The Donautal industrial zone is going green. The Klima-Connect real-world lab at Ulm University is starting a six-month test phase in the Donautal with 50 electric scooters. The objective behind the electric scooters is to encourage people working in the Donautal area to take the train to work rather than their cars.

“More than 80 per cent of the 20,000 employees drive their cars to work. Despite the fact that there are public transportation options for getting to the industrial area, they often choose to deal with getting stuck in rush hour traffic”, says Dr Martin Müller. For the director of the real-world lab “Klima-Connect Industriegebiet Donautal”, that is way too many people driving to work every day. “That is why we want to create an incentive for as many workers as possible to use public transportation by providing the green electric scooters, which can be used to travel from the train stop in Benz-Straße to their respective companies”.

The test phase will come to an end in October. The project is being supported by the companies Husqvarna, Noerpel, Teva and Uzin Utz, who have all designated parking areas on their company grounds for the scooters for this time period. Dr Martin Müller says, “Those who park the scooters in these designated areas earn bonus minutes”. The scooters are being provided by the City of Ulm along with the company Tier, the manufacturer of the scooters.

The idea behind Ulm University’s real-world lab is to promote climate protection in the industrial zone, with informational events, lectures on electric mobility and various data collections and analyses on the current traffic situation in the Donautal area. One way in which Martin Müller’s team is supporting the City of Ulm is with the development of a cycling path plan for the Donautal area.

This project, funded by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts (Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst, MWK) in the amount of one million euros, is part of the “Initiative Donautal Connect”, a consortium of local companies under the umbrella of the German Association for Small and Medium-sized Businesses (Bundesverbands mittelständische Wirtschaft, BVMW).

Further information:
Britta Stegen, project coordinator for the real-world lab Klima Connect, email: britta.stegen(at)uni-ulm.de, tel. (0731) 50 32 362.

Text: Stefan Löffler
Translation: Kate Gaugler

Mediacontact: Christine Liebhardt