AVL Engine & Environment to be Held as Digital Trend Conference

Extraordinary challenges call for creative solutions: in response to COVID-19, the 32nd AVL conference "Engine & Environment" will not be held in Graz, Austria, as has been the case so far, but as a digital event from May 25 to May 29, 2020. The virtual venue of the renowned trade conference will be thedigitaltrendconference.com platform, resulting in a substantial increase in reach. AVL as organizer is expecting more than 2000 participants from 54 nations. The conference language is English, attendance is free of charge.

The theme of the conference is “Zero-Impact Mobility – Emissions and Lifecycle CO₂: No Longer a Conflict?” 2019 saw a global decline in passenger car sales. The reluctance to purchase can be explained by a certain sense of uncertainty among buyers. This uncertainty, however, also affects vehicle manufacturers: will there be enough customers willing to buy electric vehicles? If so, at what price? What role will the different hybrid concepts play?

Leading automotive industry experts, such as Nikolai Ardey (Volkswagen AG), Philippe Hamon (Valeo Siemens eAutomotive), Ingo Scholten (Geely PT), Heiko Weller (Robert Bosch GmbH) and many others will be shedding light on this current topic from a variety of different angles. All keynotes and presentations will be available online. Conference participants get a chance to interact with each of the experts via the comments section. The digital event ends on Friday, May 29, with three separate panel discussions where the speakers will answer a a number of selected questions from the whole conference week. There will also be a trade exhibition that can be toured online.

“Engine & Environment” embarks on an innovative new chapter

AVL created the “Engine & Environment” conference in 1988 as an independent, neutral and international platform to promote the interdisciplinary discussion of key aspects in engine and vehicle technology, including environmental and energy issues, within a wider social context. At that time, it was not possible to predict the degree to which, within just three decades, the engine and the environment would be connected with each other. While the original objective of this series of conferences remains the same, the range of contents was significantly extended to include current trends and issues. The current circumstances make this digital transformation the latest evolution of AVL's expert conference in the 32nd year of its history.​​​​​​​