RheinSharing and Ford cooperate

The Cologne-based start-up wants to work with the car manufacturer to generate electricity for e-mobility - from the Rhine.

The car manufacturer Ford and the Cologne-based start-up RheinSharing are doing things together. According to Ford, the young company, which emerged from the Technical University of Cologne, and the Group have signed a Memorandum of Understanding. The founding team had already been in contact with Ford beforehand and had taken part in the "Ford Fund Smart Mobility Challenge", among other things.

The idea that the start-up and car manufacturer are now pursuing is based on the Rhine, which flows right through Cologne. The current could be used to generate energy to power electric cars in the cathedral city, for example. The cooperation partners now want to develop an initial concept to find out whether and how this can work. A practical aspect for Ford is that its own factory is located on the Rhine and could therefore potentially benefit directly from the idea. A hydropower plant could be used at the Niehl site in the long term. However, the start-up is apparently already thinking a little more urban and could imagine small hydropower plants along the Rhine, which would then supply electricity for e-bikes. In some cases, dedicated platforms are even to be built on the Rhine for this purpose, under which the hydroelectric plants can then operate.

Rhine Sharing spokesperson Marcel Heilichtold the local newspaper Express: "Our aim is to develop solutions that combine the urban use of hydropower through innovative technology with sustainable architecture. The aim is to find locations in the inner-city area along the Rhine where mobility stations and hydropower plants could be built to provide green electricity."