Stories from the 2023 New Mobility Congress — Day 1 – CleanTechnica

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The New Mobility Congress 2023 is over. The dust has settled and we can now reflect on what was said, announced, or predicted over the three September days in central Poland. If you read my invitation to the event, you know the organizers managed to “create a unique venue for key stakeholders in the zero-emission transport technology sector from across Europe.” The main topic areas included growth of e-mobility, of course, the battery market, the electric heavy-duty vehicle market, corporate fleets, and hydrogen, which I have always been skeptical about.

I had the privilege to interview key participants of the congress and ask them about the now and the future. I also created a unique venue — my interviews were held in an old Opel Blitz camper from 1974. It is still running on gas, but the plan is to convert it into an electric drivetrain (more about that later). Enjoy the e-conversations of day 1 below.

Sean Maguire, Strategic Partnerships & Communications Director at Clean Air Fund, provided an excellent opportunity to ask about low-emission zones and how they can accelerate the electric transition. Also, regarding something that interests me personally because of where I live, he was also able to talk about whether they are only for big cities.

Next up: Guy Hitchcock, Technical Director of Low Emission Cities at Ricardo Clean Energy & Environmental Solutions. This continued the low-emission zones discussion, or clean air zones as Guy prefers to call them. We discussed the challenges, greenwashing, how to avoid those things, and much more.

On to William Todts, Executive Director of Transport & Environment. Do we stand a chance competing with China and the US? Can Europe accelerate even more towards the electric transition? And what is the low hanging fruit in the transition? Those are questions we posed to William.

Last but definitely not least from this New Mobility Congress interview roundup: Peter Badik, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at GreenWay. There is no need to introduce this man to longtime CleanTechnica readers. He has been a CleanTechnica reader for more than a decade and we have collaborated (or at least used the GreenWay network) many times. It felt like talking to a friend, and it felt a little sentimental remembering the beginnings of e-mobility in Poland in 2016 when CleanTechnica was pushing the agenda and supporting the young, nascent EV efforts here. Please enjoy this discussing and give Peter a round of applause for what he and his team are doing here.