Jonas joined Siemens Advanta Consulting as an intern while he was getting his degree – and he made the most out of it: He got a return offer and became a consultant full-time. In this interview, Jonas looks back on how it all started and shares advice on breaking into management consulting. 

The first few days were like jumping in at the deep end, both during my internship and when I joined the company as a consultant. I was an integral part of a project team from day 1 and was expected to perform accordingly. To be given such a high level of responsibility and trust at the very beginning was extremely exciting for me – and really helped me internalize the requirements of the job as quickly as possible. In addition, my mentor was there to help me with any questions right from the start. This proved to be extremely helpful during my initial time. 

I was really – and above all positively – surprised by how flat the hierarchies were, by how open everybody was and by the fact that my managers were so accessible and approachable. Coming in, I knew the learning curve would be steep. And yet I was amazed at how quickly I had to learn to work at a high management level and to communicate very precisely. 

Strategy consulting is for people with a quick grasp, who enjoy creating change processes, working in dynamic teams and also want to immerse themselves in different industries. If all this applies to you – and if you also bring a high technology affinity to the table – you should consider joining Siemens Advanta Consulting. On the other hand: If you're not a "go-getter" by any means, or don't like working with people, this certainly isn't the right career for you. 

I remember everybody was kind and welcoming, and the interview questions were all solvable. My advice: Make yourself familiar with the relevant content in advance, try to apply a structured approach to questions and practice strategic thinking. That way, you'll be able to get a grip on the different questions and solve the tasks more quickly.

During my interviews I was also asked to take a look at business cases, and got a chance to put my analytical thinking, mental arithmetic and structuring skills to the test. The cases I had to work on were cases from real projects, well-structured and prepared in detail. All questions were aimed at testing my technological and business expertise as well as my structured thinking. 

My advice: Take the interviews seriously, prepare yourself accordingly and get to know the company and its customers beforehand. Don't be afraid of case studies, and rather take them as a useful exercise that will help prepare you for your internship later on. Also, look at the interviews as a chance to find out more about the company and especially the culture. Don't hesitate to ask questions! But above all: Be yourself! 

After my internship, I was offered the opportunity to join Siemens Advanta Consulting as a consultant after finishing my degree. Once I was done with my internship, I went to the U.S. to write my master's thesis. Eight months later, I was back as a full-time consultant. And I really benefitted from the fact that I had already gotten to know the company and the way it works during my internship. 

To me, tackling strategic issues is both fun and challenging. In addition, I really enjoy working in an ambitious, international team, coupled with a steep learning curve, rapid personal development and, of course, professional proximity to technology. Today, I get to live and breathe my passion for strategy and technology in consulting.

There is no typical consulting day, however when we're working with a client, we're generally split up into project teams with their own areas of responsibility. I feel like I'm still learning the most through interaction and collaboration with our clients and by developing our interns, consultants and project leaders as well as our great training curriculum. 

The targets for charging infrastructure in 2035 are set: charging pools should be available every 60km along major EU highways and a charging capacity of 1kW per battery electric vehicle (BEV) is to be made available. By linking charging infrastructure targets to the car parc development of electric vehicles, this ensures that both developments are aligned and at the same speed.

To achieve the set target in Europe, by 2035  more than 10 million additional public chargers need to be installed and the installation speed needs to 11 times faster. This implies an increase of public charger installations per week from less than 2.000 in 2021 to more than 20.000 in 2035. Today, we are already experiencing long lead for electrical installation and a low number of specialists and given the increase in demand, this will potentially create a serious talent gap. The additional public chargers require cumulated investments in equipment and infrastructure of 190bn€. Significant state subsidies support the financing of the infrastructure growth (currently Germany is supporting 80% of that growth with state subsidies). Overall, the needed invest can be manageable considering a cumulated EU-27 state budget of almost 7.500bn€ in 2021.

Comparisons on the availability of chargers drawn from across European countries indicate significant variations ranging from two to 24 electric vehicles (EVs) per charger. In comparison to other European countries, Eastern European countries in particular have less public charging points per 100km2. Accessibility of charging stations is already established by large networks with direct credit card payment on the rise. The biggest networks provide access to more than 300.000 public chargers across Europe.
Players in the EV ecosystem need to improve customer experience by partnering and vertical integrations. The EV charging ecosystem is developing from proliferation to consolidation. While the fragmented market prevents a seamless customer journey with split strategic control points, thanks to consolidation the customer experience will improve significantly. 

Charging innovations need to overcome remaining challenges to further increase overall attractiveness of EVs. Wireless inductive charging might help to provide increased convenience especially for (autonomous) fleets and enable en-route charging. However, currently the high costs and weight of the hardware are impeding the wide application. (Inverted) pantographs provide a solution for fast charging in depots or stops, as well as en-route charging possibilities (e.g., on high-ways). Bi-directional charging might become the game changer for balancing energy demand either in Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) or vehicle-to-home (V2H) use cases. Especially in regions with vulnerable infrastructure and certain risk of power failures, bi-directional charging can support in providing emergency power. 

Europe relies on a widespread network of fuel stations. More than two thirds of existing fuel stations will not survive if they do not adapt to the changing market demands. Given the fast increase of electric vehicles and the changing fuel mix, refueling will no longer be the main business driver. The effect will be intensified by a diverse and extensive out-of-station charging network. Therefore, fuel stations will undergo a radical transformation – to survive, they need to become smart service stations with additional service offerings like automated go-to-market stores for daily errands, last mile delivery or mobility solutions.

Since the aim is to also electrify heavy-duty electric trucks, there is need for a separate public infrastructure. Over 80% of long-haul journeys above 500km are driven on highways. During these journeys, the drivers need to take mandated breaks. Hence, megawatt fast charging (1-3,5 MW) will be necessary along European highways to ensure sufficient charging during breaks. The charging stations require a connection to the high voltage grid with lead times between 5-10 years which is why cooperations with grid operators will be crucial.

In order to realize these ambitious targets, it is critical to develop a comprehensive growth strategy for charging networks, as well as a roadmap for fuel stations to adapt additional business models. Therefore, early coordination and goal-oriented planning between the involved stakeholders, as well as highly reliable strategic partners for transformative and innovative solutions are all decisive success factors.  

Major challenges lie within the areas of battery production capacity: the dependencies within the supply chain as well as recycling capabilities. Based on projections, in 2035 the battery cell production demand in Europe will reach 1.300GWh. Therefore, a 26-time higher battery cell production capacity will be needed. According to indications stemming  from OEMs and battery manufacturers for new Gigafactories that the demand could already be met by 2030. To achieve this goal, strategic partnerships and joint battery production will be crucial. 

Furthermore, as of today, more than 75% of mineral refining and battery cell production is controlled by China. It is a challenge of utmost importance for Europe to secure access to minerals and also expand processing and cell production capabilities to reduce supply chain dependencies and political risks. New sourcing strategies are needed including the ramp up of local processing activities in Europe and global supply contracts.

In addition, many electric vehicles will reach their expected end of life by 2035. Therefore, the need for battery recycling is expected to blow up with 700.000 tons of end-of-life batteries in Europe. To meet EU material recovery targets and improve ESG responsibility, new recycling strategies are needed. With the right measures, this could create a great opportunity as Europe will gain an importance source of battery minerals through circular economy measures. 

The goal for the next few years should primarily be, first, to localize the necessary production capacities for battery cells, second, to reduce dependencies, and third, to strive for the circular economy. Thus, ecosystems are more important than ever to foster collaboration, co-creation, and innovation.