Follow PSR’s team of analysts as they track the rapidly expanding global battery electric power market, including, battery technology, transportation, eMobility, mergers and acquisitions and more.
Malaysian state-owned carmaker Proton is considering building an EV plant in Thailand, according to reports from Thailand government officials. The Thai government has long focused on promoting related industries.
At a joint press conference with the Prime Minister of Malaysia, where he is visiting, the Thai Prime Minister said, “I hope we can confirm clear steps to invite the plant and proceed quickly,” and indicated that he plans to work out the details with the parties involved soon. The amount of investment and production capacity were not disclosed.
Proton was established in 1983 as a national policy to revive Malaysia’s automotive industry. Currently, the company is rushing to switch to EVs after receiving an investment from Geely, a private Chinese automotive giant.
Komatsu says it will launch the PC05E-1 electric micro excavator, jointly developed with Honda, in the Japanese market in October. In the domestic construction equipment market, where the electrification market has not yet been developed, Komatsu plans to quickly create a market to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 by introducing a variety of models.
The machine is an expanded version of the PC01E-1 electric micro excavator, which was introduced to the domestic market in March 2022. The current “PC05-1” micro excavator, which is widely used for small civil engineering and construction work as well as gas, electric and plumbing sites, has been electrified by installing the Honda Mobile Power Pack e: or electric power unit (eGX) as a power source, like the “PC01E-1”. Komatsu aims to achieve electrification by FY2023.
Mercedes is exhibiting its electric bus chassis eO500U at Busworld in Brussels targeting other markets where the body is assembled over the bus chassis. Traditionally, the exports of Mercedes from Brazil are over 50% of the total production and it targets to expand this percentage with the new BEV, that has WEG drives, BorgWarner batteries assembled in Brazil with imported battery supplies.
PSR Analysis: While the push from São Paulo city to buy only BEV buses in the near future jeopardizes current chassis manufacturers business, it boos the development of BEV chassis and allow exports to other countries. Mercedes runs against the clock to compete with players like BYD and Higher with BEV chassis already developed. PSR
Fabio Ferraresi is Director-Business Development South Americafor Power Systems Research
The Azure A12 BR electric bus, from China’s TEVX Higer, has started operating in the South Zone of São Paulo. The vehicle has been put into use by Transwolff. According to the company, the 12-meter-long vehicle was made especially for the Brazilian market. It has a low floor and a suspension “kneeling” system. This feature provides more safety, comfort, and ease when boarding and disembarking passengers.
The bus has wide aisles and an access ramp at the central door. Thus, there is more accessibility for people with special needs related to reduced mobility.
Initially scheduled to begin Sept. 12, 2023, the auction of the federal program “Caminhos da Escola” was postponed indefinitely. A new date has not been set. The new stage, which provides for the purchase of 163,000 buses was eagerly awaited by chassis and body manufacturers, would have been delayed until 2024 because of the time needed for the production.
The reason is technical: according to the bidding notice published at the end of last month, important chassis manufacturers as Volvo and Merecedes would be excluded from the bidding process due to new certification demanded.
Motorcycle purists either love them or hate them, but electric motorcycles are fast becoming a popular reality. From daily commuters to off-roading to track racing, we’ve seen all kinds of electric bikes hit the road over the past couple of years. There’s an increasing array of e-bikes catering to riders of all shapes, sizes, and kinds coming to market.
Here is a small sample of some of the leading OEMs and their electric motorcycle products.
Can-AM/BRP. The first Can‑Am motorcycles are expected to hit the road before the end of 2024. The Canadian Can-AM team is testing bikes in all possible usage conditions, and early feedback from test riders is that two new models deliver a powerful and smooth riding experience. The models include the Can-Am Origin dual-sport and Can-Am Pulse street bike, both slated to launch in mid-2024. Both models are still undergoing testing while construction is underway for a new plant in Querétaro, Mexico, which will produce the electric bikes.
Tesla has broken ground on the site of its planned futuristic diner with a drive-in theater and Supercharger station. This project has been in the works for several years. In 2018, Elon Musk said that Tesla planned to open an “old school drive-in, (with) roller skates & rock restaurant at one of the new Tesla Supercharger locations in Los Angeles.”
A few months later, Tesla applied for building permits for “a restaurant and Supercharger station” at a location in Santa Monica. However, the project stalled for a long time, apparently due to local regulations. Nevertheless, Tesla still moved forward with a Supercharger at the location, but it had to move the diner project to Hollywood. Last year, Tesla filed the construction plans with the city, giving us the first look at what the automaker intends to build.
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.
Indonesian ridesharing giant Gojek plans to convert all its motorcycles to EVs by 2030. The adoption of EV motorcycles is now in full swing in Indonesia, the largest motorcycle market in Southeast Asia with annual sales of more than 5 million units.
Gojek, the country’s leading ridesharing and delivery company, is said to have over 2 million registered riders, including both motorcycles and cars. The full conversion to EV bikes is expected to contribute significantly to the Indonesian government’s goal of 9 million EV bikes by 2030.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has released draft guidelines for the installation of EV chargers, with a target of 300,000 units by 2030. This is double the previous target of 150,000 units and 10X higher than the current number of installations. The company is calling for the installation of chargers in commercial facilities.
The draft guidelines also call on operators to improve the speed of charging and the convenience of operation. To achieve decarbonization, the government is pushing to expand the installation of rechargers, which had only about 30,000 units as of March 2023.
The installation target includes 270,000 regular chargers at commercial facilities and 30,000 fast chargers on highways. The introduction of a new charging method called “plug-and-charge” will also be encouraged. This is a system in which vehicles can be authenticated and charged simply by plugging them into the charger; it has been adopted by Tesla in the United States. The system eliminates the need to hold a membership card over the charger or use a smartphone app to authenticate personal information.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
Performance cookies are used to adjust the rate of analytic and advertisement tracking (if enabled) to avoid slowing our site down during high traffic times.
Cookies used to track your Internet use and tailor advertisements to your interests and provide the ability to share and like pages on our site with your friends on social media.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
