EDITOR’S NOTE: Eric Best, engine research analyst at Power Systems Research, is walking the floor at CONEXPO 2020, looking for new engine and power train products. Here is his report on two innovative companies.
FPT Industrial
FPT has bought out a methane/natural gas company, a battery company, and a hydrogen company, and my contact has no worries about the future of electrification or alternative fuels.
The company’s newest engine, the F28, was on display at CONEXPO and promises to be a front-runner for OEMs that look to supply elevated power in a more compact design.
FPT also has a concept engine that can run on all five major fuel types the company has at its disposal: gasoline, diesel, natural gas, hydrogen, and battery.
Vanguard
Argo has contracted with Vanguard to supply the new Vanguard 5kWh battery pack on their new vehicle they have named Rover.
Currently, Argo’s main customers are military-oriented, because of the Rover’s ability to be autonomously piloted with a remote control or simply by choosing a destination on a map utilizing an on-board GPS system
Vanguard is also in the stages of releasing a 1.5kWh battery back that would be used for smaller equipment such as light towers and concrete trowels. Vanguard said the importance of this smaller battery pack along the lines of a common household drill, but on a commercial plane of thinking: a battery on a handheld drill is interchangeable and easily replaceable when it runs out of its stored power; why not design something for commercial use?
When using a trowel or light tower on a commercial project, it will be a lot easier to change out a battery pack than rely on someone to correctly mix gasoline and oil correctly. Effectively, by introducing an interchangeable battery pack, this eliminates human error, because it’s as simple as taking the depleted battery out of the machinery and placing a fully charged one into the machinery, and carrying on about your task.
While still in the conceptual phase, this looks to be a strong future contender in the battery/electrification of commercial equipment.
Vanguard also noted that they are in the process of developing a charging bank, where a construction company could have 10 or even 20 of the 1.5kWh battery packs charged or charging, and ready to be used on a job site.
This is quite the innovative step in a world that is already yearning for innovation related to electrification in the off-highway sectors.
Vanguard noted that when this five-year endeavor of electrification first began, many in the company were hesitant to move forward on the electrification front because the company has a long-standing reputation for its gasoline engines. However, the company now has a consensus that its battery program will work well with its current gasoline platform. PSR
