27-11-2017

This autumn, for the tenth time, Austria awarded prizes for outstanding projects in the field of climate protection. Among 173 submitted projects, in five categories, an expert jury, including specialists of the climate protection initiative “klimaaktiv” (https://www.klimaaktiv.at/) made a preselection. The public had the final saying, and 25.700 citizens used the opportunity to give their votes. The diversity of submitted projects and the growing number of public votes shows: Innovative brains and awareness for environmental protection can feed each other. Consumer acceptance evolves almost automatically.

This year´s award in the category “Unternehmen Energiewende” (for enterprises devoted to energy transition) went to Kreisel Electric GmbH (http://www.kreiselelectric.com/). The medium-sized company (approximately 100 employees) developed battery packs with a hitherto unrivalled performance, enabling electric cars to travel longer distances. Given the worrying particulate matter pollution in cities combustion-free vehicles will gain importance. Kreisel´s battery packs outperform previous models also with respect to costs and life span, thus accelerating the transition process to electro-mobility. What´s needed now is a sufficient infrastructure of charging stations which will – ideally – deliver electricity from renewable energy sources. Combining those innovative battery packs with car sharing systems can make a major contribution towards decarbonizing the traffic sector.

Kreisel Electrics GmbH, which operates a R&D center in Rainbach (Upper Austria), sees itself as solution provider. The company offers know-how in the fields of battery technology and car components as well as solutions for building technology and energy management. Moreover, Kreisel Electrics GmbH develops and builds own products in the fields of stationary storage of electrical power and charging infrastructure.