Michael Perschke has a long history in Europe’s automotive industry. Before he joined Germany’s Quantron AG as CEO, he held various executive positions at different well-known car manufacturers, including the sales strategy launch of the Audi eTron brand, working as Sales Director for Mitsubishi in Europe and Mercedes-Benz in India, and in the areas of finance, IT and organisation for Mercedes-Benz in China.
On this week’s Mobility Moments, Perschke discusses his company’s new all-electric city bus, and hydrogen-powered mobility.
“As Founder-CEO of Automobili Pininfarina, I also placed a zero-emission luxury car brand on the market. In addition, I invest in e-mobility companies,” he tells Auto Futures.
Describe Quantron AG and its main aims.
Quantron AG’s vision is to decarbonize freight and passenger transport with zero-emission commercial vehicles – both fully electric and hydrogen fuel cell-powered. To achieve this, one of our business units consists in the repowering of used and existing vehicles to environmentally friendly drive systems.
With our all-electric city bus Cizaris, we have also entered the market as an OEM – our second business unit. But we don’t just offer vehicles; with our Q-Ecosystem, we also provide all-round support to our customers that covers all issues relating to e-mobility, such as the charging infrastructure.
Describe the Cizaris and its key technical features.
Cizaris is a zero-emission 12-meter city bus of the QUANTRON brand. It is available as a BEV version with batteries from CATL, one of the world’s largest battery manufacturers, and a range of up to 370 kilometers. In the future, we will also launch an FCEV version.
Describe Quantron‘s partnership with Ballard Power Systems.
Our strategic partnership with Ballard Power Systems, a leading global supplier of fuel cell technologies, enables us to bring hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicles to market at an accelerated pace. The collaboration will initially focus on integrating fuel cell modules for heavy-duty commercial vehicles into the electric powertrain of QUANTRON‘s vehicles.
What are the advantages of hydrogen-powered mobility?
There is no either-or decision on whether hydrogen or fully electric vehicles should be preferred in the future. Both have their predestined areas of application. That is why we at Quantron offer vehicles with both drive systems. As for hydrogen, the focus is clearly on long-distance transportation.
Vehicles fuelled with green hydrogen are absolutely comparable to diesel vehicles in terms of range, payload, vehicle utilization or total cost of ownership – with the clear advantage that we are talking about climate-friendly mobility.
What are the aims of the recent company rebranding?
Quantron AG has experienced exceptional growth and is now entering the market as an OEM. With our rebranding in terms of a new logo, a new CI and our signature vehicle design, we are underlining this evolutionary development.
What’s next for Quantron?
We are already working on bringing more QUANTRON brand vehicles to market, both BEV and FCEV. Trucks and buses. Furthermore, we will continue to expand globally.
What will long-distance transportation and logistics look like by 2030?
The future of mobility is zero-emission – because it needs to be sustainable. In view of the climate targets, we must have significantly more zero-emission vehicles on the roads by 2030.
With our environmentally friendly commercial vehicles, we at Quantron are making our contribution to achieving this goal.
Keyword: The Journey From Luxury Cars to Electric City Buses – Mobility Moments With Quantron AG CEO Michael Perschke