Düsseldorf, January 24, 2019 – A highlight at this year’s CAR Symposium from February 6th to 7th, 2019 in Bochum, Germany, is Asahi Kasei“s electric concept vehicle AKXY. It is used by the Japanese technology group to demonstrate 37 solutions for the automotive industry. A second highlight is the participation of Dr. Akira Yoshino – the inventor of the lithium-ion battery – in the automotive battery congress on February 5th.
Established almost 20 years ago by the renowned German automotive expert Professor Dr. Ferdinand Dudenhöffer of Duisburg-Essen University, the CAR Symposium will be held for the 19th time this year. With 1,200 participants from automotive OEMs and suppliers, as well as 100 exhibiting companies, the CAR Symposium is a top-level event for the automotive industry. Among this year“s keynote speakers will be Dr. Dieter Zetsche (Daimler, CEO) and Dr. Martin Brudermüller (BASF, CEO, CTO). Besides the CAR Symposium on February 6th and the „CAR-connects“ career fair on February 7th, a „Half-Day-Special“ congress on automotive batteries will be held on February 5th.
With its first-time-ever participation in the CAR Symposium, Asahi Kasei takes another important step to intensify its activities in the European automotive industry. The „rolling competence center“ AKXY – exhibited on the main stage – incorporates 37 different materials and innovations of the company for the automotive industry – including high-performance plastics, sensors and synthetic rubber. The concept car has been introduced to a European audience for the first time at a customer event in September 2018, followed by the electronica fair in Munich 2018. As such, the CAR Symposium marks the third official appearance of the vehicle in Europe.
The participation of Dr. Akira Yoshino, Honorary Fellow of Asahi Kasei, as a speaker at the automotive battery congress on February 5th is another highlight of the CAR Symposium. As a research associate at Asahi Kasei, he developed the very first functional and safe prototype of a lithium-ion battery in the early 1980s. Since then, the company has been a pioneer in the field of lithium-ion battery research. As world market leader in lithium-ion battery separators, the Asahi Kasei Group is today considered as a substantial material supplier for the battery industry. Dr. Yoshino will present his views on the current status of battery technology and will, additionally, give an outlook on future battery technologies.
Asahi Kasei will also be participating as an exhibitor: At booth 21 and 22, the company is going to present its newly developed lithium-ion battery mock-up, displaying a broad range of application fields for the company’s solutions for the battery industry. A „CO2 table“ developed by the Swedish subsidiary Senseair with integrated infrared sensor technology by Asahi Kasei changes its colour depending on the CO2 content in the immediate vicinity of the table. By displaying this table, Asahi Kasei and Senseair want to raise awareness towards the potentially dangerous impact of high CO2 concentrations in the vehicle cabin – an often neglected safety issue. The jointly developed sensor offers a solution to this problem.
Keywords:Asahi Kasei, CAR Symposium, Bochum, Akira Yoshino, emobility, automotive battery, lithium-ion battery, sensors, CO2, automotive industry, concept car, AKXY, battery industry