Hannover Messe 2019 Sneak Peak #1
Hannover Messe starts April 1 and Sweden is the partner country this year. For the diligent readers amongst you, you probably noticed in my last blog that we just got back from Lerum, Sweden. (Light bulb moment!)
Well, there was a good reason for that. Lerum, a bit outside of lovely Gothenburg, is the home of Clean Motion, a bubbling Swedish start-up that is well on its way to making sustainable mobility a reality. And the secret to this reality is called the Zbee.
The Zbee embodies what the team likes to call “Sophisticated Simplicity”. A 100% electric pod, the Zbee contains 270 parts and weighs 280 kilograms. It is 5 times more energy efficient than a conventional electric car. And, I can vouch for it – it is fun to drive – really fun!
Cool factor aside, the team behind the Zbee took every aspect of the design process and turned it upside down. The sleek composite monocoque was inspired by the sailing dinghy that Clean Motion CEO Göran Folkesson’s kids were sailing. Clean Motion’s dedicated and passionate engineers were on personal quests to make the engine as efficient as possible and shave precious grams of weight off the pod without sacrificing the structural integrity, of course. (This advanced composite analysis was done using Simcenter 3D and Fibersim. By the way, the entire digital twin is based on Teamcenter and NX.)
Take a Bzzt taxi the next time you are in Stockholm
But the great part of the story is that the gang behind the Zbee didn’t stop when they had a great product. They took it a step further and developed a micro-factory concept using Tecnomatix Plant Simulation software (free trial here) so that customers around would have the digital twin of a micro-factory and production process as well as the digital twin of the Zbee.
This means that anyone practically anywhere on the planet could create a Zbee micro-factory and manufacture the Zbee locally, bringing sustainable mobility and economic empowerment to communities around the globe. See, sometimes the simplest ideas can change the world.
If you are going to Hannover Messe, keep your eyes out for the Zbee and its digital twin and digital micro-factory. You can find them at the Siemens Industry Software booth (Hall 6 J30) as well as the Swedish Energy Pavilion (Hall 12, Stand B49)
See the Clean Motion blog about Hannover Messe as well: https://cleanmotion.se/2019/03/collaboration-the-new-normal/
