Erza Mehmeti: How long have you been with KYBURZ?

Frieder Herb: Since April 2022.

Erza: How did you hear about us?

Frieder: I met Marin Kyburz at the Tour de Sol in 1992, which started in Pforzheim, where I was born. At that time, I was building a solar mobile with two wheels (LUNA1) as a student. We exchanged ideas from time to time, including when I gave the workshop on total cost of ownership (TCO) for lightweight vehicles at the CE Symposium.

Erza: What did you do before KYBURZ?

Frieder: At school I built solar cars and wanted to change mobility by doing so and founded the association ExtraEnergy e.V. together with Hannes Neupert, my wife Kerstin Bünte and many others. After my physics studies, I started working for a subsidiary of Daimler AG, where I introduced the fuel cell into Daimler vehicles. A highlight was not only the trip to our wedding in a fuel cell powered vehicle, but also the research vehicle F015, of which I simulated performance data and range for the year 2030. At the same time, I wrote a doctoral thesis on the ageing of batteries and fuel cells at the University of Ulm. Most recently, I was able to apply this knowledge to battery research in the field of electric vehicle charging at Daimler AG. One of my last projects was to assess the feasibility of solar cells in vehicles.

Erza: What are your activities?    

Frieder: I am a project manager in research and deal with a wide range of topics. My most important project at the moment is the solar vehicle project. It covers planning, procurement, implementation and just now the test at POST in Embrach with the evaluation of the measurement data. Other topics are total cost calculations of the vehicles and error analysis with the fleet data. I also support the autonomous vehicle project with inductive charging and simulations.

Erza: What are your strengths?

Frieder: I like working with people and developing ideas while doing so. I quickly get to grips with complex problems and find it great to bring projects to a conclusion and then design the next step.

Erza: What motivates you?

Frieder: I am motivated by working on sustainable and ecological solutions together with others, such as the test at the post office in Embrach, where employees are enthusiastic about using and trying out the solar vehicles. It is not always easy to bring ideas for the future into the present, but it is worth it. I have experienced it first-hand over the past 30 years with the example of pedelecs.

Erza: What is your typical daily routine?

Frieder: First I look at my to-do list, in my mailbox and then in my calendar. Most of the time I briefly write down the tasks on a piece of paper and am happy when I can cross them off at the end of the day and the big tasks are ticked off in the computer system. Of course, there are days when I'm fiddling with a problem, research is like that too.

Erza: What do you like? What not so much?

Frieder: I like KYBURZ's orientation towards sustainability and ecology. The fact that many kilometres have already been driven electrically with KYBURZ vehicles. It's also great how quickly new ideas are tried out and implemented. I also think it's good that improvements in the company are actively tackled. I also have an idea: KYBURZ should schedule test drives of all vehicles for new employees.

Erza: What do you like to do in your free time?

Frieder: Dancing with dolls, of course, like at the last KYBURZ Christmas party, or dancing the tango with my wife. For my flexibility in the body I do ballet and for my flexibility in the head I do a meditation every morning. In general, I find consciousness exciting, so my wife and I go to India regularly. But unfortunately I haven't yet found the off switch for useless thoughts, so I would like to travel there again. Besides, hiking in nature for the soul should not be missing. And last but not least, I take care of my 93-year-old mother in my spare time.

Erza: What are your plans for the future?

Frieder: The future is not uncertain if we start to shape it together with our differences. That is why I would like to enrich KYBURZ with my ideas. For example, to contribute and expand my battery knowledge from the lectures I give at the university in Stuttgart. Putting the sun on the road and making a dream of mine come true, back at the Tour de Sol, everything runs on sunlight. I firmly believe that batteries and solar cells are the future.