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Topic Id:
ID topic:
261
Partner Email:
riccius@europanorat.de
Project Title:
Investigation of the dramatic changes in locomotive industry, caused by the rise of new tractions, with respect to a great potential of corresponding changes in automobile industry in connection with the development of e-mobility
Abstract:
Caused by a broad public awareness of problems resulting from change in climate, in highly industrialized countries there have been many efforts in the last years to develop electro-mobility: Basically new mobility concepts for individuals have been elaborated. A vast amount of public grants for R&D in the field of e-mobility has been spent. The classical automotive industry invested much own money for the development of cars with electric or hybrid drives. Some smaller companies are trying to grow within the market field e-mobility, that is still a niche, at least with respect to e-cars. Test-drivers of e-cars, representing populations of urban regions like Berlin and its suburbs, investigate the potential of these cars for everyday-life with its typical mobility demands and traffic conditions. In this situation some fundamental questions arise: Is a great global technical revolution coming up, regarding the mobility of individuals in our civilization? Or will e-mobility in the foreseeable future influence only certain parts of the world, for instance Europe? Will there develop a great devide in the usage of e-mobility? What will be the fate of the classical automotive industry? Will it cope with the grand challenges caused by demands for e-mobility? Will e-mobility develop on the base of a new growing industry? Often we forget that similar questions arose decades ago concerning a former great change in mobility: For more than half a century steam locomotives were the only machines that could pull a railway train. Later electric and diesel locomotives entered the railway scenery. Step by step they displaced steam engines. Already for decades in Europe steam locomotives are only nostalgic attractions and do not contribute to the common public transport. It seems that at least a large part of the industry, that produced steam locomotives, was not able to cope with the traction change, that another kind of industry developed diesel and electric locomotives and grew with the increasing demand for these engines. The Master Thesis should check this hypothesis and investigate the great industrial changes caused by the transition from steam to diesel and electric locomotives in more detail. This could be done in an overview regarding whole Europe or certain European regions or single countries that were leading in the development of railway systems. Examples are Great Britain, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain. Important topics of the Master Thesis should be the following: Role of steam locomotive industry after the end of the steam engine era Economic and financial sources of the new industry producing diesel and electric locomotives Degree of production transitions from steam to diesel and electric locomotives in the frame of one and the same company Important developments in the field of steam locomotives to cope with the technological and economic competition with diesel and electric traction and to prolong the steam era Key innovations that accelared the traction change Conclusions for the potential transition from cars with combustion engines to those with electric and hybrid drives Remark: A number of different variants of this proposal of a Master Thesis can be easily derived. This regards the concentration (or restriction) of the investigations in whole Europe, important European regions and single countries.
Advisor:
Walter Riccius
Link:
Degree:
Master
Keywords:
