Saturday, May 18, 2024

MECSPE: core exhibition dedicated to energy transition and mobility

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Major focuses of MECSPE, a Core Exhibition dedicated to energy transition and mobility, the Aluminum Path by METEF and the debut of Elettronica Italia.

The year opened with encouraging signs for the industrial sector: inflation and energy prices are dropping, the automotive market is regaining share and, as recorded by Istat, November industry turnover grew by +11.5 percent compared to the same period in the previous year.

An expression of this positive trend will be the upcoming edition of MECSPE, the main exhibition dedicated to innovation in the manufacturing industry, organized by Senaf and scheduled to take place at BolognaFiere from March 29 to 31, which, as every year, gathers adhesions from all over the country and abroad.

In fact, about 2,000 companies in the industry have already decided to exhibit in the MECSPE halls, and numerous visitors are expected again this year.

Three days not to be missed

In 2023 MECSPE opens its doors to its highly qualified and professional audience for three immersive days to illustrate innovative and sustainable solutions for the supply chain, paving the way for the future of Industry 4.0 with a program developed on the three pillars of the event: training, innovation and sustainability.

In particular, this year MECSPE focuses on innovation in the energy field with a privileged look at the automotive sector.

Focus on sustainable mobility

The new Exhibition Core (Cuore Mostra) titled Energy Transition and Mobility of the Future is a 2,000-square-meter area devoted entirely to discussions on sustainable mobility issues and the technological solutions that will promote its progress.

Over the course of the three-day event, within the Cuore Mostra, the focuses of the area will be addressed through demonstration stations, roundtables and moments of debate with key players in the supply chain:

  • Solutions and Technologies for the Mobility of the Future
  • Machinery, Equipment and Manufacturing Systems to Optimize Efficiency,
  • Reshoring for Subcontracting Supply Chains,
  • Metal Replacement.

On the first day of the fair, the arena will also host the international forum 2035 AND THE AUTOMOTIVE SUPPLY CHAIN: Changing the Production Model to Respond to a Technological Transformation, in cooperation with the Tecniche Nuove Group, The German-Italian Chamber of Commerce , and the Industrial Fairs Division of Messe Stuttgart, including AMB and Moulding Expo.

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During the event, a team of experts will talk about the challenges and opportunities facing the automotive industry in the run-up to 2035, through best practices and successful case histories.

Among them Alessandro Marino, President of the German-Italian Chamber of Commerce, Markus Heseding, CEO VDMA, Dino Calia, Mercedes-Benz AG, Daniele De Caro, Stellantis.

Also within the Cuore Mostra, on the last day of the fair will take place the the Aluminum Energy Summit , the event organized by METEF, the international expo for the aluminum industry, foundry and die casting, transformations, processing, finishing and end uses, present this year at MECSPE with an itinerary featuring the world of aluminum.

The aluminum supply chain is booming, especially in the transportation sector, which has the highest use of aluminum in Italy (42 percent).

It is an element that offers revolutionary opportunities for industry because of its energy and sustainability properties and its ability to be endlessly recycled.

The panel at the Aluminum Energy Summit consists of leading speakers who, drawing on their experiences in the field, will provide the audience with the tools to explore the future of aluminum and primary metal production and energy conservation through recovery and recycling as it relates to market and energy supply challenges.

On the same March 31, the International Innovation Award will be held, the initiative organized by METEF that has been established for more than a decade to enhance the innovative content proposed by aluminum companies.

The debut of Elettronica Italia

Big news for 2023 will be the holding, at the same time as MECSPE, of the Elettronica Italia show, which debuts with its first edition and will occupy Hall 28 of the Bologna exhibition centre.

The area will be representative of all industrial applications pertaining to electronics, from the design stages tithe production of components and systems, from systems to services to the subsequent market distribution of components, complex assemblies, production machines and test systems.

The goal is to offer visitors a glimpse of the entire industry from a national and international perspective.

Thematic round tables

Also scheduled at Elettronica Italia are several thematic round tables such as the March 29 “Electronics in the Mobility of the Future” and the March 30 “The Industrial Recovery of Electronics: Advantages, Regulations, Bureaucratic Difficulties,” true educational and informative moments organized by the editorial staff of the event’s official magazines: PCB and Electronics Selection, from the Tecniche Nuove Business Media Group.

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«The new edition of MECSPE will be full of insights into segments that are crucial for industrial development because they intersect technological innovation and environmental impact reduction. We have worked throughout the year to bring a content proposal that is absolutely unique in the Italian exhibition scene and has an international scope» comments Maruska Sabato, MECSPE project manager.

«For 21 editions, we have been trying to offer the actors in the manufacturing sector opportunities for networking and professional growth, and this makes MECSPE an ideal business partner for companies. That is why we decided to shine the spotlight not only on the historical contents of MECSPE, but also on the energy transition, the aluminum and electronics sectors, which will be of fundamental importance for the future of the industry.»

Next appointment in Bari

Many others will be the special initiatives and demonstrations, which can be visited on the fair’s website, that will make up the rich information and training program of MECSPE, which in 2023 doubles the appointment and will also be held in Bari from November 23 to 25 with “Focus Mediterraneo” at the Nuova Fiera del Levante, an edition dedicated to the development of 4.0 technologies and a proposal increasingly focused on sustainability and innovation of production processes.

A partnership for a complete traction inverter solution

onsemi, top player in intelligent power and sensing technologies, has announced the signature of a strategic agreement with Volkswagen AG (VW) to provide modules and semiconductors that enable a complete electric vehicle (EV) traction inverter solution for VW’s next-generation platform family. Semiconductors are part of a general optimization of the system that supports front and rear traction inverters of VW models.
In the ambit of this agreement, in a first time onsemi will supply its modules for 1200 V traction inverters of the EliteSiC line; they are pin to pin compatible so that it is possible to adapt problem-free the solution for different power levels and various motor types. The two companies’ teams have collaborated for over one year at the optimization of power modules for next-generation platforms and samples for the pre-production are in development and assessment phase.
Karsten Schnake, head of the operative and strategic semiconductor taskforce Compass at Volkswagen AG, said: «The superior performance and quality of onsemi’s traction inverter modules together with our joint efforts to create the best system solution enable us to deliver the outstanding driving experience and quality customers expect from a VW group vehicle. onsemi’s broad portfolio of intelligent power and sensing solutions further allows us to offer cutting-edge technologies and features in our EVs, from the traction inverter and beyond. Besides this milestone, onsemi with its balanced production facility layout in the U.S., Asia and Europe, including the plant in the Czech Republic, is the perfect match to support our strategic markets with all high-voltage solutions and more».

Indy Autonomous Challenge: Milan Polytechnics’ s victory

On January 8th 2023 PoliMOVE team of Milan Polytechnics won the second edition of Indy Autonomous Challenge at CES in Las Vegas, an elimination tournament with multiple rounds of head-to-head racing between two teams. Results? The team’s car reached the maximum speed of 290Km/h, new world record on track for an unmanned car. Pushing the boundaries of autonomous guide head-to-head racing, PoliMOVE competed at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway against nine teams coming from seventeen Universities of six Countries worldwide. The second place was conquered by TUM Autonomous Motorsport of Technische Universität in Munich.
Sergio Savaresi, Ordinary Professor of Automatics at Polytechnics declared: «Precisely one year after our first victory, we were so proud and excited of having returned to Las Vegas for the Autonomous Challenge. This victory represents for us an important step forward in terms of speed, competition complexity and management of challenging head-to-head situations. We are very happy of this success, for the contribution by the Indy Autonomous Challenge and by all teams in making the artificial intelligence applied to drive improve».

John Deere, when students make the difference

The news coming from the historical enterprise John Deere, American company that for 180 years has produced agricultural machines and heavy equipment, speaks of young talents who allow big large world players to innovate. The latest news diffused by the company concern in fact the precious contribution by John Van Poucke, a part-time student and e-Machine data analyst at the John Deere Technology and Innovation Center in the University of Illinois Research Park.
In his ten months with Deere, John has taken complicated and complex electric motor testing and simulation data, and created a simple tool that shows machine performance results and allows a wider range of stakeholders to interact with and understand the data. Beyond the technical expertise John brings to the role, he is approachable, likeable, and easy to talk to.
Upon graduating from The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign this May with his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, John will work full-time with Deere as a part of the Engineering Development Program (EDP). He will be based in our office in Cary, North Carolina. Deere’s EDP gives young engineers a range of experiences quickly at the beginning of their career, which helps them find their passion, learn about the company, and grow their network.

MECSPE: energy transition and future mobility

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MECSPE is back to BolognaFiere from 29th to 31st March 2023, with several novelties and an exhibition core entitled “Energy transition and mobility of the future”.

An intense year has recently ended for the manufacturing industry, driving sector of the economy of the Country that faces 2023 with more confidence [1] and with a rising turnover (+1.9%)[2] and new important targets to be reached.

Among them, enterprises will certainly have to process new solutions constantly in the name of environmental sustainability, process innovation and competence development.

To succeed in it, they will have the possibility of relying, also in 2023, on MECSPE, the main Italian trade fair dedicated to the manufacturing industry organized by Senaf that will be held from 29th to 31st March 2023 at BolognaFiere, through a programme studded with special initiatives, conventions and institutional speeches on the three big exhibition pillars: training, innovation and sustainability.

Sustainability is the protagonist

The latter is the protagonist of MECSPE trade fair core, and exhibition area taking up 2,000 sq.m. entitled Energy transition and mobility of the future, where experts, professionals, entrepreneurs and institutional personalities will have the opportunity of discussing about the innovations in the field of the energy transition and of mobility, from electric vehicles to hydrogen ones, up to biofuels, and visitors will be allowed visiting demo units in operation, which will show technologies and machining intended for the sector of the sustainable mobility, from design to manufacturing, everything according to a logic of circularity and of optimization of the energy efficiency.

The debate will concern the whole supply chain that looks at new more sustainable processes, being extended also to topical issues in the manufacturing sector ambit such as the reshoring, the remanufacturing and the metal replacement, with a focus on new materials.

To enhance the good practices of those who are already committed in the environmental sustainability field, MECSPE confirms also in 2023 Ecofriendly – I do more, a real virtual path among the exhibitors that stand out with new solutions that are source of inspiration for visitors.

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Moreover, a novelty of this edition will be Green Plastix Arena, an area where the companies in the rubber-plastic sector will present their innovations based on the concept of circular economy, where digitalization represents a key factor for the efficiency of the resource management.

Orientation, training and recruiting

Broad room also for training and recruiting, with the return of Mecspe Young & Career, a place of meeting between the job demand and supply in the manufacturing industry, for highly specialized figures.

Furthermore, to facilitate the talent search in precision engineering, novelty of 2023 is the Mould and die Training Square, which will connect young future professionals and companies to create new synergies, due to the numerous professional opportunities in the tool sector.

The venue of fundamental times of orientation and training in industry 4.0 ambit will be the Competence Center Area, inside of which new concrete projects will be presented, implemented in collaboration with the manufacturing industry, to meet the requisites of innovation, efficiency and sustainability.

Part of the area will be also the Digital Innovation Hubs, incubators of ideas able to speed up enterprises’ manufacturing processes and at disposal to offer visitors all useful information for the digital transformation of business processes and the support to companies in the processing of projects 4.0.

Conventions, conferences and awards

For over twenty years, MECSPE has been the Italian pole for the technological innovation in industrial field, element on which the exhibition is based, which every year proposes solutions for industry 4.0, and also in this edition times of meeting and discussion dedicated to companies’ innovation and digitalization will not miss.

Starting from the Additive Manufacturing Arena, the space hosting conventions about new additive technologies, enlivened by speeches about real projects, technical presentations, case histories of excellence and institutional speeches.

For all the players involved in research and development processes the Simulation Summit is instead back, the first Italian independent conference on CAE Simulation in industrial ambit, conceived with the aim of promoting the engineering Simulation.

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With a view to encouraging innovation in development processes and acknowledging the commitment of those driving the change in industry, on March 30th the prizegiving of the Solution Award will be held, the Robotic Innovation award, which will be given to enterprises standing out for the best industrial or service robotic application.

Focus on innovation also by the Startup Factory, which has reached its third edition, an area to favour the dialogue among start-ups and small, medium and big enterprises coming from the manufacturing industry.

The Engineering and Design Square is back, too, and with a focus on the theme of materials’ transparency, this time it is centred on the aesthetics and design of the items on show.

«At each edition MECSPE tries modulating programme and initiatives according to enterprises’ real requirements, with the goal of supporting them in the growth process, for which we believe it is fundamental to boost the comparison and the mutual exchange of business expertise and practices – affirms Maruska Sabato, Project Manager of MECSPE – For 21 editions, the manufacturing field has met at MECSPE precisely with this spirit, and the results achieved confirm how much is important, for the chain protagonists, to meet in a highly professional context, rich in contents that look at the sector future.»

Associations, the fair’s added value

MECSPE convention programme will be enriched by the attending associations during all three trade fair days, which bring added value to the event due to their precious contributions.

Among them, MESAP, the innovation cluster for the Smart Products and the Smart Manufacturing of Piedmont Region, AIFM –Italian Association of Metal Finishing, present with its A.I.F.M. Finish Area, and CNA Production, the CNA area that represents the biggest representation association distributed on the territory.

The Italian association of Plastic Material Technicians will take care of TMP Square, meeting point for the network, aimed at the exchange of know-how for plastic material technicians.

Large room also for Confartigianato, with Confartigianato Village, companies’ lively collective showroom that also on this occasion will be accompanied by a series of events.

Many associations will take part with dedicated collective areas to develop the entrepreneurial fabric’s excellence of the various districts.

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Among them, in the ambit of the Mechanical Subcontracting Showroom, the Associations of Small and Medium Enterprises, API,will be present, from the districts of Brescia, Torino and Lecco, the Cluster of Metalworking in Friuli-Venezia Giulia COMET and the association of manufacturing enterprises CONFIMI Romagna.

In the showroom Machines & Tools will be instead hosted the ASCOMUT Village, which represents import and distribution enterprises and the branches of foreign companies in the sectors of machine tools and tools.

Moreover, an international collective organized by AFM Machine Tools Manufacturing Cluster, the Spanish Association of machine tool manufacturers, will be present.

The specialized areas inside the Automation and Robotics Showroom will include Aidam Village, the space reserved to member companies operating in the Automation and Mechatronics sectors, Assogalvanica, the Italian Association of Galvanic Industries and also CDO Networking Business Area, by Cdo Compagnia delle Opere.

The first time for Elettronica Italia

Moreover, starting from this year, Elettronica Italia event will be held simultaneously with MECSPE; it is fully dedicated to the electronics world and provides visitors with an outlook on the whole field and a focus dedicated to electronics at the service of the electric mobility and transport electrification.

Still simultaneously with MECSPE also METEF will take place, the international expo dedicated to the aluminium chain, a central branch for the industrial sustainable manufacturing.

“Focus Mediterraneo” in Bari

Finally, in 2023 MECSPE will double the meeting and will be held also in Bari from 23rd to 25th November with “Focus Mediterraneo” at Nuova Fiera del Levante, an edition dedicated to the development of technologies 4.0 and a proposal increasingly focused on sustainability and innovation of manufacturing processes.

[1] Istat source, companies’ confidence

[2] Istat source, industry’s turnover in August-October 2022 quarter 

Electric retrofit of light commercial vehicles

Stellantis and Qinomic have signed a partnership to develop a solution for the conversion of light commercial vehicles with internal combustion engines into electric propulsion vehicles.
Result of the collaboration between the Business Units of Circular Economy and Commercial Vehicles, the solution for the retrofit aims at extending vehicles’ life and use, granting sustainability and accessibility from the economic point of view.
The project is part of the global strategic Dare Forward 2030 plan that aims at speeding up the course towards the electrification and at strengthening Stellantis decarbonization strategy.
“I am pleased that Stellantis collaborates with Qinomic at the development of this retrofit technology. This innovation offers our professional customers the choice of transforming their vans into electric vehicles, extending their service life and complying with law requisites in the mobility issue” stated Alison Jones, Senior Vice President Stellantis of the Circular Economy Business Unit.
“The retrofit technology will allow Stellantis to strengthen its leadership ranking in the sector of the solutions for the zero-emission mobility for professional customers, joining our range of electric vans” affirmed Xavier Peugeot, Senior Vice President Stellantis, Commercial Vehicle Business Unit.
Eric Laforge, Vice President Stellantis, Enlarged Europe Light Commercial Vehicles has instead affirmed: “In a market driven by the last mile demand, soon the restrictions to the access to cities will compel those who have recently purchased a LCV to search for a solution to convert it into a zero-emission vehicle”.

Target 2035 at the heart of the 21st MECSPE

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MECSPE, the leading trade fair dedicated to industry, returns to BolognaFiere from 29 to 31 March 2023 with a new exhibition centre, many conferences and initiatives dedicated to sustainability: from renewable energy to electric motors, all the solutions to help companies in their transition to sustainability

Energy price hikes and inflation are not affecting total industry sales, which, as noted by Istat, grew in September by +18.0 per cent on an annual basis. This is a positive figure that encourages companies to continue their growth path, but one that must deal with national and European sustainability goals.

Indeed, among the ambitious goals in support of the environment, is the one set by the European Union to eliminate, by 2035, all diesel and gasoline cars and replace them with zero-emission ones (e.g., electric or hydrogen), a truly green revolution for the automotive sector that implies major investments and innovations in the industrial field.

In November, car production increased by +14.7 per cent—although it does not stand comparison to 2019—and more and more automakers are trying to adopt new ways of making non-polluting cars. In Italy we are talking about 4.2 per cent of the total production, a figure still below the European average of 20.4 per cent [1].

Thus, there is still work to be done by 2035.

Technologies and solutions for the new mobility

Aiming to help companies in the supply chain find the right solutions to implement this renewal, MECSPE—Italy’s leading exhibition dedicated to the manufacturing industry organized by Senaf, scheduled for March 29-31, 2023, at BolognaFiere—dedicates the exhibition core of its 21st edition precisely to these issues, with a 2,000-square-metre area entitled Energy Transition and Mobility of the Future.

At the centre of this large exhibition area, experts, professionals, entrepreneurs, and institutional figures will have the opportunity to discuss the technologies and solutions for new mobility, from electric vehicles to hydrogen ones down to biofuels.

Visitors will be able to see working demo units, created by exhibitors at the event, which will showcase technologies and processes intended for the sustainable mobility sector from design to production, all in a logic of circularity and optimization of energy efficiency.

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But there’s more. The debate on alternative energy sources will reach across the supply chain through new, more sustainable processes and will also be expanded to include current issues within the manufacturing sector such as reshoring, remanufacturing, and metal replacement, with a focus on new materials.

All these challenges are already of interest to businesses that are searching for innovative methods to help safeguard the environment: in fact, the latest MECSPE Observatory data on the second quarter of 2022 reveal that four out of ten entrepreneurs already consider their companies green and sustainable.

The main measures put in place are the use of energy-efficient devices (61 per cent), the purchase of efficient and next-generation machinery (51 per cent), and the installation of renewable energy production systems (42 per cent).

Sustainability, training and innovation

«Despite the efforts already undertaken by many companies, there are still quite a few entrepreneurs facing the energy transition today, at a particularly complex stage for the economy. We, therefore, decided to dedicate the heart of the MECSPE exhibition, which for years has been a reference hub for new technologies for our country’s industry, to these issues, with a rich program of meetings and initiatives on the subject – comments Maruska Sabato, MECSPE project manager –. Sustainability is an essential element for doing business, and it is encouraging to see how green awareness is spreading in the industry sector, also because innovation and sustainability cannot be separated if you want to achieve the ambitious international goals for the safeguard of the environment.»

Sustainability in the industry is one of the three main themes, along with education and innovation, on which the substantial program of events and initiatives of MECSPE 2023 unfolds.

In particular, there will also be no shortage in 2023 of Ecofriendly – I do more, a real and virtual journey among exhibitors who stand out in their business practices for paying special attention to the environment and providing visitors with new and inspiring solutions.

Also new to this edition will be the Green Plastix Arena, an area where companies will present their innovations based on the circular economy concept where digitisation is a key factor in resource management efficiency. Within the arena, several sectors will be involved: packaging, food, mobility and transportation, medical/health care, consumer goods, electrical and electronics.

Together with MECSPE, there will be METEF, the international expo dedicated to the aluminium supply chain, a core sector for sustainable industrial production.

MECSPE doubles up

Finally, in 2023 MECSPE will double its appointment and will also be held in Bari from 23 to 25 November, with “Focus Mediterraneo” at the Nuova Fiera del Levante, an edition dedicated to the development of 4.0 technologies and a proposal increasingly focused on sustainability and innovation of production processes.

[1] Data: Nomisma

Coiltech Deutschland grows and moves to Augsburg

Important novelties for Coiltech Deutschland, the international exhibition for machinery and materials for the production of electric motors, generators, transformers and winding.
Anticipating what would happen in the next future, Coiltech has accelerated its move to a new location, Augsburg, larger and able to host the trade fair in more functional manner for visitors and exhibitors on 29th -30th March 2023.
The exhibition reality has notably grown and is further developing. It already planned the next steps to host the steeply rising demand in effective way, maintaining the high quality that has always characterized it and satisfied all participants. At present, in fact, the overall exhibition area of Ulm promised to be insufficient to be the venue of all companies that intend to exhibit at Coiltech Deutschland, with the halls rented for 2023 already sold out.
Therefore, this implied the need of moving to a larger exhibition centre by other fairgrounds in the South of Germany. The reasoned choice fell on Augsburg, an easily accessible location for the reference industry in Germany, Austria and Switzerland; well connected to the intercontinental airport of Munich and already a place of positive experiences of other international exhibitions.
Currently, contingent geopolitical events have given a decisive boost to the move. At present, the city of Ulm is using part of the halls of the fairgrounds to house Ukrainian people fleeing the war.
Therefore, in the event this state of emergency persists and there are some difficulties in the coming months in finding alternative spaces to host refugees, so serious difficulties as to prevent the use of halls for exhibition purposes starting from February, Coiltech has promptly prearranged an effective solution to guarantee the carrying out of the trade fair.
This is not the only important novelty of Coiltech 2023: the World Magnetic Conference (WMC), held in conjunction with the exhibition, is enriched by the speech by Prof. Achim Kampker (founder and professor of Production Engineering of E-Mobility Components – PEM at RWTH) who becomes member of the Scientific Committee of the conference. Together with Prof. Marco Villani, who remains president of the World Magnetic Conference, it will be possible to implement a further consolidation in the German language area for this meeting acknowledged to be informed and to dialogue about last sector innovations. The conference is in fact an outstanding opportunity for the players to share research results and to discuss them in industrial and academic context.

In flight, emission-free

Using hydrogen as source to power fuel cells that produce energy for electric motors. This is the subject of a European development programme aimed at moving planes without producing emissions in flight. Behind there is Airbus company, which will start land-based trials of the fuel-cell electric motor by the half of this decade, on board of a test A380 MSN1 aircraft, which is already undergoing the modifications to host liquid hydrogen tanks and relative distribution systems. The project provides for using hydrogen coming from renewable sources. Glenn Llewellyn, VP Zero-Emission Aircraft, Airbus declared: “Fuel cells are a potential solution to help us in reaching our zero-emission ambition and we are focused on the development and the experimentation of this technology to understand whether it is feasible and practicable for the entry into service of a zero-emission aircraft in 2035. Going on investing in this technology, we are providing us with further options that will inform our decisions about the architecture of our future ZEROe aircraft, for which we expect to launch the development in 2027-2028 period”.

In electric … also in the office

Currently, the applications of electric motors can embrace a broad range of possibilities, even beyond our imagination. Those who appreciated the provocation of Disney Wall-E masterpiece will find many similarities with the latest idea by Volkswagen ID, precisely by its Norwegian branch. What is at stake? After its new ID.BUZZ electric vehicle, the new electric creature is an office chair.
The armchair has been implemented with various components installed on board of Volkswagen commercial vehicles, and it integrates various technologies that equip German brand’s electric vehicles.
The chair is actually an electric mini-vehicle with autonomy of as many as 12 km and a speed of 20 km/h. It has front headlights, LED daytime running lights, infotainment system, horn, heated seat and even ADAS, with 360-degree sensors and rear-view camera with display incorporated in the armrest.
This is an experiment of playful nature, but the chair might appear in some Norwegian localities for some drive tests.