Alternative drive systems and intelligent networks

A drive system transition must also take place In local public transport, and with utility vehicles, because a large part of these route kilometres is still driven with diesel motors. The challenge is to plan strategically with a technology-agnostic approach while simultaneously developing tailored, innovative concepts; both in individual and local public transport, as well as in supply and disposal and in business traffic. The questions of which drive system technology is best suited for which application and how a comprehensive infrastructural supply can be ensured will continue to be discussed passionately – including at the polisMOBILITY conference.

In this connection, the municipal power suppliers will assume a new role, because the power fuelling the new vehicles must be generated sustainably and ideally locally. The prerequisite intelligent sector coupling of electricity, heat, industry and transport requires the dismantling of legislative hurdles and faces the challenge of aligning local energy generation and consumption systems with the need for energy security and grid stability. Already today, local best practices in sector coupling demonstrate which measures are suitable for scaling. Parallel with the decentralisation of the power supply, attractive new business models will in future open up for municipal subsidiaries.

Digitalisation also plays a decisive role in the urban drive system and energy transition, because digital traffic/mobility management solutions promise to reduce the complexity of transport systems and increase their efficiency. However, to efficiently harness the resulting potential, an understanding of market mechanisms and the logics underpinning digital business models is needed. Also to be clarified is how the public sector can benefit from the digitalisation of the energy and mobility sectors. 

The links between drive system transition, sector coupling and digitalisation are more than simply indirect and, in addition to their complexity, offer the chance to consider the mobility system holistically and to think intersectorally. polisMOBILITY activates the relevant stakeholders here and gathers them in exciting, interdisciplinary discussion, lecture and network formats.