Key Hypotheses And Goals
Unlike conventional vehicles, connected electric vehicles enable us to consider more than mobility for mobility's sake. Systematic synergies can be leveraged between vehicles, energy grids, and ICT-based services. Our goal is to understand these synergies in order to start co-developing sustainable solutions for agricultural value chains.
Energy
Synergies between electric vehicles and mini-grids result in better utilization / uptime and therefore cheaper costs for customers.
Mobility
Future transport services can be optimized by better understanding current and future mobility demands with data.
Service & Business Design
Sustainable vehicle operations through context-specific service designs hold the key to successful and long-lasting business models.
Big Challenges are Arising in Sub-Saharan Africa...
The African agricultural sector is in the process of entering international value chains. There has been a lot of talk about sub-Saharan Africa’s mobility needs as a result. Boosting the region’s economic development and creating jobs for its youth will require durable and innovative solutions. However, scattered farming communities suffer from diverse and specific circumstances that make participation in value chains difficult. Said circumstances must be analyzed. Our research therefore begins with a concentrated analysis of regional contexts able to give insights on interaction points and causalities related to mobility.
...We Seek To Tackle These
The aCar Project wants to create long-lasting solutions for sub-Saharan Africa’s agricultural sector. We aim to do so by studying and tackling the mobility challenges associated with inputs, farming, processing, storage, and transport.
Project Timeline
Our focus on e-mobility is not just rooted in the environmental friendliness of electric cars. It results from past achievements in the creation and design of an aCar vehicle.
- 2013
Phase 1: aCar Concept Research
Phase 1: aCar Concept Research
January 1, 2013
Starting from 2013 the first concept of the aCar was researched directly in cooperation with regional communities in Africa. - 2016
Phase 1: Prototype Expedition in Ghana
Phase 1: Prototype Expedition in Ghana
January 1, 2016
An expedition in Ghana was enrolled including the first prototype of the aCar. - 2017
Phase 1: aCar at IAA
Phase 1: aCar at IAA
September 14, 2017
A further developed version of the aCar was shown at the IAA. - 2018
Phase 2: Research of Local Production
Phase 2: Research of Local Production
January 1, 2018
Starting from 2018 the research on on-site production in Sub-Saharan countries for electric vehicles in cooperation with KNUST University began. - 2020
Phase 3: User-Centered Mobility Research in Ethiopia & Cote d’Ivoire
Phase 3: User-Centered Mobility Research in Ethiopia & Cote d’Ivoire
September 8, 2020
Beginning from 2020 and in its third project phase, we aim to research electric mobility from a user-centered approach. For this sake, mobility is assessed in the target regions in a previously not existing detail. - 2021
Phase 3: Research Implementation in Africa
Phase 3: Research Implementation in Africa
June 1, 2021We aim to implement new ways of mobility driven by the research results and want to give recommendations according to the different regions. These concepts will be tried out locally to evaluate their potentials and acceptance in the local communities. - 2023
Phase 3: Project End
Phase 3: Project End
January 1, 2023The project will end on January 1st, 2023 according to the current plan.
Partners
Thanks to assistance from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), we are able to research electric mobility in sub-Saharan Africa. Several other partners are helping us complete this task as well.
We are especially grateful for support by the GIZ (executive sponsor) and Menschen für Menschen (NGO).
Experts working out of Ethiopian and Ivorian universities provide valuable support.
We are consistently seeking knowledge from specialists. If you would like to get involved, please get in touch!
Our Team
Our core team consists of three fully-funded researchers working out of the Institute of Automotive Technology at the Technical University Munich.
Clemens Pizzinini
Service
My research focuses on the touchpoints between technology and the customer. I want to know how smart services connected to electric vehicles can potentially lower the cost of transportation.
David Ziegler
Mobility
My goal is to research mobility patterns in the sub-Saharan region. Through the acquisition of different datasets, I want to implement scientific models able to predict mobility behaviours and demands in new, innovative ways.
Philipp Rosner
Energy
My research investigates how to supply battery electric vehicles with energy in Africa. Additionally, I determine effects of intelligently coupled operation on decentralized electrification concepts and vehicle design.
Get In Touch
Find below the places we are currently located at.
- Boltzmannstr. 15, 85748 Garching
- ftm@ftm.mw.tum.de
- +49 89 289 10441