Linde Material Handling wins third place in the concept vehicle category at the 2012 OekoGlobe awards with the Rotrac E2.

Linde Material Handling and Zwiehoff GmbH jointly won third place in the concept vehicle category of the OekoGlobe competition with the electrically powered Rotrac E2 road-rail shunting truck. The OekoGlobe was the first international environmental prize for the mobility industry. It has been awarded annually since 2007 in ten categories.

The judges for the 2012 OekoGlobe awards distinguished Linde Material Handling’s road-rail vehicle with third place in the concept vehicle category. The Rotrac E2 was developed as a collaborative venture with Zwiehoff GmbH and is capable of moving trailer loads of up to 250 tonnes. It can effortlessly pull high-speed ICE trains and freight trains into maintenance sheds or train-wash facilities. By comparison, a diesel-powered shunting locomotive consumes up to 20 litres/hour simply standing still, while the energy consumption of the Rotrac E2 remains practically zero. All drive and drive electronics components come from Linde Material Handling’s mass production line for industrial trucks. The collaboration with Zwiehoff was initiated in 2010. Since then Linde Material Handling has been opening up application opportunities for the companies’ combined expertise in the field of drive and control technology under the eMotion brand.

The annual presentation of the OekoGlobe awards was held at the TÜV Rheinland building on 17 October 2012. The award ceremony was one highlight of the festivities for the 140th anniversary of the foundation of TÜV Rheinland (technical services), which is the main sponsor of the competition alongside DEVK Versicherung (insurance) and Finanzverlag (publishing). The ceremony was attended not only by representatives of the nominated companies and the judges, but also by important business personalities, especially from the automotive industry.

According to the rules for the concept vehicle category, honours are awarded to “ecologically advanced cars, trucks and two-wheel vehicles” that are not produced in high volumes. Maik Manthey, Head of the Electronics Systems & Drives Division at Linde Material Handling, was especially pleased: “The award means a very great deal to us, because the Rotrac is neither a car nor a truck and yet it attracted the attention of the judges. Together with Zwiehoff we have introduced electromobility into a sector that previously no one would have associated with electromobility at all. We see this prize as confirmation that we should continue to think out of the box and try out new approaches with our cooperation partners.” Meanwhile, a larger model, the Rotrac E4, which has a pulling force of up to 500 tonnes, celebrated its premiere at Innotrans 2012.

 
The Rotrac E2 road-rail vehicle effortlessly moves trailer loads of up to 250 tonnes and was honoured with third place in the concept vehicle category at the 2012 OekoGlobe awards.

 
At the OekoGlobe 2012 award ceremony, the prize was accepted by (from left to right) Detlef Sieverdingbeck (Head of Corporate Communications, Linde MH), Maik Manthey (Head of the Electronic Systems & Drives Division, Linde MH), Gerd Zwiehoff (CEO, Zwiehoff GmbH) and Stephan Zwiehoff (Product Manager, Zwiehoff GmbH)