#ExploreŠkoda Podcast

Do you know that specific smell of a brand-new car? Everything is clean and polished, and all the parts fit together perfectly—every stitch on the seat, every piece of the bodywork. To achieve that, you need a high level of quality control - both during the development of the car and later during the production phase.

ŠKODA thus partnered with Swiss company Hexagon and, thanks to this collaboration, uses state-of-the-art laser technology in its production lines. And also, ŠKODA experts work closely with their swiss colleagues and can help further develop this highly accurate and high-speed measurement technology. 

In this episode of the Simply Clever podcast, I visited the Hexagon R&D facility in Unterentfelden, close to Zurich, Switzerland, to learn more about laser technology and its future in the automotive industry. And my guests are Niklaus Sutter, sales and marketing manager at Hexagon, and Valentin Baumann from Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence.

Welcome to the new episode of the SIMPLY CLEVER PODCAST. Right after the summer break, we start with a big world premiere. At the end of August, ŠKODA unveiled its seven-seater VISION 7S concept. ŠKODA thus provides the first specific outlook on the brand's new design language. From now on, ŠKODA will be not only simply clever but also modern solid. This new design language combines robustness, functionality, and authenticity. 

With the new design language, there will also be a new corporate identity, which is the most radical change in 30 years, with a new picturemark and wordmark coming up in the next few months and years. 

Both the new design language and corporate identity are the topics for this episode of SIMPLY CLEVER PODCAST. And my honorable guest is Oliver Stefani, head of ŠKODA Design, and later on Martin Jahn, Board Member for Sales & Marketing at ŠKODA. 

At the end of the 1950s, two ŠKODA coupés based on the 1100 OHC roadster began taking part in Czech road races. While they did enjoy some success in local races, their racing career didn’t last long – the 1960s saw a new category of racing cars, and the OHC Coupé went into retirement. Enthusiasts from ŠKODA Česana bought the two cars, but in the end, both were written off in crashes. One of them was so burnt that its unique all-aluminium body was destroyed. Nevertheless, today’s SIMPLY CLEVER PODCAST 2.0 is all about this wonderful coupé, which was nicknamed the Czech E-type. This is because a few years ago, workers at the ŠKODA Museum joined forces with the ŠKODA AUTO Prototype Construction Centre to revive this burnt-out coupé using original plans, modern technology and above all the enormous enthusiasm and determination of everyone involved.

Apprentices from the ŠKODA AUTO Vocational School build a unique Student Concept Car every year. This time, they based it on ŠKODA’s smallest SUV, the KAMIQ. In collaboration with ŠKODA Motorsport, they created the amazing ŠKODA AFRIQ that could enter any special stage of the legendary Dakar Rally off the bat. Plus, it can make water out of the air - thanks to technology from the Israeli company WaterGen. The system extracts drinking water from the humidity of the air and can even generate drinking water in the desert. 

By installing a unit in the AFRIQ, ŠKODA AUTO is raising awareness of this technology that can help to combat water shortages in desert regions and eliminate the need for single-use plastic bottles. 

But how does it work? And how did this collaboration between ŠKODA AUTO and WaterGen come about? 

That's the topic of today's episode of the SIMPLY CLEVER PODCAST 2.0. Joining me is Ludmila Prokopcová, head of technology scouting & business development, and Steve Elbaz, vice-president for mobility at WaterGen.

Today we’re at the M6 production hall of the ŠKODA AUTO factory in Mladá Boleslav. So far, this is where batteries for the plug-in hybrid cars, SUPERB iV and OCTAVIA iV have been produced. But not long ago, ŠKODA AUTO added traction batteries to the line-up. These are used in the all-electric models based on the MEB platform – the ENYAQ iV and ENYAQ Coupé iV. The company invested almost 130 million euros in the new facility. 200 new jobs will be created, and when running at full capacity, the line will produce  more than  250,000 traction batteries per year.

I recently had the opportunity to visit the new production line and find out how the batteries are assembled, how much of this work is automated, and how the employees were trained to work on this production line. That’s the topic of today’s episode and joining me is Christian Bleiel, Head of Component Production at ŠKODA AUTO.

Almost everyone knows the classic computer game, which aims to place variously shaped elements in a given space as compactly as possible. ŠKODA AUTO logistics has the same task whenever they have to load a 40-foot-long freight container. However, since 2020, they have been supported by an application using artificial intelligence technology: OPTIKON AI calculates the best way to place and the optimal number of different types of pallets, thus maximizing the loading capacity of the container.

How exactly does OPTIKON work? What does such a container loading look like in practice? And where else could similar optimization help the carmaker? The guests of today's SIMPLY CLEVER PODCAST 2.0 are the coordinator of the ŠKODA AUTO transport systems, Jakub Novák, and Petr Švarc from the artificial intelligence department.

Today’s SIMPLY CLEVER PODCAST is special. We won’t be talking about digital
technologies or innovations but about helping the people of Ukraine fleeing from Russian
aggression. Due to the war, PEKM Kabeltechnik temporarily suspended production at its
plant in Lviv, where they assemble cable harnesses for door panels, bumpers, seats, and
towbars. The factory is now operating again, but to a limited extent due to supply
constraints. This is why ŠKODA AUTO decided to help the company duplicate production,
i.e., double up production, specifically in Mladá Boleslav. 

How did ŠKODA AUTO manage to relocate part of the production from Ukraine to Mladá
Boleslav in just a few weeks? And how important is it for the carmaker? Today’s guests on
the SIMPLY CLEVER podcast are the head of the ŠKODA AUTO Connectivity and Electronics Purchasing department, Jan Melichar, the Supply Chain Risk Manager Pavel Odstrčil and ŠKODA AUTO Board Member for Purchasing Karsten Schnake. 

In this episode of the Simply Clever podcast, we’ll be offering some advice to people who have decided to switch to electromobility.

Imagine the situation – you have two cars at home, and you’re thinking about trading one in to get an EV, maybe one with a small battery that’s ideal for towns and cities.

I was in that situation not so long ago and had questions like:is it ok if I just use a standard plug socket to charge the EV? How is charging going to affect my bills? And should I start thinking about solar panels? Especially after energy priceswent through the roof at the end of the year. 

 I decided to ask somebody with lots of experience in electromobility, home charging, and solar energy. Today’s guest is EV enthusiast and YouTuber popularizing electromobility and photovoltaics, Jan Staněk, aka ElectroDad. Jan invited us to his house close to Brno and showed us what it’s like to live with two e-cars in the garage.

Sportier, more passionate, and more powerful - at the end of January, ŠKODA AUTO introduced a new version of the fully electric model ENYAQ iV - the ENYAQ COUPÉ iV. And now, in March, the journalists had the first chance to drive it - including the fastest version RS. The so-called Media Launch was held in Tuscany, Italy. And in this episode of SIMPLY CLEVER PODCAST 2.0, I'm going to try out the new ENYAQ COUPÉ iV on my own.

With the two latest models, ŠKODA AUTO achieved excellent results in the drag coefficient. In the case of the brand new ŠKODA ENYAQ Coupé iV, it is thanks to the coupé silhouette. And today we will be referring to the fourth-generation FABIA introduced in 2021, which has the best aerodynamic drag coefficient in its category, thanks to the work of Vít Hubáček from the ŠKODA AUTO Aerodynamics Department. Mr. Hubacek and Jan (Honza) Jagrík, head of the Aerodynamics Department, will be our guests for this podcast. We will explain what factors influence a vehicle’s aerodynamics, how the airflow around a car can be simulated by computer, and why the Design department also gets involved when working on a car’s aerodynamics.