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Electrifying Bertha Benz Challenge

13 Sep '11

4 min read

Not even Carl Benz himself could have guessed the implications of his groundbreaking invention in 1886. But he was certain he was creating something big in his small Mannheim garage. In fact, he was so certain of the potential that he patented the first petrol-driven car. 125 years later, it is difficult to imagine everyday life without it. The automobile has influenced and changed entire industries. In the course of its own history spanning more than 160 years, the Freudenberg Group has played its part in automotive evolution and accompanied the car's progress since the 1920s.

At the beginning, Carl Benz had to wait for the breakthrough. To support him, his wife Bertha Benz came up with what was probably one of the best marketing ideas ever. In early August 1888, she drove her husband's invention 106 kilometers from Mannheim to Pforzheim and back. The success story of the automobile had begun. In this anniversary year, the region is commemorating the history of the Bertha Benz idea from September 10 - 11, albeit with a difference. The focus is on vehicles with alternative drive systems: electric, hybrid and fuel cell vehicles.

Electro-mobility is a market of the future

Freudenberg associates are taking part with their own electric car and fuel cell vehicle. Rüdiger Finke, Head of the Battery Separator Unit at Freudenberg Nonwovens, and Dr. Silke Wagener, Managing Director of Freudenberg Fuel Cell Components Technology, will be driving the original Memorial Route from Mannheim to Pforzheim. The Freudenberg specialists can experience a taste of the future on this, the world's oldest automobile route. For more than a decade, Finke and Wagener have been working on alternative drivetrain solutions. Over many years of cooperation with customers, Freudenberg has been developing separators, seals, filter systems and flexible printed circuits for applications in electric vehicles. The specialist technology know-how of the various Freudenberg Business Groups was brought together under the roof of Freudenberg Fuel Cell Components Technology. Since 1999, developers have been working on seals and gas diffusion layers as well as filters and humidifiers that clean and condition fuel cell intake air. "Electro-mobility is a key market of the future that will bring many changes. The automotive industry and its suppliers are working flat out on solutions," Wagener and Finke say.

70 different Freudenberg products in a car

The Freudenberg Group supplies key components for both electric cars and fuel cell vehicles. In 2010, the automotive industry accounted for roughly 40 percent of Freudenberg's overall sales totaling more than €5.4 billion. Freudenberg has a very broad portfolio of over different 300 products - from Simmerings or encoders, nonwovens for car headliners and carpets, flexible printed circuits, cabin air and engine intake air filters, specialty lubricants and release agents to vibration engineering products that reduce vehicle noise and vibrations. On average, some 70 different Freudenberg products can be found in any car built today. But how did things start? The first big step in the automotive industry, and still one of the most significant patents in the company's history, was the invention of the Simmerring, which has evolved over the years to the present-day "intelligent Simmering", the encoder.

These examples confirm the spectrum of Freudenberg's automotive products portfolio - key components that are indispensible for the cars of today and tomorrow. They are an integral part of millions of vehicles. Back in 1886, would Carl Benz have guessed a company that at the time was one of Europe's largest leather producers and was located only a few kilometers away in Weinheim would, 125 years later, be supplying some 300 different products to advance his own invention?

About the Freudenberg Group

The Freudenberg Group is a family company offering its customers technically challenging product solutions and services. The Group is first and foremost a supplier specializing in seals and vibration control technology, nonwovens, filtration, lubricants and release agents as well as mechatronic products. The end-user can find modern Freudenberg household products in the shops under the brand names of vileda®, O´Cedar® and Wettex®. And especially for mid-size companies Freudenberg develops software solutions and nd IT services. In 2010, the Freudenberg Group employed more than 34,000 people in 59 countries and generated sales of more than 5.4 billion euros.

Freudenberg Group