Michelin Challenge Bibendum

Driving green technology, concepts and systems to market

The world over, countries are seeking to increase mobility and to lessen road transport’s impact. Technology transfer and knowledge sharing have a crucial role to play so that countries, with variously mature markets, may determine their own technology pathway to address the fivefold challenge of sustainable mobility: climate change, energy, local pollution, road safety and urban traffic congestion.

Challenge Bibendum is an independent, impartial forum for sustainable mobility where panels of experts, from the private and public sectors, debate, discuss and share visions.  Debating and sharing represent an important dimension of Challenge Bibendum and are primordial to knowledge transfer so that best practices and innovations can be deployed to achieve a more sustainable road mobility around the world.

During the ten round tables to be held on November 14 the panelists will debate the discussion topics, listed below.

1. Liquid fuels and biofuels for tomorrow
2. Batteries and super-capacitors: roadmap to market
3. Hydrogen and fuel cells: roadmap to market
4. Trucks in the city: clean and efficient urban deliveries
5. Buses in the city: clean and efficient public transportation
6. Hybrid electric vehicles: market vision and segmentation
7. Contribution of the tire to sustainable mobility
8. Urban traffic and public health
9. Pedestrian and cyclist safety in cities
10. The CO2 challenge: capture and storage.

Leveraging solutions for sustainable mobility

The panel members will debate the current state of these technologies, concepts and systems and provide an in-depth assessment to position their progress, to gauge their time to market and to envision the hurdles and levers to their rapid implementation. Each round table will prepare an overview of their in-depth assessment of the current state of innovation in their topic to be presented to to a wider audience of stakeholders, including policymakers and governments during the round table conference sessions on November 16.

Information and clear vision are key levers for achieving concerted action. These overviews will enable policymakers and governments, who play a critical role in driving the adoption of green technology, to make wise investments, to craft sound policies and to mitigate some of the most pressing issues of road mobility.

The Technology Round Tables

RT1: Liquid fuels and biofuels for tomorrow

The review by panel members will cover the current state of liquid fuels with a comparative study of their characteristics and performances, their relative maturity levels as well as examples of current applications. They will envision scenarios for three different horizons and for each scenario present the fuel mix, the CO2 avoidance as well as the levers required to accelerate the implementation of the lowest carbon and most sustainable scenario.

• To download the list of panelists, clic here
• To download the press conference's presentation, clic here
• To download the panelists' presentations, clic here

RT2: Batteries and super-capacitors: roadmap to market

The panel will draft a review of the different types of batteries, establish a comparative performance chart, and an indication of their relative maturity and safety levels. They will also determine the role, if any, of super-capacitors for each battery type. For each deployment scenario they will establish a comparative raw material chart (lead, cadmium, nickel and lithium), with an indication of their possible sources, and the maximum number of vehicles that could therefore be equipped. They will also review the key hurdles and solutions for market availability and determine which type of battery is best suited to which type of vehicle.

• To download the list of panelists, clic here
• To download the press conference's presentation, clic here
• To download the executive summary, clic here
• To download the panelists' presentations, clic here

RT3: Hydrogen and fuel cells: road map to market

The round table members will examine the evolution of hydrogen fuel cells for three horizons. They will compare the various hydrogen storage technologies, maturity levels of the onboard solutions, their global efficiency with respect to the region’s electricity production mix and storage technology and infrastructure. They will elaborate possible deployment scenarios with respect to raw material sources worldwide and they will detail the challenges to be faced on the road to market.

• To download the list of panelists, clic here
• To download the press conference's presentation, clic here
• To download the panelists' presentations, clic here

RT4: Trucks in the city: clean and efficient urban deliveries

The members of this round table will examine the global share of trucks for urban deliveries by geographic region, highlight the main challenges for trucks operating in an urban environment, and review the evolution of truck emissions and noise nuisances. They will summarize promising clean technologies for trucks, list the main levers to accelerate the ramp up of these technologies and review possible solutions for existing fleets of Diesel trucks.

• To download the list of panelists, clic here
• To download the press conference's presentation, clic here
• To download the executive summary, clic here
• To download the panelists' presentations, clic here

RT5: Buses in the city: clean and efficient public transportation

This round table will examine not only the global need for urban transportation but also the need to achieve it in a sustainable manner for urban environments. They will give examples of existing bus transportation systems, their segmentation, the specifics of some countries and cities, as well as high, medium and low scenarios showing their evolution over time. The final task will be to imagine the prospect for clean urban transportation, using both existing experiments and envisioned technologies.

• To download the list of panelists, clic here
• To download the press conference's presentation, clic here
• To download the executive summary, clic here
• To download the panelists' presentations, clic here

RT6: Hybrid electric vehicles: market vision and segmentation

The panelists will give an overview of the economic and environmental impacts for the full range of electric hybrid cars: micro, mild, full and plug-in before positioning the various hybrid solutions against the other options (gasoline, diesel, biofuels, fuel cell…). The panel will consider the key levers to ease hybrid market ramp-up: the necessary improvements before hybrids achieve mass market penetration, the economic conditions for a large and sustainable hybrid market and the political policies which could leverage the launch of hybrid vehicles onto the market.

• To download the list of panelists, clic here
• To download the press conference's presentation, clic here
• To download the executive summary, clic here
• To download the panelists' presentations, clic here

RT7: Contribution of the tire to sustainable mobility

The tire has an important role to play in the field of sustainable mobility but when making a compromise it is important not to jeopardize its performances. What are the expectations of the car, truck and bus manufacturers, car and truck fleet managers concerning tomorrow’s tires? The outcome of the panel’s deliberations will be a comparative tire performance chart showing the ranked expectations for the different end users: car, truck, bus manufacturers and fleet managers.

• To download the list of panelists, clic here
• To download the press conference's presentation, clic here
• To download the executive summary, clic here
• To download the panelists' presentations, clic here

RT8: Urban traffic and public health

The panelists will give an overview of the air quality and noise nuisance levels in several megacities (ie over 10 million inhabitants). They will determine the impact of road transport on these pollution levels, the proven correlation between air pollution and human health and the assumptions that will lead to precautionary measures. They will discuss the political stakes and any eventual levers, using examples from the selected megacities, to show how both political drive and public acceptance are key issues to drafting and implementing the necessary measures to deal with urban pollution and noise nuisances.

• To download the list of panelists, clic here
• To download the press conference's presentation, clic here
• To download the executive summary, clic here
• To download the panelists' presentations, clic here

RT9: Pedestrian and cyclist safety in cities

The initial discussions will deal with current accident rates for Vulnerable Road Users  (VRU) such as pedestrians and cyclists by different geographic areas, indicating the current trends   and evolutions. They will establish the cost, efficiency, maturity, market segmentation and deployment possibilities for each technological solution but also consider infrastructure. The discussion will then turn to the roles of education,  raising awareness and law enforcement in the fight to improve VRU safety.

• To download the list of panelists, clic here
• To download the press conference's presentation, clic here
• To download the executive summary, clic here
• To download the panelists' presentations, clic here

RT10: The CO2 challenge: capture and storage

The panelists will give an overview of the current anthropogenic CO2 emissions: distribution by sectors, geographic area and then establish three possible scenarios for their evolution between now and 2050. They will examine the various solutions for CO2 capture and sequestration (CCS) as well as the various hurdles be they technical, political, societal or financial. They will establish “best-guess” scenarios of implementation for the different solutions and look at the main levers for accelerating their implementation.

• To download the list of panelists, clic here
• To download the press conference's presentation, clic here
• To download the panelists' presentations, clic here