V - The magazine of the VOLLMER Group - 2018

BRIDGE TECHNOLOGY OR VEHICLE DRIVE WITH A FUTURE? On 1 January 2018 there were around 236,700 registered hybrid cars on the road in Germany. This is not particularly high in view of the 46.5 million passenger vehicles altogether. Is the hybrid car a minority group under threat of extinction? There is no clear answer to this question. There are too many different hybrid technologies, which should not all be lumped together. A cautious conclusion is nevertheless allowed: The hybrid motor is very likely "only" a temporary phenomenon. However, a phenomenon which is only overtaken when elec- tric cars are charged within a few minutes and travel as far as vehicles with a combustion engine with a single charge. When will this happen? Time will tell. As interesting and diverse as the automotive industry is, the fact of the matter is that whoever wants to tackle the topic of the hybrid to some extent should also cast a sideways glance at other hybrids, apart from the hybrid vehicle drive. There are countless of them. We describe three very different hybrids below. 1. THE HYBRID OPERATING THEATRE When you enter the cardiac surgery op- erating theatre at the University Hos- pital Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH), you imagine yourself in the future. Large screens are mounted everywhere along the walls, which present the results of imaging technologies. An angiogra- phy system is installed on the ceiling, which maps vessels radiologically. In the middle of the theatre is the modern multifunction OP table at which doc- tors perform open medical procedures with ultimate precision by means of in- terdisciplinary exchange. The so-called hybrid operating theatre is one of 15 new operating theatres at the UKSH, which are part of the ultramodern OP centre inaugurated in 2017. Today more and more operating theatres through- out Germany look like the hybrid op- erating theatre in Kiel. They allow sur- geons to diagnose and treat at the same time in exchange with colleagues. This effectively pro- tects the patient against complications. The patient obtains careful treatment and benefits from a shorter recovery time. Speedy recovery guaranteed. 2. HYBRID POST Send letters digitally and receive them physically? What sounded quite revolutionary at the Cebit stand of Deutsche Post in 1992 in Hanover has become the norm today. No won- der! Finally, hybrid post has caught on and combines the ben- efits of a printed letter sent by post with fast and uncompli- cated sending of an e-mail. As a result, mailings become not only more convenient and faster, but also cheaper overall. Not only large corporations, but also small companies and private individuals have come to appreciate this. Numerous providers, including Onlinebrief24.de or LetterXPress, meet the needs and split the hotly contested market among them- selves. They print, fold, envelope and frank the digitally sent letters of their customers, which are for the most part still per charge. 45 to 58 km/h could be achieved with the 980 kg fast car. Back then around the turn of the century the hybrid car was swiftly dismissed as a tech- nical error. Only in the 1970s did the tide turn and time and money was invested again in the hybrid drive. This was due to the energy crisis and in- creased environmental awareness. The hybrid car first went into series production in 1997 with the Toyota Prius. Today almost all large manufacturers have one or several vehicle models which combine the advantages of an electric motor and a combustion engine. They all combine the high range and the option of fast and easy refuelling of the tradition- al combustion engine with the opportunity of brake energy recovery, the use of regenerative energies and the environ- mental friendliness of the electric motor. THE HYBRID – THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS. A TRIP INTO THE WORLD OF THE EXOTIC HYBRIDS. NOT ONLY MORE COMFORTABLE, BUT ALSO MORE ECONOMICAL. THE LOHNER- PORSCHE: THE FIRST HYBRID CAR CREATED AROUND 1900 DIAGNOSIS AND TREAT- MENT IN ONE: THE HYBRID OPERATING THEATRE 14 15 PERSPECTIVES