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Honda To Discontinue Two-Wheeled Gasoline Vehicles
FAR EAST: JAPAN REPORT
On Sept. 13, 2022, Honda announced it will eliminate gasoline-powered motorcycles by the mid-2040s. All new vehicles will be EV motorcycles; 3.5 million, or 15% of global sales, are to be EV motorcycles by 2030. Honda has already declared that all its four-wheeled vehicles will be EVs by 2040, but this is the first time the company has laid out a concrete strategy for decarbonization on two wheels.
From now on, Honda will pursue electrification exclusively with EVs. First, it will launch at least 10 EV motorcycle models by 2025. Since investment in new vehicle development and production facilities will be a heavy burden, Honda will use a common platform for batteries, motors, and other components for three large motorcycle models to be launched in Japan, the United States, and Europe between 2024 and 2025.
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Hyundai Doosan Infracore Plans Hydrogen Engine
FAR EAST: SOUTH KOREA REPORT
Hyundai Doosan Infracore announced that it has been selected as the lead company for the national project “Development of Hydrogen Engine System and Storage and Supply System for Construction Machinery and Commercial Vehicles” by the Industrial Technology Evaluation and Management Agency.
Through this project, the company plans to develop a 300kW, 11-liter class hydrogen engine and hydrogen tank system with zero carbon emissions, which will be installed in commercial vehicles…
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Hino Motors’ Engine Fraud Covers 560,000 vehicles
FAR EAST: JAPAN REPORT
Akihiro Komuro Hino Motors has announced that the falsification of diesel engine emission values, which was previously announced in March, had been taking place since at least 2003 or earlier. The company had previously stated that the fraud began in the fall of 2016. In 2016, the company also revealed that it had falsely reported to the MLIT (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism) in response to its request for a fact-finding survey on exhaust gas and fuel efficiency tests.
Source: The Nikkei
PSR Analysis: Although I do not wish to make such negativity a theme, I cannot overlook this issue. The impact on the industry of the fraud at Hino, which has the top share of the medium- and heavy-duty truck sector in Japan, is significant. Isuzu has suspended shipments of four bus models that use Hino engines. Not limited to the automotive field, Tadano cranes, Kobelco hydraulic excavators, Hitachi Construction Machinery wheel loaders, and Kato rough terrain cranes have also been forced to suspend shipments after the problem came to light.
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VinFast Ends Sales of Two Gasoline Vehicles
VIETNAM REPORT
Akihiro Komuro VinFast, an automotive subsidiary of Vingroup, the largest conglomerate in Vietnam, announced that it ended orders for two types of gasoline-powered vehicles in early July. The models covered are SUVs and sedans, and the company now will only sell the Fadil, a compact gasoline-powered vehicle. The company has announced its plan to withdraw from the production of gasoline-powered vehicles by the end of this year and is hastening its shift to EV production.
VinFast states that the reason for the suspension of orders for the two models is that “procurement of parts has become difficult and the number of units delivered to customers was not as large as expected.” The company did not mention the timing of the suspension of orders for Fadil. The company began selling EVs in Vietnam in December 2021.
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Hyundai Launches Flagship EV, the IONIQ6
SOUTH KOREA REPORT
Akihiro Komuro Hyundai Motor Company unveiled in July its flagship EV model, the IONIQ 6, that has a driving range of 6.2 kilometers per kilowatt-hour, a 20% increase over the current 5 model. The cruising range was also increased by 22% to 524 kilometers or 326 miles, (based on Korean government certification standards). Hyundai Motor claims that its EVs have the world’s highest level of electricity consumption efficiency.
The company called the IONIQ 6 “a ‘mobile personal studio,’ a space where you can rest and relax on your own. It offers a new experience that is different from existing EVs.”
In Korea, pre-orders will begin in late July, with shipments starting in September. Pricing will start at 55 million won (approximately 5.8 million yen), and sales are expected to reach 12,000 units by the end of the year. It will be released in Europe by the end of the year and in the US in the first half of 2023. Sales in Japan have not yet been decided. The newly announced “6” has a lighter body, and the cruising range has been extended by improving the energy-saving performance of the drive components and semiconductors.
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Venture Firm Raises 4.2 Billion Yen for Electrification Projects
FAR EAST: JAPAN REPORT
Akihiro Komuro PowerX, Inc. says it has raised 4.15 billion yen in funding for two electrification projects: one is to develop its own “Power ARK,” a ship that carries electricity, and the other is to build a large-scale storage battery factory in Japan.
The idea behind the Power Transfer Vessel is to store electricity in container-shaped storage batteries and transmit it by ship, with an eye toward the expansion of offshore wind farms. Conventionally, power is transmitted from offshore wind farms to land via submarine cables, but the aim is to develop the Power Transfer Vessel that can replace submarine cables. This will make it easier to construct power plants offshore in windy distant seas. The construction of submarine cables that pass high-voltage electricity is environmentally hazardous, but the Power Transfer Vessels are cheaper than cables and will enable power transmission to be realized sooner.
Power Ark 100. The first vessel, the “Power ARK 100,” will have a length of approximately 100 meters and will be equipped with 100 storage batteries in the form of shipping containers, enabling it to store 220 MWh of electricity. This is roughly equivalent to one day’s worth of electricity for one city (22,000 households). In the event of a large-scale power outage or other disaster, the ship will serve as a contingency power source. Larger vessels are also planned, and a 220-meter-long vessel capable of carrying 3,000 containers would be able to transport 5,660 MWh of electricity.
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Komatsu Provides Hybrid CE To Southeast Asia
INDONESIA REPORT
Akihiro Komuro Komatsu began introducing hybrid construction equipment in Indonesia this spring. Equipped with an engine and electric motor as the power source, these machines can improve fuel efficiency by 20-30%, compared to conventional machines.
Chinese manufacturers are pushing low-priced construction equipment, and are now rivaling Komatsu, which has a stronghold in Indonesia, in terms of market share. With fuel prices rising sharply, emerging countries are also becoming more environmentally conscious. Komatsu is fending off Chinese competition with its highly fuel-efficient construction equipment and is tapping into demand for decarbonization.
In Indonesia, the largest construction equipment market in Southeast Asia, Komatsu has launched a hybrid hydraulic excavator. Equipped with a hybrid system developed in-house, the excavator’s swing unit is electrically powered. When turning the body, including the arm and driver’s seat, from side to side, the energy generated during deceleration is used to generate electricity, which is stored for future use. The company plans to market the system to nickel mine developers and others, where demand for EV batteries is growing.
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Korean EVs Hyundai and Kia Doing Well in UK
FAR EAST: SOUTH KOREA REPORT
Akihiro Komuro The European EV market is expanding, and in the UK, Korean-made EVs are gaining popularity as vehicles that are more affordable than Tesla’s and that offer superior performance.
Last year in the UK, the Tesla Model 3 ranked second in sales of all passenger cars by model, marking the "first year of EVs" in earnest. However, the popular Tesla cars are not inexpensive, costing about three times as much as similarly sized gasoline-powered cars. On the other hand,…
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Show Report: 2022 NEW Environmental Exposition
FAR EAST: JAPAN REPORT
Akihiro Komuro Last month, I visited the three-day 2022 NEW Environmental Exposition, an exhibition of environment-related equipment in Tokyo. The show promoted the effective use of resources, new energy and energy reduction, and the utilization of CO2 emission reduction technologies
Source: Official Website
PSR Analysis: The exhibition featured many environment-related devices for waste treatment, demolition, bioplastics, water treatment and purification, heat utilization systems, recycling, and more.
Large equipment such as those that crush and efficiently separate debris mixed with earth, sand, and wood; metal recovery systems from seawater using special fibers, and equipment related to crushing wood, stone, and other materials were eye-catching in variety and size.
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Vietnam’s Dat Bike EV Motorcycle Enters SE Asia
SOUTHEAST ASIA: VIETNAM REPORT
Vietnamese electric bike manufacturer Dat Bike says it has raised $5.3 million. This brings the total raised by Dat Bike, founded in 2019, to $10 million. The funds will be used to invest in technology, increase production, expand operations to major cities in northern, central, and southern Vietnam, and hire skilled workers.
Dat Bike is a tech startup that plans to promote environmentally friendly transportation, first in Vietnam and then soon in Southeast Asia. The company’s strength lies in the performance of its electric bikes compared to gasoline-powered bikes. The company achieves this through vertical integration, in which key components such as speed controllers and batteries are designed and manufactured in-house.
The company currently sells two products: the Weaver, launched in 2019, has an output of 5 kW, about three times that of most electric bikes in the same price range. It has a range of 100 kilometers, about twice as long as competing models.
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