To make primarily plastic surfaces with poor bonding characteristics fit for bonding and painting, the industry uses toxic and pollutant chemicals. The Ebhausen-based company Diener electronic GmbH + Co. KG manufactures plasma systems which make hazardous chemicals redundant.
The surfaces are treated in a highly aggressive medium which is called “plasma”; it is an ionised gas. Plasma attacks plastic surfaces harder than any corrosive liquid, creating bonding spots for paints and adhesives. However, plasma exists only under specific conditions, for example in a vacuum or under high voltage. Once you switch the high voltage off and vent the vacuum chamber, the plasma instantly turns into harmless nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen or inert gas. More and more top manufacturers change from wet chemicals to environmentally friendly plasma treatment.
Diener is also committed to first-class vocational training. Approx. 20% of our staff are apprentices, which is a top quota in Calw district. This year, our boss Christof Diener invested in a very special apprentices’ project. He bought an electric car kit from the Swiss manufacturer Kyburz. The vehicle, named eRod, is a puristic, street-legal racing car. Uncompromising in terms of technology and riding characteristics, it offers maximum riding fun for car afficionados – the perfect project for technology-loving young people.
With the support of a qualified electronics engineer, it took the apprentices only four Saturdays to assemble the eRod in the frame of a team-building event. Since the eRod is a puristic car and all its components – engine, differential, gearbox, brakes, batteries – are visible for understanding their design, the assembly team gained deep insights into the automotive and electrical technology. And into the batteries, of course: While the driver of a regular E-car knows that somewhere in the car there is a heavy-weight black box, the battery, he will never see its interior. But the Diener car makers built the connections of the 50 battery cells to the 108 volt supplying system themselves.
As an electric car, the eRod stands for the future of the automotive sector. Equipped with a 45 kW engine, it has a theoretical range of 183 km (100 km in practice). The new company car will be used primarily for short rides, for example to the post office. Without roof, wind shield and doors and a boot that can hold one small backpack, it is not really the car for a business trip. Its purpose is above all to be a fun ride, arise interest in technology and offer an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional cars. It may be used by anyone with a driving licence. Nobody has to be afraid that the Diener apprentices will be a danger on the Black Forest roads in the future: While the acceleration from 0 to 50 km/h takes only 4.2 sec., the top speed of the vehicle is limited to 120 km/h. Furthermore, the car was covered in Diener electronic design adhesive foils.
It shows where electric mobility has to go to really save energy: to lightweight construction. Including 200 kg of batteries, the little car weighs only 600 kg. In keeping with these considerations, Diener also provides regular e-vehicles for everyday use: For short errands, the staff use an e-cargo tricycle ”XCYC” by GWW in Calw, and a Renault Twizy for somewhat longer distances. Converted to petrol consumption, these would be 0.1 litre or 1.0 litre vehicles.
To this day, we have not managed to find a good solution for the conversion of the vehicle fleet for fast worldwide customer service to e-cars. The Diener electronic engineer will have to spend quite a few Saturdays trying to find a solution.
However, we took a first step in the direction of electric mobility: From this autumn, Diener electronic GmbH + Co. KG is the official sales partner of Kyburz for Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria and Hesse. If you are interested, please call us to arrange for a test ride. For more information, go to www.diener-automobile.de.
