How Student Teamwork Built a World Championship Car

Editor’s Note: Caroline Little teaches all levels of French and moderates an engineering co-curricular at St. Thomas Academy, an all-boys school in Mendota Heights, Minnesota. Here she provides a report on the program and the benefits it provides to participating students.

Power Systems Research has been a lead sponsor of the special Experimental Vehicle Team (EVT) at St. Thomas for many years. This year, the team won its class in the Shell Eco-Marathon international competition in London. This report from Ms. Little discusses the program and the benefits it provides for high school students interested in science, technology, engineering and match (STEM).

By Caroline Little

Every year for the past twenty the Saint Thomas Academy Experimental Vehicle Team (STA EVT) has built a new vehicle from the ground up to give our students the best engineering experience a high-schooler can get. The internationally recognized program started in 1997. My fellow moderator Mark Westlake and I believe in the importance of learning from mistakes. That the most important life lessons come from experience, that science is not always easy and that the answers are not always found in the back of the book.

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JAPAN REPORT: Toyota, Honda, Shell To Expand Hydrogen Fueling Network in US

Toyota, Honda and Shell announced a plan to expand their hydrogen refueling network in California.

Akihiro Komuro
Akihiro Komuro

Shell will install hydrogen refueling systems at 48 gas stations using a grant from California’s hydrogen refueling infrastructure support. The company will also upgrade two Shell hydrogen stations and add fuel dispensers to heavy-duty truck stations.

Additionally, Toyota and Honda have agreed to expand sales of fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) in California to support the Shell hydrogen Stations. Toyota and Honda plan to expand sales of the Mirai and Clarity Fuel Cell, respectively.

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Brazil MHV Production Outlook Webinar, March 17, 2021, Sponsored by ABM

Carlos Briganti
Carlos Briganti

In this episode of the PSR PowerTALK™ podcast Carlos Briganti, Managing Director of the Power Systems Research South American operations, analyzes the outlook for MHV production in Brazil, with special emphasis on the trends away from diesel power.

He will be presenting this information in more detail during a webinar sponsored by the ABM on March 17, 2021. The webinar is sponsored by the Brazilian Association of Metallurgy, Materials and Mining (ABM). There is no charge for the ABM webinar.

You can register here for the webinar: https://www.abmbrasil.com.br/eng/inscricoes/difusao-digital/webinar-tendencias-tecnologicas-volumes-para-veiculos-comerciais

The ABM is a non-profit civil association whose objective is to bring together individuals and companies aiming collective actions that promote the development of people, technical and scientific evolution and innovation in processes, products and management in their areas of expertise. PSR

Transcript

Welcome to the PSR PowerTALK podcast, produced by Power Systems Research. Today Fabio Ferraresi, Director of Business Development, South America and Carlos Briganti, Managing Director, South America, will discuss the outlook for medium and heavy vehicles in Brazil.

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Foton To Produce Trucks in Brazil Again

This article initially appeared in the February 2020 issue of PowerTALK News.

Foton says it will start producing Trucks in Guaíba-RS, in the facility formerly designated for his own factory. However, the production will be handled by GEFCO under a manufacturing contract, with parts imported from China. Previously, Foton assembled its trucks at the Agrale plant, also in Rio Grande do Sul state, to meet commitments made under government incentive programs. The number of models built here is likely to increase during the year, but no details have been disclosed.

Fabio Ferraresi
Fabio Ferraresi

Source: Automotive Business     Read The Article

PSR Analysis: At the same time Foton works on local production, it is working on adding about 50 dealers from Ford Trucks, which closed its operations in Brazil, to eliminate one of the biggest gaps to increase sales. The other gaps, such as reliability perception and spare parts availability, will take longer to be addressed, but we can see growth in sales and production of the Chinese OEM in Brazil, given more positive market conditions. PSR

Fabio Ferraresi is Director-Business Development SA

Toyota Joins BYD To Build Affordable $30,000 Electric Car

JAPAN REPORT

Toyota reportedly has partnered with China’s BYD to develop an affordable electric car to launch next year. The Japanese automaker has widely been recognized as a laggard in the transition to electric vehicles. Years of betting on hydrogen fuel cells and hybrid vehicles has put Toyota behind on battery-electric vehicles.

Reuters reports Toyota is planning to release a “small and affordable electric sedan” in China next year:

The electric vehicle is reportedly going to be powered by BYD’s blade battery cells with LFP chemistry. LFP chemistry has improved enough in recent years that it is moving from mainly being used in electric buses to now electric cars. BYD’s blade battery has attracted a lot of attention – even from Tesla, according to reports coming out of China. A Toyota source talking to Reuters said that it is what is enabling the automaker to produce its first affordable all-electric car:

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John Deere Wins Innovation Award at Agritechnica 2019

HANNOVER, Germany– The impressive Gold Award for Innovation at the Agritechnica 2019 Show was awarded to John Deere for its electro-mechanical power split gearbox.

Stepless transmissions with a hydrostatic-mechanical power split have been used in agricultural tractors for over 20 years. Previously, additional generators for electric drives with a higher power requirement were installed on tractors (fan, compressed-air/air conditioner compressor, etc.) or on implements.

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Continental Wins First Order for CV High-Performance Computer

Frankfurt, Germany–For the first time, Continental has won an order to supply the commercial vehicle sector with telematics units that include high-performance computers. This means that the technology company now also offers a solution that can master the increasing requirements for connectivity, complexity and functional scope in trucks.

Continental will use its telematics know-how – already proven in the passenger car sector – to complete this order from Volkswagen. Last year, Continental was the first supplier to put a high-performance computer with software into serial production. The computer connects the electronics architecture, controls data streams, and enables over-the-air updates for VW’s all-electronic ID series.

In its solution for trucks, Continental combines the telematics unit with a high-performance computer, enabling the mapping of a large number of additional functions and different applications. Particularly in the efficiency-driven transportation industry, this entails competition-relevant applications ranging from the digitalization of the logistics chain and remote diagnostics to secure over-the-air software updates.

Continental says its solution can manage the large data streams generated in the vehicle much better than conventional computers. As a result, it not only can create opportunities for even more innovative functions and services, but also can ensure a high degree of flexibility for the customer.

Founded in 1871, Continental offers safe, efficient, intelligent and affordable solutions for vehicles, machines, traffic and transportation.   PSR

Daimler’s RIZON Electric Truck Feels like Driving a Car

Daimler recently launched a class 4-5 medium-duty electric truck brand, RIZON, and Electrek got a chance to kick the tires and drive one around. They were impressed at how well it drives (for an 18k GVWR vehicle) and how comfortable it feels like it would be on long shifts.

Rizon is a new brand from Daimler Trucks focusing entirely on zero-emissions in the class 4-5 space. Trucks of this size don’t require commercial driver’s licenses, and you’re more likely to see them around your neighborhood, doing local delivery tasks, equipment rentals, moving businesses, and the like. So, it’s nice to have clean, quiet operation instead of noisy and stinky diesel vehicles.

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