What do our trainees think about the mobility of tomorrow? Julia, Jonathan, Sophia and Paul let us participate in their visions.
What is your ideal of tomorrow’s mobility?
Julia: I would like to see the expansion of public transport. There should be a larger, more meaningful offer so that, for example, you can use the e-scooter for short distances, the bus for medium distances and the train for long distances. But please do that without delays and in the countryside just as clocked as in the city.
Jonathan: Flexible, intelligent and individual! For example, the use of intelligent car sharing solutions, in which you use a vehicle as needed and then simply park it at your destination. There should be traffic guidance systems that calculate the optimal route and avoid traffic jams. In the end, however, it is a combination of many components and I believe that alternative mobility solutions will only be accepted if they are attractive for the individual.
Paul: For the mobility of the future, I imagine an almost unlimited availability of means of transport and not only in the city. This would mean that everyone would always get where they want, whether by bus, train or car. Then no one would have to think about how to get from A to B, even in rural areas. Of course, environmentally friendly means of transport would be the best.
Gasoline, e-car, e-scooter, e-scooter, e-bike or bus and train – what are you doing now and how do you want to drive in the future?
Julia: I ride a small gasoline engine. Without your own car, real mobility in the countryside is unthinkable. I don’t know exactly what I want to get from A to B with later. In my opinion, the necessary infrastructure is currently missing for an e-car: hardly any charging stations, relatively short range and how can I tell how expensive it is to charge an e-car? And in the end I ask myself: do I really contribute something to the preservation of our climate – battery production and disposal are not exactly environmentally friendly…
Sophia: I am also travelling with a small petrol engine – for the same reasons as Julia. At the moment I would find a hybrid vehicle more useful, I have a longer range and if there is no charging station available, I can still drive to the next gas station.
Jonathan: For me there is actually no alternative to my own car at the moment. With public transport, I’d lose two hours a day and still have to drive to the station first. I think that the topic of e-mobility is simply not thought through to its end and that too many questions remain unanswered if the majority would actually drive an e-car: Our current electricity grids are not sufficient for the supply – where should the required electricity come from in the future? How sustainable is e-mobility really if you consider the entire energy balance? Wouldn’t it make more sense to combine different technologies? And e.g. to invest more in the development of hydrogen propulsion?
Paul: I am currently driving an Opel Corsa. No one in my family or circle of acquaintances drives an electric car because the infrastructure in the countryside is simply not there for it. Nor can I imagine that this will change so quickly in the next few years. The infrastructure would definitely have to be improved and at least as many e-charging stations built as there are currently filling stations.
Conclusion: Our trainees at the IAA have not yet discovered the optimal means of transport, but perhaps in two years…
