"The Big Summer Interview
"
With Arno A. Evers, "Global Player" in the
Field
of Hydrogen and Fuel Cells
By: Werner Stützel, Hydrogen + Fuel Cell Newsletter
Translated by: Megan McCool
Source: Newsletter TREFFPUNKT WASSERSTOFF +
BRENNSTOFFZELLE Nr 168:
http://www.energie.de/medien.htm
When the show ends, the show begins. This phrase of
Arno A. Evers, the organizer of the worldwide biggest
H2/FC Group Exhibit at the annual Hannover Fair since
1995,
is right on the mark. During the last days of the exhibit,
he is already pulling the strings together for next year’s
show. And immediately after the exhibit, he sets off -
with a jam-packed schedule and a notebook filled with
precise documentation - as the “Global Player,”
as an advocate for the Group Exhibit, as a highly respected
reference, as a chairman
at international conferences, as an observer of the trade,
as a Keynote Speaker, as a member of organizing committees…With
his recent visit to Istanbul
behind him, Singapore, London, Essen, Connecticut, Palm
Springs, Saragossa, Dubai, and Washington D.C. still await
him….
Since Arno performs nearly all of his work in English,
he often has to stop and think about how he would say
it in his own mother language: German. “He who
stays on the ball, who pursues research and development
worldwide, who is fully involved and consistently proposing
new ideas, only he can convince others to join in his
campaign. In my case, it is two-fold: first, the implementation
of Hydrogen and Fuel Cells in the real world and second,
the annual Group Exhibit in Hannover.”
With this recipe for success, Arno binds and builds
up further know-how of the H2/FC Industry at the Hannover
Fair, year after year. He pays no attention to the decreasing
interest in exhibiting; despite the drop off in exhibition
participation everywhere else, his exhibition in Hannover
has stayed at the same
level of success for years now.
Read Hydrogen + Fuel Cell Newsletter’s Big Summer
Interview with Arno A. Evers, owner of Arno A. Evers
FAIR-PR. Interviewed by Werner
Stützel, translated by Megan McCool
NL: Mr. Evers, when someone goes to your website
and looks at www.hydrogenambassadors.com/hydrogenambassadors/index.php,
they find a new proposition for Hannover Fair 2006.
What more can you tell us about this opportunity?
AAE: In my opinion, we are lacking good proposals
for the implementation of hydrogen-powered fuel cells.
Perhaps this is also a reason why we are not seeing
substantial progress in this field. But I am also convinced
that new ideas are sleeping in the minds of young people
around the world - like students for example, entrepreneurs,
and people who, at the first glance, may have nothing
to do with hydrogen and fuel cell technology. School
children get excited when you challenge them with the
topic and interact with them on a high level. “Before
Hannover Fair 2005
last April, we gave 12
experimental kits to high school students in my
hometown Starnberg, and we are eager to see what they
will create with these kits.”
NL: How does one become a “Hydrogen Ambassador”?
AAE: The application process is very easy. You
simply write down your idea, in no more than 1,000 words,
and send the online
application to us at www.hydrogenambassadors.com. Twelve participating
teams, with a maximum of 3 people in each of the four
ages groups, have the opportunity to win a free booth
at the Hannover Fair, April 24-28,
2006. All teams are treated as equals alongside
our 125 commercial
exhibitors; they will also receive our Full-Service-Package
treatment. Included in this package are one 20-minute
Forum Presentation, comprehensive Internet documentation,
and daily
networking evenings with all our exhibitors. On
the last day of the fair, April 28th, all exhibitors
will choose the final winners from each “Hydrogen
Ambassador” age group.
NL: Do you have any applications yet?
AAE: Yes, we have gotten very positive responses
from this offer, so we can certainly count on some remarkable
“Hydrogen Ambassadors” displays during the
next Hannover Fair 2006.
NL: There is another new feature, a Starter-Kit,
for new exhibitors. What is this about?
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AAE: Sometimes we hear that our prices to exhibit
at Hannover Fair seem to be too high. However, when
our customers experience what they get for the money,
they will realize that they receive much more service
than they ever expected. This complete service, which
is fully described on our website, is being developed
further year after year - in the interest of all exhibitors.
We have set the minimum booth size to 10 square meters
due to the many additional services that we provide
e.g. breakfast and lunch. However, for the first time
at the Hannover Fair 2006, we are offering the Starter-Kit,
in order to give those organizations with limited funds
the opportunity to attend. With this Starter-Kit, they
receive an exhibition space of 2x2 meters with two poster
walls for only 4,900 Euros/Dollars. In these cases,
the Forum Presentation is optional. Of course, they
will receive the Full-Service-Package
like the other exhibitors as well.
NL: Mr. Evers, let’s get to the current issues
of the Hydrogen + Fuel Cell Industry. Sometimes you
hear that the development progress is stagnant, and
that there is a lull. Can you verify this statement,
based on your international knowledge, experience, and
impressions?
AAE: On a global scale, there are still many success
stories in this field. But these are more from smaller
companies, as you can also see in your Newsletter. Even
in big companies, relative to the overall number of
employees, only small groups are actually working with
hydrogen and fuel cells. Sometimes in disguise, without
much attention from the media. Some developments are
not highly promoted by the companies or research institutions.
Since 1995,
more than 300 international companies, research institutes,
and associations have exhibited at our Group Exhibit
Hydrogen + Fuel Cells at the Hannover Fair. Some of
them have merged (e.g. HPower); some have been bought
out by the employees (e.g. Hydrogen Burner). However,
these 300 organizations that have exhibited at the Hannover
Fair so far, are only the top of the iceberg. Worldwide
there are not hundreds, but thousands of companies,
research institutions, initiatives, and more and more
associations, who work with more or less power to improve
this technology of the future. On my worldwide
travels, I am constantly positively surprised to
see the current activities and to meet the people behind
these activities. In Turkey, for example, there is a
small company working on the production of hydrogen
on board of conventional cars. The heart of this unit,
the Reformer, is not bigger than two soda cans. The
simple way always wins. This is also true for the production
of hydrogen. I met representatives from another Turkish
company who are producing hydrogen directly from solar
energy. I don’t see the “lull” that
everyone is talking about at the moment.
NL: But there appears be a consolidation, worldwide,
of events and conferences - the public stage for hydrogen
and fuel cell technology…
AAE: That is not a contradiction to my original
statement. For my point of view, too many organizers
have used the topic Hydrogen + Fuel Cells for their
events, without much background knowledge in the field.
It is unrealistic to think that this industry can withstand
all the events in every corner of the world, nearly
every week. The spectrum is just too broad. I hypothesize,
which may not be the opinion of all your readers, that
in Europe the Hannover Fair will hold its ground as
a leader beside two additional conferences in the USA
and probably something in Asia. But that would be it.
According to our slogan “Go to where the Market
is!”, if you are really looking for the international
commercial market, in principal, it’s enough to
go to Hannover Fair – either as an exhibitor or
as a trade show visitor.
NL: Isn’t it a little presumptuous to make a
claim like this?
AAE: Of course, someone else may have a different
opinion. But I would like to justify my statement: a
conference is a conference, and even the best accompanying
exhibition, with its traditional “ballroom atmosphere”,
doesn’t make that much of a difference. In our
case, it is completely the other way around. We have
the worldwide biggest and most international Group Exhibit
at the largest Energy and Industry Fair, with an accompanying
conference. When you go to any conventional conference,
you find and meet only the 150-2000 insiders who have
known each other for ages, and know all about what the
others are doing. There is no fresh air. An accompanying
exhibition has only limited success, because it lacks
the solid platform of the Hannover Fair. With 40,000
to 60,000 commercial trade show visitors, nowhere else
will one find such a concentration of the Energy Industry
– the main topic of the next Hannover Fair. In
2006, the trade show visitors and exhibitors profit
from this extraordinary situation. In our case, additional
to the “regulars” who are with us every
year, there are tens of thousands of Business-2-Business
trade show visitors from all over the world at our Group
Exhibit. Here they will meet new people and find refreshingly
new ideas for their own businesses.
NL: Let me ask again…. you have said that there
are worldwide activities in R&D, but are these activities
moving the right direction?
AAE: This I cannot answer in general. One thing is
for sure, from my perspective: at the moment the people
are thinking only on a technology-scale. They are looking
only to stationary, mobile, and portable fuel cell applications.
In all three cases, they are hindered by existing infrastructures
and industries, which a new technology like ours has
to fight against. Does anybody really think that the
international battery-producing companies are only waiting
to be taken over? I am quite sure that they already
have competitive alternatives hidden in their back pocket.
I think you have to escape from this fuel cell technology-oriented
mentality, and focus more to the additional benefits
of this technology. I am thinking of products and services
that will benefit everybody worldwide in the future.
And these products and services must be new and be of
a higher calibre so that people will be willing to pay
a considerable amount of money for them. Why do you
think that young ladies in China are saving half of
their monthly salary for six months just to buy a cellular
phone?
NL: People will pay any price, just because they want
a particular product?
AAE: That’s how it is! Earlier, who could
afford cars, refrigerators, a computer, a cell
phone that costs 3,000 Marks ($1,800 USD/ 1,500
Euros), a calculator for a couple hundred Euros/ Dollars,
or a color television? All of these items were luxuries
that at the beginning, only the wealthy people could
possibly afford. Over time they became more and more
accessible to people of average income. Today these
appliances are used in every household of the Western
world, as everyday necessities. Because of this breakthrough,
the mass market for such luxury goods was and is exploding
worldwide, without any government subsidy. The implementations
of such items were “Success Stories”, because
they put their finger directly on the human vein –
satisfying personal wishes – and, not to forget,
because the consumers gained individual prestige by
obtaining these products
NL: And such thoughts within the Hydrogen and Fuel
Cell Community are still not widespread?
AAE: I am afraid not! At the moment, the discussions
and the Research & Development are moving much more
in the direction of technology and/or feasibility. Nowadays,
the increase of the velocity of the electrons within
the proton membrane is celebrated as a success. This
is of course also very important, which I can and will
not deny. However, the questions have to be asked, “What
does the customer want?” and “What is important
for his/her daily life?” The example that comes
to mind is one that I often use in my worldwide presentations:
In
1903 the Wright Brothers made their first flight in
an aircraft with an engine on board. They didn’t
come very far…after a few seconds, with a maximum
altitude of 2 meters / 7 feet, they landed at a distance
of 269 meters / 882 feet from their starting point.
If the Wright Brothers would have then claimed: “Now
we have the solution! There will be worldwide flights
from Singapore to Frankfurt, and from Munich to Los
Angeles, transporting millions of people daily from
point A to point B, over all the continents!”,
all the experts would have shaken their heads in disbelief.
The laws of physics understood at this time would not
have “allowed” an airplane made of wood
and ropes to fly at an altitude of 10,000 meters / 30,000
feet with 300+ passengers. To this point, I say: “Dear
Colleagues of Today’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Community,
with your present technology, you are exactly where
the Wright Brothers stood in 1903. We can only hope
that it doesn’t take our industry another 102
years to reach the future potential which is now before
us!”
NL: After this slight sidetrack, I would like
to come back to the key word “lull”. It
appears to be that some car manufacturing companies
are in such a lull. Recently a representative from a
large car manufacturer told me: “Since we don’t
have anything new (!), there is no sense in being an
exhibitor at a fair.” Do you think this is the
right attitude?
AAE: At the recent ICHET
Conference in Istanbul in July 2005, the Research
& Development Division for Hyundai
Motor Company & Kia Motors Corporation of Gyunggi-Do,
Korea displayed two of their Hyundai Tuscon Hydrogen
Cars (FCEV). One car was used for the VIP’s and
conference attendees as a Drive-and-Ride. The second
one was a one-to-one Model with a very impressive display
of all the relevant H2/FC components, such as the tank,
the fuel cell, and the engine management. (On
our Internet documentation, you can find photos from
these two Hyundai vehicles.) You see that progress
is inevitably moving forward; it cannot be stopped.
Whoever is not fully involved and active in this field
will eventually have to deal with lost market shares.
Just take a look at the exponential demand for digital
cameras; those companies who snobbishly cling to the
good old 35 mm film are now in a commercial drawback
and some might be even fighting for their existence.
NL: From which corner of the globe do you expect
to see a readiness for marketing regarding fuel cell
vehicles?
AAE: We have studies from the University of
Central Florida which show that if all automobiles,
SUVs, and pick-up trucks in the USA would be driven
with a technology comparable to the “Toyota Prius”,
it would reduce the national US petroleum consumption
from 9 million barrels a day to only 3.6 million barrels.
In other words, the nationwide implementation of the
“Prius” Technology to all vehicles could
reduce the national oil consumption by 27 pc. Looking
at it from a global scale, the universal use of “Prius”
Technology in the USA alone would reduce worldwide oil
consumption by about 7 pc. My personal comment to these
figures: it all depends on what the individuals really
want. It lays in the hands of the consumer - in this
case, in the hands of worldwide car buyers.
NL: I would like to ask a political question,
if I may. After the dissolve of the German Congress
by President Horst Köhler, the September Election
could bring a possible change in political parties -
as long as the German Supreme Court does not interfere.
What do you expect from Chancellor Angela Merkel, a
woman who recently spoke to the VDEW-Congress in Berlin
about the importance of Fuel Cell Technology? How does
this compare with the present government?
AAE: The current German Chancellor Gerhard
Schröder has visited our Hydrogen
+ Fuel Cell Group Exhibit in Hannover three times so
far. It is absolutely inconceivable that a “Mr.
/ Mrs. President” of any country would ever visit
and moreover, would visit multiple times, an exhibition
for hydrogen and fuel cells! If Ms. Merkel were to become
the next Chancellor, she is certainly invited to continue
this tradition. Our exhibitors can discuss with her
about her Ph.D. in Physics; in her doctorate paper from
1986, she began with the phrase: “Hydrocarbon
conversion at high temperatures in the absence of oxygen
(Thermolyse, Pyrolyse, Plasmolyse) is, at the moment
and certainly in the future, of a greater economic significance”
(Source: DIE ZEIT, Nr. 29 from July 14, 2005). Perhaps
Ms. Merkel was already thinking about our slogan “Go
to where the Market is!“ Incidentally, Ms. Merkel
is no stranger to my company or to my team. In 1992,
our firm organized the “Chances
2000: Education-Trade-Career” at the Computer
Fair CeBIT in Hannover. On March 13, 1992, she visited
us in the position of the Minister for Women and Youth,
and spoke with our moderator Ulrich Walter about the
theme: “Europe 1992: The Challenge for Young People
in Education, Trade, and Career”. This theme
was and still is relevant. I wonder if Ms. Merkel still
remembers that interview…
NL: Mr. Evers, we thank you for your time.
Quelle: Newsletter TREFFPUNKT WASSERSTOFF +
BRENNSTOFFZELLE Nr 168:
http://www.energie.de/medien.htm
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