In recent years there has been a trend towards electric motors, especially in urban traffic. However, even in the future combustion engines will stay important in many sectors. According to Prof. Andreas Wimmer, CEO of the LEC, maritime shipping is impossible to realize with electric engines in the foreseeable future out of technical reasons – such as weight and range.

Given that large engines are essential in electricity generation they will gain further importance due to the increase in electrically powered vehicles. The energy produced by wind and solar power stations is not always available in the same quantity and therefore the advantage of the combustion engine lies in its ability to quickly even out the fluctuations in the power grid. “The time its takes a combustion engine to reach the necessary performance level is a tenth of the time it takes a turbine”, Wimmer states. Combustion engines are also essential in countries such as China and the USA, where rail traffic is not powered by electricity.

Prof. Helmut Eichlseder supports Wimmer’s statements further. According to the CEO of the Institute of Internal Combustion Engines and Thermodynamics (IVT) at the Technical University of Graz in the future 70 to 90 percent of vehicles will depend on combustion engines. This is especially true for long-distance trucks, high-performance construction machines, and agricultural equipment, where combustion engines will remain the tool of choice.

According to Horst Bischof, vice-rector for research at the University of Technology Graz, the university is among the internationally leading research institutions for combustion engines, especially in the areas of large engine research and emission research.

Theodor Sams, Head of Research and Development at the AVL List GmbH, expresses his support for continuing research on combustion engines, which will make it possible to reach a “zero impact” level of emissions. This means that a vehicle produces an amount of emissions so low that it has no significance in their surroundings.

The institute directors held a series of presentations, afterwards there was a press talk with the invited media representatives. In the following days they reported about the conference in detail.

The time its takes a combustion engine to reach the necessary performance level is a tenth of the time it takes a turbine in solar or wind power stations. -Prof. Andreas Wimmer, CEO of the LEC