part of automotive.2024 was dedicated to concrete application examples, which are brought together under the umbrella of the “Future Mobility Region” initiative. It aims to ensure that the skills for the development and production of sustainable vehicle concepts are available within a radius of 50 kilometers in Upper Austria. “This is a rare density of know-how, even by international comparison,” emphasized cluster manager Florian Danmayr. A project from the Digitrans test region with a needs-oriented, autonomous shuttle was presented. The test vehicle is scheduled to do its laps in the Südpark Pichling near Linz in the fall. Two projects are running in Upper Austria on the subject of battery recycling and second life for drive batteries. Michael Wiesinger, who was born in Upper Austria, gave the participants an insight into the USA, where the manufacturer Kodiak already operates 30 autonomous trucks on long distances. This means that transport capacities can be used better and energy consumption and transport costs can be reduced. Another topic was cybersecurity: Since every vehicle now has 100 electronic control units that are connected to the Internet, it can also be attacked. The challenge is to ensure security from development to ongoing updates.

BRP Rotax and Renault reported from the perspective of the vehicle manufacturers: At BRP Rotax everything revolves around mobility beyond the car - from jet skis to bicycles. "In all of these applications, electrification is a great opportunity that brings many advantages. Power development, efficiency, robustness, noise. In addition, completely new vehicle types are possible," explained Markus Schermann, Managing Director of BRP Rotax Vienna. Development is currently underway towards an integrated drive unit, which promises more safety and lower costs. Renault, on the other hand, has been involved in battery recycling for many years: used electric car batteries, for example, are used as buffer storage - or repaired. One of 20 repair centers worldwide is located in Leonding, where batteries from neighboring countries are now also processed. In France there is a so-called “refactory”, a factory dedicated to the circular economy. Among other things, used combustion cars are converted into electric cars there. Frank Hansen from BMW presented joint projects with cities such as Rotterdam, Los Angeles and Beijing. The aim of these is to shape mobility in urban districts holistically. Lina Mosshammer, founder of the mobility platform Point&, also made a plea for diversity in mobility - albeit from a different perspective. It is important to her to consider as many users as possible as target groups for mobility offers.

In his statement, Upper Austria's State Councilor for Economic Affairs Markus Achleitner emphasized the importance of the automotive industry as the most important economic sector in Upper Austria. "We will achieve the transformation, of which the energy system is a basic requirement. When it comes to the question of how, we rely on innovation and openness to technology. Rules and prohibitions are the wrong way," he told the audience.