"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.fair-pr.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 “HydrogenAmbassador”?

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.fair-pr.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 100+ 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 “HydrogenAmbassador” 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 “HydrogenAmbassadors” displays during the next Hannover Fair 2006.

NL: There is another new feature, a Starter-Kit, for new exhibitors. What is this about?

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: To close, do you plan to hold the International H2/FC Conference again next year?

AAE: Yes, on Tuesday of the Fair, April 25, 2006. The Conference runs under the theme of “Worldwide Developments in Hydrogen and Fuel Cells.” “Worldwide”, in this case, means that we will have speakers from all different continents. I am very pleased to announce that Dr. T. Nejat Veziroglu, the Founder of the International Association for Hydrogen Energy, will be attending as our First Speaker at this Conference. Our speaker from South America, Argentinean Sergio Faballo from Capex SA Oil Company, will discuss the plans that his firm has to manufacture hydrogen on his own oil field. And actually not with the use of oil, but with wind power. I find it amazing that such a firm, with so much creativity, is launching such market opportunities. And this underlines my comments from the beginning of this interview. At the Congress Program, we will furthermore have representatives from India, Australia, South Africa, and from North American. Germany/Europe will be represented by Reinhold Wurster, L-B-System Technique GmbH and Board Member of the German Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Alliance (DWV). It was actually Mr. Wurster who inspired me to hold the first Hydrogen + Fuel Cells Group Exhibit at the Hannover Fair in 1994. At that time the DWV had not even been founded.

NL: Mr. Evers, we thank you for your time.

Quelle: Newsletter TREFFPUNKT WASSERSTOFF + BRENNSTOFFZELLE Nr 168:
http://www.energie.de/medien.htm