FutureTalks: How Technology is Shaping the Future of Energy and Automotive Sectors with Jürgen Böhm, CIO at 7BC
What do energy, e-mobility, and cybersecurity have in common, and how do they impact your business? In this enlightening panel discussion, we delve into the future of these critical areas and explore their intersection and implications for society and business.
Join our expert guest, Jürgen Böhm from 7BC AG, as he shares his insights alongside Tomasz Gandor, our talented ML engineer. Guided by our host, Justyna Szymańska-Laskowska, this conversation unpacks the convergence of these fields and the transformative potential they hold.
In this episode, you’ll discover:
- The synergies between energy, e-mobility, and cybersecurity.
- How these domains are reshaping business landscapes.
- Real-world examples and predictions for the future.
Don’t miss the lively debate where Justyna, Jürgen, and Tomasz discuss whether data quantity or quality is more crucial in today’s digital transformation era.
Justyna Szymańska-Laskowska: Hello everyone and welcome to our discussion regarding cyber security, the energy and automotive sectors, and how technology is shaping the future of these industries. My name is Justyna Szymańska-Laskowska, and today I am joined by Jürgen Böhm (CIO at 7BC) and Tomasz Gandor (Senior Machine Learning Engineer at Future Processing) to debate the role of technology in our world. Jürgen, you recently wrote about the heat pump sector; could you elaborate on the role they play in energy conservation?
Jürgen Böhm: Thank you for the invitation. In the climate discussion, there are three important pillars: the efficient use of energy, the electrification of businesses and households, and the increased use of renewable resources. Germany currently has 20 million heating systems, but only about 2 million are heat pump systems. Through our project started in 2022, we have been able to reduce energy consumption for these systems by 20%, and we are now working to expand this. Heat pumps play a prominent role in Germany, and our current project is focused on doing even more for these systems.
Justyna Szymańska-Laskowska: When discussing energy, data is essential. Tomasz, how is data utilised to optimise energy use?
Tomasz Gandor: I can highlight two specific cases. The first involves a customer, Tauron, where energy is produced, distributed, and consumed. In a pilot project in the city of RAV, they are running 400,000 Smart Meters at consumer sites, gathering about one terabyte of data per month into the cloud. We performed cost optimisations and enabled the detection of energy theft. By 2028, Tauron aims to have 14 million smart meters.
Justyna Szymańska-Laskowska: And the second case?
Tomasz Gandor: That involves ISTA in Germany. We worked with them to produce a portal for real estate managers to report energy usage in managed buildings. Utilising customer data helped reduce energy usage by 20% in multi-flat buildings, which equates to approximately 3.7 million tons of CO2.
Jürgen Böhm: That is a great project, and I think that know-how could be used for our own project. Regarding smart meters, I will get one in my household in 2025. Germany is not faster with this because they must physically go to every house and organise the funding, but it is vital because only what you can measure can you change.
Justyna Szymańska-Laskowska: Could you tell us more about the challenges and opportunities of the heat pump revolution?
Jürgen Böhm: It is a revolution where we constantly gather and analyse data from heating systems to optimise algorithms. We use a simple strategy where actuators (like pumps) and sensors send data to a controller. We take that data to optimise the algorithm for every connected system. If you have this data, you can control the whole household; data is the gold—or the oil—of digital transformation.
Tomasz Gandor: While some say data is the new gold or oil, as an ML engineer, I argue that quality is more important than quantity.
Jürgen Böhm: I do not fully agree; the mass of data is very important because having enough data allows you to find and filter for quality. Beyond gathering data, we use it to detect errors, provide predictive maintenance, and integrate smart home functionality, which can lead to another 10-20% reduction in consumption. By the end of 2030, we want to control 100,000 systems, integrate cars as energy storage, and reduce CO2 by more than 750 million tons.
Justyna Szymańska-Laskowska: Tomasz, how do you see the synergy between AI and electricity transforming the sector?
Tomasz Gandor: There is immense potential in using heat pumps and e-mobility as buffering. Smart meters allow for electricity “day trading” to prevent grid overload during peak usage. Instead of hard bans on charging EVs during peak hours, we can use price incentives to encourage consumption outside of peaks. However, we lack enough storage capacity for every consumer yet. I also believe we should not destroy existing infrastructure like petrol cars prematurely; we should use what we have sensibly and switch gradually because resources are not renewing themselves.
Jürgen Böhm: I believe we should switch as fast as possible for the sake of the climate. The technology is there; we only need to develop the systems to manage it. One major challenge is that we need about 10,000 systems in our project to reach profitability. We also have to convince the heating industry to pivot away from oil and gas, similar to how the traditional automobile industry was challenged by Tesla and the Chinese industry.
Justyna Szymańska-Laskowska: Tomasz, how is e-mobility transforming the automotive industry?
Tomasz Gandor: Battery progress is currently a bit slow, though I hope for a “wonder battery” that is ten times better than lithium-ion. Current electric cars are heavier and require different technologies, such as active braking with energy recuperation and drive-by-wire steering, which could eventually lead to autonomous driving. For one customer, we optimised their manufacturing processes, achieving 83% optimisation and eliminating 100% of paper usage.
Jürgen Böhm: We must rethink mobility and not ignore physics. Different speeds on the road lead to traffic jams; we need a “flow”. This requires either autonomous driving or separate lines for platooning.
Tomasz Gandor: In traffic, humans often start sequentially at green lights, but if cars started together—like professional truck drivers sometimes do—it would be more efficient. Tailgating is currently illegal for humans but would be more ecological and safe for autonomous cars.
Jürgen Böhm: The best driver for a connected car is a machine because it doesn’t use drugs or alcohol. Autonomous cars should be a public commodity rather than privately owned. This would allow for more efficient individual traffic, whereas currently, we often see 70-ton buses driving around with only the driver.
Justyna Szymańska-Laskowska: Some say the automotive industry will become obsolete. What is your take?
Tomasz Gandor: I prefer the word forecast over “predict”. Just as the development of the car saved cities from being buried in horse manure, vehicles will evolve rather than disappear. Public transport can go a long way, but cars in cities today often don’t look like the advertisements.
Jürgen Böhm: I disagree; I think long-term prediction for climate and technology is possible and necessary. In 1900, people couldn’t imagine multi-lane motorways. This decade is moving very fast, and cars will transform quickly into driverless vehicles, though people will still want the freedom to travel.
Host: This leads us to cyber security. Jürgen, what is your take on its importance in e-mobility?
Jürgen Böhm: Cyber security is to digital transformation what the safety belt is to a car. It is essential because we are dealing with household data. We work with Future Processing because they have the necessary expertise.
Tomasz Gandor: We have dedicated teams for security audits. There are new regulations like DORA (coming January 2025) and NIS2 (October 2024) that apply to various providers. To ensure security, we use layers of protection: limiting network access, using intrusion detection, authentication protocols, and maintaining backup strategies. We also limit attack vectors by restricting system functionality to only what is necessary.
Justyna Szymańska-Laskowska: Any final thoughts?
Jürgen Böhm: We only have to follow the plan and do it.
Justyna Szymańska-Laskowska: Thank you, Jürgen and Tomasz, for this insightful discussion.