Interview: Fabian Schmitt, Chief Technical Officer, StreetScooter

From the brainchild of a handful of academics at Aachen University to having its competitors go to great lengths to covertly test its products, the journey of StreetScooter over the past eight years has certainly been quite a ride. Perhaps best described as a pioneer in the space of electric commercial vehicles (ECVs), StreetScooter has grown much from its academic roots. Having first drawn the gaze of the automotive industry, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, with its initial prototype at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2011, the company now employs almost 500 people, operates three manufacturing plants in Aachen, Cologne and Düren and has begun to collaborate with some of the biggest automakers in the business.