The motor show of the automotive industry, the IAA in Frankfurt, no longer exists. You can usually only find 6 litre engines cool among the right friends. The hottest new products can no longer be found exclusively at trade fairs. In short: the IAA Mobility in Munich is trying to lift the car industry into the new millennium. New location, new orientation of the IAA towards the topic of (e-)mobility - i.e. above all everything that rolls on four wheels with a battery under the bonnet, but also mini and micro mobility in the form of e-cargo bikes, e-bikes and even genuine "organic bikes".
So we took a look around the IAA Mobility, which had set up shop in the traditional Munich exhibition halls as well as in Munich city centre. Actress Natalie Portman gave an opening speech, Chancellor Scholz with an eye patch did the same, Greenpeace sank cars in the trade fair pond and several dozen climate activists were temporarily detained. Not to forget: The police presence in the city is very high, with forces from Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate having to support the Bavarians.
Almost everything is "E" at the IAA
The first few laps of the IAA exhibition halls give the impression that although almost everything is "E" - i.e. electric - the biggest point of contact between cars and the most beautiful and environmentally friendly vehicle, the bicycle, is probably the roof rack. There are hardly any trade fair stands where horsepower tuning or engine capacity records are held high, instead Samsung and AWS have huge stands and displays and batteries are the hot topics.
But alternative concepts are emerging time and again, such as an electric scooter for the police or a cargo bike called Mocci (pronounced Motschi), which we took a closer look at and test drove. A 40-kilo lump with a Schaeffler drive. The exciting thing about this e-bike designed for delivery services is that it does have pedals, but only so that it doesn't have to carry a moped licence plate. The pedals provide support and have to be pedalled in order to move forward. However, an electric resistor simulates the gear ratio and the motor does the rest. Equally interesting: the bike and wheels are made from an injection-moulded plastic frame. Most of the parts for the Mocci come from German manufacturers (including Schaeffler, Ansmann and Sigma). Mocci is backed by the Munich-based CIP Group, a logistics service provider that wants to use the e-bike to organise the famous "last mile".
There are also a few stands from "real" bike manufacturers, such as Stromer or the Spanish e-bike manufacturer Desiknio.
IAA: Mobility - everyone understands it differently
Some of the keynote speeches - short presentations or discussion rounds - naturally also focussed on the overarching topic of mobility. Meredith Glaser, Executive Director of the Urban Cycling Institute at the University of Amsterdam, tried a little thought experiment: Think of the term "street". What associations do you have?
- Noise
- Danger
- speed
Coming from the rather metropolitan city of Munich, I would say yes. Meredith Glaser argues in favour of thinking of roads less in terms of motorised traffic and more in terms of everyone: children, cyclists, people with disabilities, pedestrians...
This contrasted with the discussion with Stefanie Burkert, Managing Director of World Bicycle Relief Germany (WBR), among others. Her organisation finances bicycles and infrastructure for people, primarily in Africa. The bikes are inexpensive, robust and in some cases help to secure livelihoods there. How? An African child would probably answer the same question about associations with the term "road" with "I would like to" or "3 hours to school". WBR's Buffalo Bike can shorten the 3-hour journey to school to 60 minutes or give a trader a much larger sales radius and thus a more secure livelihood for entire families.
Mobility concepts are not only needed in big cities
Petra Husemann-Roew, Managing Director of ADFC Bayern, even brings the discussion to her own front door. On the one hand, her organisation also helps refugees in Germany, for example, to learn to ride a bike so that they can become more mobile. It helps people to regain the courage to get back on the saddle after accidents. And as a lobby group, the ADFC is generally committed to ensuring that more cycle paths are built in rural areas in Germany, for example. After all, there is often a lack of mobility here too, because the bus only comes three times a day in rural areas and more and more people no longer have enough time for a car.
This is where mini or micro-mobility comes in, such as e-scooters, rental e-bikes or even small rental electric cars. Consultancy firm McKinsey predicts a strong increase in all of these areas, while Augustin Friedel from MHP sees e-bikes and e-scooters in particular on the rise. However, according to him, manufacturers are more likely to cooperate with cities or municipalities in order to realise organised rental fleets, as nextbike and Donkey Republic are already doing. This should prevent the uncontrolled growth of various scooter providers in the pedestrian zone.
IAA and the City
Something that hardly any trade fair in Munich is allowed to do - for the IAA Mobility, the city's parlour, including Marienplatz, Odeonsplatz and the entire Ludwigstraße as well as the Hofgarten, will be closed off for an entire week and turned into an open-air exhibition area. A strong statement - one way or another.
However, it must also be recognised that the exhibitors on Ludwigstraße and in the Hofgarten had almost set up a small bike fair - including two test tracks through the English Garden. From mighty cargo bikes from Riese und Müller to chic Specialized racing bikes, everything was available to try out, which was very popular in the midsummer weather. There were probably no sensational innovations - like at the Eurobike, for example. But there were plenty of people strolling around and finding out about e-bikes who would otherwise not have found their way to a trade fair or specialist dealer.
Well, and then there were the huge car manufacturer stands on Odeonsplatz. In addition to VW, Renault and Opel, the Chinese e-car manufacturer BYD was very self-confident with its entire fleet. Here, too, the various manufacturers offered test drives with their cars. An interesting side note: despite all the cars coming and going, there was a great deal of silence, no engine roaring, no exhaust fumes.
If the IAA is anything to go by in terms of the mobility of the coming years, then the combustion engine probably no longer has much to say. The co-operations pursued by many car manufacturers and Takeovers of bicycle manufacturers was not an issue at the IAA.
Marc Strucken
Editor
