Spiegelberg then went to work for three years at the Department of Mechanism Theory and Dynamics of Machines in Aachen, after which he joined Daimler in 1989. While at Daimler, he developed the first electronically controlled truck brake; in 2004, he became head of Global Advanced Engineering Mechatronic Systems. “I also worked on hybrid drive systems back then, and unlike many of my colleagues, I didn’t believe they were the true wave of the future,” he says. Instead, Spiegelberg likes to compare hybrid cars with the old memory typewriters that were half mechanical and half electronic. It wasn’t until personal computers and word processing programs came along that text generation was revolutionized — and it was Spiegelberg’s goal to develop revolutionary automotive innovations. “But I realized that to do that I would have to leave the automobile industry and join the research organization of a major supplier of automotive electronic systems,” he explains. In pursuit of this goal, he applied for and got a job at Siemens VDO in Regensburg in 2006, serving as Chief Engineer and Director of Global Technology and Strategy. In his new job environment he helped develop new drive-system and brake concepts, among other things.

After VDO was sold to Continental, Spiegelberg left the company and joined Siemens Corporate Technology, where he has served as head of the company-wide Electric Mobility Lighthouse Project since May 2008. He really feels he’s in his element now, as Siemens’ Energy, Industry and Healthcare Sectors offer ideal opportunities to develop systems for all sorts of aspects of electric mobility: “I can’t imagine a better company to work for in this field than Siemens,” he says with enthusiasm. Indeed, Siemens is the only place where it is possible to truly approach electric mobility from all sides. The issues addressed by the company include power trains, battery charging technology, electricity billing systems, energy distribution in smart grids, and building management technologies.

Power generation from renewable energy sources, also a focus of work at Siemens, requires interim storage units for electricity that can later interact with the grid via the batteries in electric vehicles. When these vehicles hook up to the grid, they can obtain environmentally friendly CO2-free electricity and also return power to the grid when there’s high demand. Even the Healthcare Sector can contribute to the development of a fully electric vehicle by linking medical software to sensor data – such as heartbeat frequency and fatigue monitoring readings. The information can then be processed by driver assistance systems.

Spiegelberg also has good connections in academia. Since 1993, for example, he has been teaching mechatronics at Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences. He was named an honorary professor at the University of Budapest in 2004 and has been lecturing at the University of Ostrava since 2008. In addition, Spiegelberg was given a three-year appointment in July 2010 as a Rudolf Diesel Industry Fellow guest scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study at Technische Universität München (TUM), where he works with other TUM scientists on the further development of electric mobility systems.

Spiegelberg doesn’t doubt that his ideas can be implemented. “If I think something is feasible, then nothing can stop me from pursuing it,” he says. “So sometimes people ask me if I’m really serious about what I want to do,” he adds with a smile. That’s not surprising, especially if you consider some of his hobbies. At the moment, for example, Spiegelberg is building a helicopter that will operate via a sidestick without any mechatronic systems. This specialized control system technology has fascinated Spiegelberg since his college days, which is why it was also the subject of his doctoral dissertation. “My wife has gotten used to my need to put my ideas into practice,” says Spiegelberg, who is also very proud of the fact that his two daughters – both now in college – have adopted his philosophy, which in a nutshell is: “if you believe you can do something, you have to do it.”