Global Speakers

Dr. Jörg Wind has studied physics at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). After doing his Ph.D. in the field of semiconductor physics and sensor technology at the TUM in 1992, he started working in the field of fuel cells and hydrogen. As a project manager, he was responsible for material development for high temperature fuel cells and exhaust after treatment at DASA and Daimler Chrysler from 1992 until 1998. From 1998 until 2002, he was responsible for  PEM stack development at Daimler Chrysler.

Since 2002, he is responsible for  strategic energy projects and EC funded projects, comprising projects in the field of fuel cell vehicles and battery electric vehicles (including energy systems analyses and WTW-analyses). He has been involved in the setup of the FCH JU from the beginning on and is currently vice chair of the NEW-IG transportation committee.

Dr. Kai Peter Birke obtained his PhD in materials science (ion conducting ceramics) from the University of Kiel in 1997. In 1998, he joined the Fraunhofer-Institute for Silicon Technology, Itzehoe, Germany, to work on the development of proprietary Li-Ion laminated cell with a functional ceramic separator and co-founded two spin-offs to put this technology into production.

After being involved in the development and production of pouch type laminated (PoLiFlex) Li-Ion cells at Varta for five years, Dr. Birke joined Continental AG in Berlin in 2005, first as a project leader in energy-storage systems. He became senior technical expert in battery technology and team leader in cell technology, and in 2010 was appointed Head of battery module and electromechanics.

Dr. Birke has 22 years of experience in research, development, and production of energy storage systems with a focus on Li-Ion technology. Since 2015 he has been a full Professor at the University of Stuttgart, covering the field of Electrical Energy Storage Systems.

Daniel Lautensack started with ABB in July 2008 as Director of Strategic Business Development for the ABB Full Service offering. He was responsible for the ABB Full Service® department with the objective to improve the business value of customer’s plant through a well-established maintenance function. ABB Full Service® incorporates comprehensive reliability engineering practices designed to optimize asset effectiveness.

Since 2013 Daniel has been Head of the Local Product Group Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure. The ABB EVCI department provides charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. The e-mobility equipment from ABB is available for passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, electric buses and ships.

Prior to these appointments, Daniel was working for DAZEL Europe, Documentum, InterCAP Graphic Systems, Universal Instruments and as a freelancer in several M&A and Outsourcing projects. He also worked in projects for accounts like NOKIA, Ericsson, Lufthansa, CompuNet, TetraPak, Daimler, Kone, MAN Turbo, SAP, KLM, Lockheed Martin, Boeing and others.

Richard Lowden, Founder and CEO of Green Motion, has spent the majority of his working life within the car rental industry. In 2005, he pioneered the idea of an eco-based car rental system which became a reality with the launch of Green Motion in 2007.

His company focuses on providing car rental services to the business and leisure traveler that have an environmental bias, with the fleet being the greenest available and the company and its franchised network abiding by their own evolving environmental ethos.

This car rental entrepreneur has taken green car hire from its original base in the United Kingdom to 22 different countries, with the Green Motion brand continuing to enjoy an unprecedented growth within the industry. Richard’s knowledge of eco car hire is without question the strongest within the industry and as such, he can provide interesting insights on how electrical and environmentally friendly vehicles and infrastructure can play their part in eco tourism and the continued global acceptance of electric transport.

Jonas Maasmann received the diploma degree in Electrical Engineering in 2012 at TU Dortmund University, Germany. He is currently working as the technical project leader at the competence center E-Mobility, Infrastructures and Grid of the TU Dortmund University. His main area of research interest is the integration of electric vehicles into the power grid, for example the impact of home charging infrastructures to the grid.

Dr. Andrés Caldevilla holds degrees in electrical engineering from the TU of Madrid and in mechanical engineering from the TU of Vienna (2000). In 2008 he received the Ph.D. degree on energy storage devices for hybrid electric vehicles from the TU of Vienna. In 2011, he completed an MBA program in the University of Applied Sciences of Munich, specializing in project and contract management. Since then, Andrés is at DENSO AUTOMOTIVE Deutschland and leads the EU Technology Roadmap activity. His research interests include new advanced research topics as fuel cells or graphene.

Ben Scott is a Senior Analyst with IHS and his area of research focuses on the Electric Vehicle and E-Mobility market. Ben is part of the European automotive team and his responsibilities include research, writing, analysis and evaluation of the global electric and hybrid vehicle market.

Ben leads the research practice for the IHS Automotive Hybrid-EV Portal; a service forecasting and analysing all aspects of the E-mobility market including EV Production and Market Performance, EV Technology, EV Charging Infrastructure & Wireless Power, Legislation & Incentives.

Ben speaks regularly at industry events and has been quoted many times in the media and interviewed by journalists from leading publications such as Bloomberg, CNBC, Automotive News, Investors.com, Detroit News, EE Times, and many more.

He holds a BSc (Hons) in Physics from the University of Leeds.

With over 12 years of experience in the battery and automotive industry, Daniel Quinger is CEO of LION E-Mobility AG, which was established in 2011 as a holding company for the different activities of the LION Group. He worked for 3M, BMW and Enax Batteries in Europe, USA and Japan, before he founded LION Smart with his peers.

Daniel led LION Smart as CEO, before LION Smart and TÜV SÜD AG established the TÜV SÜD Battery Testing Joint Venture, which he managed for three years. After successfully establishing TÜV SÜD Battery Testing as the leading battery testing service provider in Europe, he returned to LION Smart, where he is currently leading the battery management systems business line.

Daniel is the winner of the Drive E award by Fraunhofer and BMBF (department of education and research) and currently holds several patents related to electric vehicle technology. Previously he studied mechanical engineering and management with emphasis on electric vehicle drive train technology at TUM.

Dr. Ralf Hannappel is in his role as Director European Electrification at the Opel Group, a project leader responsible for the next generation of electrified vehicles. With General Motors in Europe he held several positions within Engineering, Strategic Product Planning and Program Management as well as the project leader for the Opel/Vauxhall Cascada and Karl.

As a Physics Major studying in the US and Germany, he received his Ph.D. from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Technical University in Munich in 1993.

Olivier is an experienced global automotive executive with special expertise in Zero Emission Strategy, and Upstream Vehicle Programs. He started his career in the USA before moving back to Europe in 1990.

For the past 14 years he has held key management positions with Nissan in Europe.  Since 2009 he has been based in Paris and is in charge of Nissan’s Zero Emission Strategy in Europe. He is especially involved in organizing all upstream activities necessary for the successful deployment of the Nissan’s European Electric Vehicle line-up.

Since 2014 he has been project manager for the EU-funded TeN-T project “Rapid Charging Network” which will deploy up to 70 EV quick chargers across key corridors in the UK. As part of this project he has created a framework agreement between Renault/Nissan BMW and VW to co-fund the deployment of multi-standard quick chargers. More recently he has been admitted as a member of the newly created EU Sustainable Transport Forum.

Olivier holds a Master of Science degree in Marketing from the University of Kansas (1985) and a BA in Business, Administration and Finance from the Clermont Business School in France (1984).

ED is the largest design and engineering company in Italy, offering turn-key services in the automotive and transportation industry. The CEO of ED, Michael Robinson, is one of the earliest advocates of autonomous automobiles, starting back in 1996, developing the first two autonomous concept cars in Europe: the 1998 Lancia Dialogos, a luxury sedan with vis-à-vis seating, and the 2000 Lancia Nea, a fully functional hands-free driving prototype. The 2011 AgustaWestland Project Zero is a fully electric, fully autonomous, twin tilt rotor VTOL helicopter which won the coveted Grover Bell Innovations Award in 2014.

The 2015 ED TORQ concept car is a fully electric, fully autonomous race car, with no external windows, designed to accelerate autonomous vehicle development, thanks to an Open Architecture Mobile Laboratory policy which will offer fully functional Torq prototypes to OEMs and research institutes around the world.

In his role as Head of Valuations, Rupert Pontin is responsible for the accuracy of information provided by Glass’s, Europe’s largest vehicle data provider.

For more than three decades, he has been involved in the management, valuation and strategic remarketing of new and used vehicles, working on behalf of a number of key automotive manufacturers and leasing companies including British Car Auctions and Car Shop, in addition to running his own successful independent used car retail business.

Rupert’s experience covers new and used vehicle valuations, UK and European market research, provision of valuation and forecast data, management of small to large teams, profitable running of business units, small and medium size business start-up and development, project management and turning profit aspirations into reality.

At Glass’s, he sits on the UK SMT and is responsible for the editorial teams that provide the base data for all valuation and forecast products across the car, commercial vehicle, motorcycle, caravan and motor caravan markets.

He said: “Our goal is to provide the very best valuation, forecast and technical data to every part of the UK and European automotive industry alongside top quality consultancy.”