MAN Group

Politics Newsletter

Issue 4 – December 2016

ENERGYMOBILITY

Climate Protection Must be More Ambitious!

The EU Commission has undertaken to decarbonize the transport sector by 2050. It has selected the presumably easiest way forward: technological innovations and manu-facturer investments alone are supposed to save the world. In actual fact, what is needed is a change of attitude within society, on the political front, and in industry.

By the middle of the century, CO2 emissions in the transport sector are to be reduced by 60 percent compared with 1990. The Commission hopes to achieve these targets primarily through the use of alternative drives. Especially inner-city traffic should soon be emission-free thanks to the electrification of drives. The challenge for climate protection, however, actually lies in finding alternatives for the transportation of people and

goods over longer distances. Aviation, shipping, and road freight transport can use alternatives to kerosene and diesel, such as biodiesel and liquefied natural gas, but these fuels still emit pollu-tants when combusted. Manufacturer investments in new drive technologies and higher efficiency in existing technologies do lower the emissions of individual vehicles, but these gains do not have a positive impact on the overall CO2 situation because the mobility of people and goods is constantly increasing. The conclusion: Business, politics, and society must act in concert; the user must also be made accountable for the side effects of mobility. It is not a question of restricting mobility, but rather of the efficient use of state-of-the-art vehicle technologies by drivers and the transport industry. Politicians in turn have to set the required framework.

1 – Transport policy 2 – Company | Company 3 – Transport policy | Transport policy 4 – Climate

Transport policy

Autonomous Vehicle Secures Road Work Sites

Drivers of safety vehicles on highway road work sites live dangerously. They are often the victims of accidents. MAN is therefore developing a driverless vehicle prototype that can safeguard a road work site.

Googling “safety vehicle” and “accident” will furnish an unple-asantly long list of hits. These vehicles, which safeguard highway road work sites and warn drivers of these zones, are often in-volved in rear-end collisions despite all of their conspicuous signs and warning lights. The result is fatalities and severe injuries in the vehicles involved in the accident. This situation prompted the 2014 launch of the aFAS project sponsored by the Ger-man Federal Ministry of Economics. Its aim is to develop “an

automated, driverless safety vehicle for road work sites on Ger-man Federal Autobahns” within four years. This fully-automated vehicle will follow slowly on the shoulder behind the mobile road work area to safeguard moving traffic.

The result at the halfway point in the aFAS project was pre-sented on the test grounds of the Federal Road Research Insti-tute. MAN and seven partners from industry, research, and public authorities have been working on this vehicle for two years. The vehicle has to meet very high requirements in terms of functional safety and quality. MAN is responsible for the driving function, wireless communication, user interface, and the overall vehicle.

To gather additional experience, the prototype will soon be tested on Autobahn shoulders in Hessen.

Company

On November 1, 2016, Moises Costa took over as head of the MAN office in Brussels. There, he now represents the interests of MAN Truck & Bus AG in the heart of the European Union. The aim is to provide MAN with an independent voice within the labyrinth of European institutions which strongly impact on the company’s daily business. Moises Costa worked for MAN Latin America in his home country Brazil from 2009 to 2013. Even

New head for MAN Office in Brussels

Company during this time, he worked in international government relations.

After his engagement with MAN Latin America, he held various academic positions in political sci-ence institutes at Brown University, the University of Illinois, and Brigham Young University.

MAN Group – Politics Newsletter – Issue 4 – December 2016

MAN Group – Politics Newsletter – Issue 4 – December 2016

Digitization and automated driving have been the buzz-words of the transport industry in the last year. But if the potential of digitization is to be realized at all levels, policies must be put in place.

2016 has truly been the year of digitization, as MAN and other commercial vehicle manufacturers impressively demonstrated through their participation in a cross-border platooning trip initi-ated by the Netherlands EU Presidency. With its new “RIO“ brand, MAN presented digital solutions for the transport and logistics ecosystem: by using an open plat-form, all data available in the transport system can be networked

Consistently Pursuing Digitization

and so recommendations for specific actions derived then in real time.

The objective is clear: innovative vehicle concepts and digi-tal services enable maximum use of cargo area, eliminate empty runs, and increase transport safety as well as efficiency, which positively impacts CO2 emissions. Achieving this goal requires concerted action from industry and politics. MAN sees political efforts that pave the way toward networked and automated driv-ing – such as public testing areas and the plan to revise licens-ing and regulatory laws – as a positive step in the right direction.

However, the challenge over the next few years will be to avoid national solutions and instead find timely answers to urgent questions through international collaboration. One thing is clear: the transport sector is in many regards a pioneer in digi-tal networking. The political sphere must nevertheless demon-strate an active political will.

Transport policy

The chicken-or-egg scenario comes to mind when looking for reasons as to why the sale of vehicles with alternative drives has not taken off: no vehicles, so no “filling stations” for natural gas and electricity, therefore no vehicles. But this is about to change. In early November, the Cabinet enacted the “National Strategic Framework for the Construction of Alternative Fuels Infrastruc-ture.” It stipulates the objectives and actions for building the infrastructure required for electricity, hydrogen, and natural gas as alternative fuels. Germany has now met one of the critical requirements of EU Directive 2014/94/EU.

Investments will be close to one billion euros. In the area of electromobility, all Autobahn rest stops with catering facilities will be equipped with fast charging columns, and a support program will establish a comprehensive network of 5,000 fast and 10,000 normal charging columns by 2020.

Alternative Fuels are Available

Transport policy For hydrogen filling stations, the aim is to create a network of 400 stations by 2023. At present, 21 filling stations are in operation. By 2025, a network of LNG filling stations is to be established along the TEN-T core network for trucks.

The LNG supply to ships in ports using “truck-to-ship stor-age” has already been ensured, according to the German Federal Ministry of Transport. The LNG supply infrastructure in ports will be expanded as demand warrants. According to German Federal Transport Minister Dobrindt, who calls it one more step toward greater mobility and less emissions, this infrastructure campaign represents the start of the turnaround in drive systems.

ContactMAN Truck & Bus AG · Corporate Communications Dachauer Str. 667 · 80995 München Phone: +49 89 1580-2001E-Mail: publicaffairs@man.eu

Publication Details Published by MAN Truck & Bus AGStefan Klatt, Head of Corporate CommunicationsE-Mail: stefan.klatt@man.euEditor: Birgit Bauer

If you wish to receive the Politics Newsletter as a PDF, please e-mail publicaffairs@man.eu.

IMO on the Path to Greater Climate Protection

During the 70th MEPC meeting of the International Mari-time Organization (IMO), the course was set for improving climate protection of the world’s oceans.

At the latest meeting of the Marine Environment Protection Com-mittee (MEPC), member states spoke out in favor of introducing a sulfur threshold in fuels of 0.5% beginning in 2020 (was 3.5%). Some member states attempted to delay instituting the threshold until 2025, but were overruled. Before the session, MAN Diesel & Turbo also spoke out in favor of the timely introduction.

Beginning in 2020, ships must be equipped with the appro-priate emission control systems, or the ship owner must switch to much cleaner LNG (liquefied natural gas). The use of LNG can significantly reduce sulfur, nitrogen oxides, soot, and CO2

without the need for complicated emission control systems. The German Federal Ministry of Transport shares this opinion and announced its intention to start a support program for LNG engines beginning in 2017. Nationally and internationally, the right course for advancing the maritime energy transition and strengthening climate protection is being set.

Climate

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MAN Group – Politics Newsletter – Issue 4 – December 2016