This document is an internship report summarizing Lorenzo Cordella's work with BVB INNOVATE GMBH and their Nomadic Power project. It describes the company and staff, the development of their electric vehicle range extender trailer concept, and Lorenzo's contributions as an industrial design intern, including redesigning the trailer's aesthetics and developing the Nomadic Power brand. The report outlines Lorenzo's roles and competencies gained through hands-on experience working on the project.

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Internship final report
Lorenzo Cordella 840757
Master of Science in Design&Engineering
BVB INNOVATE GMBH - NOMADIC POWER GMBH
Dr.Irene Fischer
Prof.ssa Sillvia Deborah Ferraris
1th September 2015 / 16th October 2015
1. Introduction
2. Description of the company
2.1 Type of organization
2.2 Sector and activities
3. Description of the activities
3.1 The project
3.2 Development process - Nomadic Power Trailer
3.3 Development process - Nomadic Power Trailer engineering
and “New Project” development
3.4 Professional roles
4. Main competences gained
4.1 Theoretical range
4.2 Practical range
5. Main established results
5.1 NomadicPower Trailer
5.2 “Other new project “
6. Personal reflections
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1. Introduction
I’m Lorenzo Cordella, an Italian 26 years
old designer; I obtained a Bachelor’s
Degree in Industrial Product Design at
the Politecnico di Milano in September
2011, and during June 2013 I completed
the Master Diploma in Transportation and
Automobile Design of the POLI.Design
division, in the same university.
I have many interests and I chose to be
a designer because I like to imagine
how to make better items, or to think
to new ones. During these years at the
Polytechnic School, I have discovered
and learned how to use tools for this
purpose. I have also had many new
experiences, that have done nothing
but enrich my background of practical
and theoretical knowledge, and give me
renewed motivation to improve. I have
also revolutionized my perspective on
many aspects of the industrial design and
manufacturing world, and this has also
changed in part some of those desires
that I was reserving for my future.
I completed an internship in Milan in
February 2014, in an exhibition design
studio, the MilestoneProduction; in this
company I had the opportunity to refine
my techniques in using graphics softwares
such as Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop,
and I have begun to understand the
mechanisms of the working world.
I have been carrying out a four-months
internship in Stuttgart, Germany, untill
June 2014. In that period I contributed
to a project that concerns the concept of
an innovative range extender for electric
vehicles, NomadicPower, conceived by
a company called BVB Innovate. This
experience has been made possible by
the contest MakeYourCupake, which I
attended, organized by the incubator
POLI.Hub: thanks to this fantastic
opportunity, I had been allowed to
live abroad in an international city like
Stuttgart, and to experience the working
and social life in a new and unknown
place; I had the chance to speak a lot of
English, and if necessary, to gather some
German terms.
The contacts I have been developing
during the experience in Stuttgart, gave
me the opportunity to be considered for
working to a project of two months in
Wildpoldsried, Germany, in a company
called SonnenBatterie. I had to redesign
the aesthetical part of an intelligent
energy storage battery for photovoltaic
systems; I put the project through during
October 2014. Even in this case, the
experience of working in a completely
new professional and logistical scenario
was certainly valuable.
I’m currently concluding my studies for a
MasterofScienceinDesign&Engineering,
always at the Politecnico di Milano. I
consider that this is necessary to me
for closing my academic education in
the best way; in fact, it is allowing me
to combine my creative abilities with
a strong technical knowledge, that I
think it’s a really important quality for a
nowadays designer.
WhileIwasattendingtheMasterofScience
courses, during last year, I received an
offer for a project collaboration from
BVB Innovate GMBH, the Stuttgart

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company where I have been working in
2014. In fact, after my internship there,
they have created a new “company
division” whom name and tasks are the
ones of the project I had collaborated to:
Nomadic Power. Taking advantage of this
opportunity, I had the chance to live this
new experience abroad as a curricular
internship, so I’ve been working for BVB
INNOVATE for two months.
2. Description of the company
2.1 Type of organization
Dr. Manfred Baumgärtner
CEO
Manfred Baumgärtner is the CEO of BVB
INNOVATE. He was Regional Director
of the German subsidiary of Norway’s
TELENOR telecommunications company.
Before that he was CEO of the German
life sciences company GHS AG. He was
a member of the McKinsey Executive
Panel. He has degrees in engineering
and biology. He gained his doctorate
with summa cum laude at Constance
University and at what is now the Institute
of Meteorology and Climate Research at
the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.
Dr. Irene Fischer
Project Administration Manager
Irene Fischer is the Project Administration
Manager. Before that she was Product
Manager at Intavis AG, Cologne, a
subsidiary of HB Technologies AG
in Tübingen. After holding various
positions, e.g. at the Helmholtz Centre
for Environmental Research in Leipzig-
Halle and at the Department of
Agrobiotechnology (IFA Tulln) at the
University of Natural Resources and
Life Sciences in Vienna, she completed
her doctorate in the natural sciences at
Tübingen University. She has an MSc in
environmental technology and originally
studied biochemistry at Bucharest
University.

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Andreas Gareis
Development Manager
Andreas Gareis manages our
Development Department. He was a
Project Engineer at the engineering
services provider BRUNEL. He studied
electrical engineering at Reutlingen
University.
Yuliya Rogachevska
Manager for Project Management
Yuliya Rogachevska studied economic
sciences at Hohenheim University. She
is the Manager for Project and Network
Management and is also responsible for
Marketing, the Press and Public Relations.
Dr. Felix Teufel
Head System Integration
Felix Teufel is head system integration
at Nomadic Power. He was business
manager innovation at KIC InnoEnergy,
the European company for innovation

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and business creation in sustainable
energy. Previously he was working for
the utility EnBW AG in the research and
development department, focusing
on storage and smart grid topics.
Felix studied mechanical engineering
at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
(KIT) and University of California, Santa
Barbara. He received a PhD in energy
economics at KIT.
Ann-Sophie Löhrer
HR and Network Manager
Ann-Sophie Löhrer completed
her Bachelor degree in Business
Administration und Economics at Passau
University. In the BVB INNOVATE team
she is responsible for recruiting. She
is currently completing her M. Sc. in
Management at Hohenheim University.
Florian Türk
Junior Design Engineer
Florian Türk is junior design engineer
in the R&D department. He focuses on
vehicle-system-engineering. Previously
he studied engineering at the “Dualen-
Hochschule Stuttgart” (DHBW). His
major was R&D and design. He studied in
cooperation with the tool manufacturer
KOMET Group Besigheim. At KOMET
he developed and designed metal-
cuttingtools.

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Valeria Meier
Market Research Assistant
Valeria Meier studied humangeography
at the Goethe-University in Frankfurt.
Since then, she gained experience in the
topic of Sustainable Mobility Concepts
at the Fraunhofer IAO in Stuttgart. In the
BVB INNOVATE-Team she is responsible
for scientific evaluation of the Nomadic
Power concept. Furthermore, she assists
Yuliya Rogachevska in PR related issues.
Alexander Dumitru
Working Student
Alexander Dumitru studies Business
Administration and Economics (B.Sc.)
at the University Hohenheim. He
supports the BVB INNOVATE-Team as a
projektassistant and with administrative
issues. Additionally he is a member of
Enactus Hohenheim, a student initiative,
organizing social, economical and
ecological projects.
2.2 Sector and activities
BVB Innovate GMBH was born as a start
up in 2008; it is situated in Stuttgart,
Curiestraße 5.
Itspurposehasalwaysbeento participate
and work for innovation initiatives. The
company, intially strictly linked to the
Stuttgart Universität, is used to help
clients who want to develop their own
ideas for innovation businesses, in order
to go forward with their project and
maybe find new investors.
Thanks to the foresight of the CEO of
BVB Innovate, Dr. Manfred Baumgärtner,
the company has applied this approach
even on ideas and possible projects that
were coming from the inside.

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3. Description of the activities
3.1 The project
eBuggy was a trailer for EV cars that has
the function of range extender, since it
works thanks to last generation batteries
contained inside it. The company made
the case untill they obained a real working
trailer connected to an EV car, also thanks
to the collaboration with CleverTrailer
in 2012; thanks to this great step, BVB
Innovate won the European Satellite
Navigation Competition in the same year.
The trailer was still a prototype and what
the company wanted and need to do was
to develop the project further: from the
technical and electronic point of view,
from the structural and producibility point
of view, and from the aesthetic point
of view. The eBuggy system was in fact

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mounted on an excellent CleverTrailer
system, that guaranteed its operation
and compliance with the rules, but not its
originality and recognizability .
In2014Ijusthappenedtoattendacontest
with the POLI.Hub incubator, whom prize
was an internship; I was assigned to BVB
INNOVATE, that in that moment exactly
needed a transportation designer. This is
how our paths crossed and why I have
had the honour to participate to the
eBuggy project.
Thanks also to the company mentor,
Michael Mairer, we develop a final
innovative shape design: it gave to
eBuggy a new personality, and a new
name to the company division that was
working for this project, NomadicPower.
3.2 Development process -
Nomadic Power Trailer
ThedevelopmentprocessoftheNomadic
Power trailer has been composed of
different phases, and I’ve started to be
part of it in February 2014.
First, Dr. Baumgärtner and Dr. Gareis
expounded me the idea of the project;
a range extender trailer already existed,
and it was their own prototype. It was
initially called eBuggy and it had to be
the main tool of a range extending service
for EVs. In fact, as in the sequence you can
see in the previous page, when EV drivers
have to go out of the city and to take
on an extra-urban trip, they can contact
the NomadicPower station by an app;
after this, they can enjoi the added Km
autonomy given by the NomadicPower
trailer, until they reach their destination;
there they can leave the trailer in another
station and enter the city without driving
difficulties.
The trailer prototype structure and body
has been produced from Knott ( Germany
), Clevertrailer ( Switzerland ) and Purvatec
( Germany ), it is perfectly working and it
is connected to an electric Renault Clio.
The battery modules are composed
by big cylindrical cells of 400g, Lithium
- Iron - Phosphate typology , in 3s3p
or 3s6p disposal; this kind of batteries
are allowing the range extender trailer

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to travel between 140 - 250 km. They
have advantages, like the unexisting
thermal loss, the high battery life (
6000/8000 possible recharging cycles ),
the charging speed ( 6 hours in normal
circumstances, 1 hour with fast - charging
); but on the other hand they lack in some
characteristics. It’s why the Development
Manager Dr. Gareis and the CEO wanted
the batteries to be improved in their
components and structure, so they
decided to use modules composed by
3600mAh 18650 Li-ion Panasonic 3.7V
Rechargeable Battery Cells. They are
the same typology used for laptops
batteries or for Tesla EVs batteries. Each
of these cells weight 40g, and put in a
11S 9S 69P module they would allow the
trailer to travel about 500 Km. These
kind of batteries could be provided of a
BMS management system that controls
performances and safety; the cells, and in
consequence the module, are small; that
provide a good autonomy and an high
battery life ( 6000/8000 cycles possible
recharging cycles ); the charging speed is
6 hours in normal circumstances, 1 hour
with fast - charging. The only drawback is
the weight, as in most kind of batteries.
Since the dimension of the whole new
battery pack could be limited, so also the
overall volume of the entire trailer could
be littler; that was the reason why a new
design for the Nomad was needed.
We started with a definition of the vehicle
packaging, considering the dimension
of the chassis produced by Knott and
chosen from BVB INNOVATE; as a first
part of the design process, we start to put
all the initial volumes and elements using

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Autodesk Alias as a modeling software.
The consequent phase has been to
start to do some research in the field of
trailers, range extenders, and E.V.s, to
understand what could be the possible
competitors and what the users’ vehicles;
simultaneously we also started a shape
sketching process on paper, considering
the main volumes that the package
was had. The first lines were really
traditional for a trailer but, after some
considerations, we reached an overall
shape that for us was really catchy: in fact,
as even our moodboard was saying, the
product have to be outstanding/unique,
modern, appealing, likeable/simple,
healty, cute/attractive, innnovative and
clean.
We reached a final decision after a vote of
all the components of the company; after
this I started an Alias model starting from
the initial vehicle package. We made
some improvements on the structure
while the digital modeling work was in
progress but, after just a month, the first
version of the new Nomad digital model
was out. We also visited Purvatec,in
Tüßling, to understand what parts of
the trailer body could be produced and
how; there we met also Dr. Hans Grünig
from Clevertrailer, who gave us some
suggestions on how we could design the
back lights and some other components,

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that are dependent from the road code
regulation.
In the lasting one month and half we had
at our disposal, we worked to redefine the
volumes of the trailer, since new chassis
characteristics were coming up in itinere;
so we started creating a new digital
model of the Nomad. Simultaneously
we started to work also on things that
were consequent of what we have done
until that moment: the color division
that the trailer body could have; some
first nice renders to show the product to
the public; the rims. Last but not least,
we imagined the charging stations and
areas for Nomadic Power: these were
designed by me, but they had been
digital modeled and rendered by Stefan
Heller, the graphic who also created that
beautiful animation clip that you can find
on youtube ( title “Nomadic Power - 500
km / 300 miles of autonomy” ).
Our collaboration ended with a lot of
new and exciting food for thought; I
completed the final design development
of digital model, once I came back to
Italy. I had to present the result of this
beautiful collaboration period to Poli.
HUB organization, together with the
other nice guys who participated with me
to the really helpful MakeYourCupcake
contest.
3.3 Development process - Nomadic
Power Trailer engineering and “new
project” development
During the last Academic Year 2014/2015,
the company contacted me because
they wanted to continue developing the

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NomadicPower project: they reached an
European Community funding for it, and
they wanted me as well in the team. Since
I’m a student yet, we decided together to
collaborate again, but just from the 1th
September to the 16th October 2015;
they needed to engineer the Nomad
trailer design and, in case, to develop “
another new project ”. Since I also had
to attend a curricular internship for my
Master of Science course, we ensure that
it would correspond with this forthcoming
and exciting new working experience.
For both the project I COUNTERSIGNED
A NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT, so I
can reveal just the material that has been
already produced or published. The “
other new project ” is fully covered by
the non-disclosure agreement, since it
is a work-in-progress yet; on the other
hand, for what concerns the engineering
process of the Nomadic trailer, I’m
going to partially report you its design
development process.
NOMADIC POWER TRAILER
ENGINEERING - After having patented
the new design of the Nomad Trailer, the
company needed a modeling software to
proceed with the engineering process. I
could work with Autodesk Inventor and
DS Solidworks, in order to convert the
Nomad design into a CAD drawing; at the
end Catia V6 has been chosen, because
of logistical reasons. A professional and
really expert Catia digital modeler has
been hired, Dr. Dieter Egret; he had the
task to frame the overall structure of the
trailer, considering the relation between
the new design, the new batteries and
the Knott chassis. We also had some
meetings during which he has explained
me how Catia V6 and its platform work.

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The Design engineering process was
launched when we started putting in
relation all the relevant volumes of the
trailer; in fact we ned to understand
how the shapes of the new design could
be replicated, accordingly with all the
technical constraint that the trailer would
have:
- wedividedthesurfacebodyofthedigital
model into possible shells, considering
also how they can be produced;
- we tried to imagine how the internal
elements, where the batteries are, could
be part of the shells and simultaneously
sustain the battery pack, together with
the chassis main structures;
- we assumed the materials and the
manufacturing processes that could be
used to realize all the shells. Another
important issue, consequent from this
kind of considerations, was to find a
manufacturer or a prototyping workshop
who could help and succeed to produce
the trailer. Of course, it would depend
from the number of needed elements,
from the used materials and from the
shapes.
Initially, since the company has contacts
with some German technical universities,
the CEO wanted to try to develop
the project with them. For instance
he contacted Phill Handy, General
Manager of the MakerSpace of München
Technische Universität. Thanks to him we
had the chance to visit all the equipments
of this building, where there are plenty
of prototyping machines available for
students and outsiders : 3D milling

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machine, 3D printers, varnishing working
stations, waterJet machine, laser cut
machine for wood, SLS quite big machine,
fabric printers, electronic devices working
stations, woodworking tools and so on.
Although this MakerSpace is really well
equipped, the technologies needed for
the trailer first unit production, and the
dimension of the shells, drived us to
different solutions.
Luckily, a really interesting company
had worked for the 6th edition of the
Master in Transportation and Automobile
Design of the Politecnico di Milano, the
one that I also attended some years ago.
It’s called Skorpion Engineering and it
is an italian prototyping and production
company that works in many fields of
the market, like the automotive, the
industrial, the medical and the visual; they

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are from Segrate ( Milan ). I contacted
and updated them about the project;
after this first step, BVB INNOVATE and
Skorpion Engineering have always been
in contact, since the first feedbacks
about the possible prototyping, until the
realization of the first exemplary of the
Nomad.
After defining a first start up structure
with Dr. Egert, focusing on manufacturing
and materials considerations, I concluded
my internship period in the company.
The overall part of digital modeling and
realization process has been continued
from him, Dr. Florian Turk and Dr.Felix
Teufel: the first two experts worked on
the body modeling of the trailer, to make
it deliverable; the third managed the all
project and the inner battery pack design.

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NEW PROJECT DEVELOPMENT - In
parallel, I’ve been developing the “other
new project”, using a process similar to
the one used during the Nomad trailer
design:
- research about the kind of object
- research about the field where the
object operate
- moodboard and core characteristics of
the object
- sketch design studio
- in itinere votings, considerations and
changements
- digital modeling
- definition of a final shape
3.4 Professional roles
During this period of collaboration
with BVB INNOVATE and its division
NomadicPower, I’ve been playing my
role of designer in general:
- I provided consultancy on the design for
the engineering process of the Nomadic
trailer
- I worked on the “new other project”
applying the methods and steps that I’ve
learnt during my studies and during my
past experiences
- when needed, I helped the Public
Relations office with some graphic issues
- I partecipate to the reconditioning of
the new workshop of the company
During and after the internship I’ve been
always in contact with the company: I’ve
followed up the engineering process of
the trailer, participating to the shapes
definition, to make them as much as
possible similar to the new design;
I’ve always kept in contact Skorpion
Engineering with the company, in order
to constantly exchange informations,
such as screws dimensions, thicknesses,
colors codes and pricing; I also went in
person to the S.E. seat situated here in
Milan.
4. Main competences gained
4.1 Theoretical range
It has been really useful to be fully
immersedinacompanythatisdeveloping

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aprojecttobringittoproduction,knowing
also how it started. I’ve felt really useful
because I tried to give to the company
all the knowledge I have about the
design process and about the materials;
I’ve also provided my rudiments about
manufacturing processes. But of course
it has been really exciting to apply and
see all these things in a real company
situation; this has given me new and
renewed competences.
4.2 Practical range
I’ve learnt how to put in contact two
companies, and what to be aware of
doing that. I also could have been using a
softwareIalreadyknewfortheengineering
process of the Nomad trailer, but
discovering the world of Catia has done
nothing but enrich my digital modeling
background. Last but not least, the visit
the München Technische Universität
MakerSpace has been explosive from
the prototyping knowledge point of
view, because it is not frequent to see all
those last generation prototype making
machines at work.
5. Main established results
5.1 NomadicPower Trailer
A first unit of the Nomad has been
produced, thanks also to Knott and
Skorpion Engineering. It is useful for a
future further development of the trailer
and to show it to public, since it will be

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sold to private and companies.
By now, BVB INNOVATE is producing and
selling a separated new and outstanding
battery pack, similar to the ones used in
the trailer, provided in different capacity
models. On the other hand, the Nomad
will be produced and called Mobats.
Mobats are safe lithium-ion batteries
with a capacity of 20 – 200 kWh. They
can provide DC and AC anywhere, e.g.
for rapidly charging e-vehicles. They can
be attached to the electrical grid at any
time without any retrofitting expenses –
an electric socket is all that is required.
Two models will be available:
MobatME as a sales product for
commercial and private customers
MobatSERV for rapid-charging services
such as Valet Recharging
Nomadic Power will handle marketing
activities.
Models will be:
MobatME 40
40 kWh of mobile energy for rapid
charging. Equipped with a CCS or
CHAdeMO rapid-charging system.
Rechargeable at any household electric
socket.
MobatME 60
60 kWh of mobile energy for rapid
charging. Equipped with a CCS or
CHAdeMO rapid-charging system.
Rechargeable at any household electric
socket.
MobatME 85 P
Premium: 85 kWh of mobile energy for
rapid charging. Equipped with a CCS
or CHAdeMO rapid-charging system.
Rechargeable at any household electric
socket. In addition, you can use electricity
that you have generated yourself for your
own domestic network or whilst underway
– sockets for Schuko (CEE 7/4) and CEE.
Optional: charge your vehicle during the
journey to achieve unlimited ranges.

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5.2 “Other new project “
It is still a work in progress so I can’t
divulge any information about that.
6. Personal reflections
I’ve been just a little one of the lots of
actors who are bringing a 2008 start up
to produce and follow up with a really
innovative idea.
I’ve done my job, and the only negative
thing of all this experience is that I don’t
currently have the possibility to continue
helping and working for this wonderful
company. It is made of great thinkers and
passionate dreamers: they are people
who give importance to ideas of both
professionals and less experienced
persons; they get straight to the point,
reaching it from many ways; and they use
the same way of thinking, trying to bring
a new way of mobility and living in our
cities, on our road and in our houses.
Concluding, I know that BVB INNOVATE
is actually just one of a lot of other small
and big companies, who are working
on the same ideal frequency; but I also
think that here in Italy we would need
more companies like these, made out of
enthusiastic people, who want to reach a
new positive and sustainable era for our
Made in Italy and for our society.