Taiwan Pushing into Next-Generation EV Battery Development

Erik Martin
Erik Martin

TAIPEI. As electric vehicle (EV) development becomes a global effort, batteries that play a vital role to EVs’ cost-performance ratios are a focus to manufacturers with ambitions to expand in the EV market…

Taiwan’s battery industry may not be backed by well-known brands and abundant natural resources. Nevertheless, a large part of Taiwan-based battery suppliers have been assembling battery modules for Taiwan’s ICT industry. For example, Simplo, Dynapack and Celxpert with a long-term focus on manufacturing battery modules for consumer electronics such as notebook only started to set foot in EV battery solutions in recent years…

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Rio de Janeiro Plans 100% Electric Buses by 2050

Fabio Ferraresi
Fabio Ferraresi

The Mayor of Rio de Janeiro has announced a package of alternative power measures and goals with two important milestones for 2030 and 2050. Here are the main goals affecting the mobility and transportation industry:

2030

  • Replace 20% of Public Service of Bus Transportation by Zero Emission Vehicles.
  • Reduce by 10% the average time of commuting by public transportation.
  • Increase by 400% the number of trips by bicycle.  
  • Reduce by 20% the emission of GHG.
  • Reach 100% of city regions with selective refuse collection.

2050

  • Neutralize GHG emission
  • 100% of the Transit Bus Fleet is Electric.

Source: Diario do Transporte    Read The Article

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Protests Affect Columbia Vehicles Market

Sales of vehicles in Colombia were affected by protests and roadblocks in May. Because of the protest, dealers were closed and vehicles are blocked at the ports of Cartagena and Barranquilla. Even with the reduction from April to May, when 14,700 units were sold, below the 18,000 in April, the YTD result in 2021 is 50.2% better than 2020.

Source: AutoData     Read The Article

PSR Analysis: The recovery of the Colombia economy, seen in light of the vehicle market, is faster than expected, even with the continued health crisis due to the pandemic and the social and politic problems. For the full year, there is a significant amount of uncertainty with a bias for increase in the forecasts.    PSR

Fabio Ferraresi is Director-Business Development, South America, for Power Systems Research

Goods Transported in Brazil Increases in 2021

From January to April, the amount of total of goods transported in Brazil was R$ 2.9 trillion, while in the same period of 2020 it was R$ 2.1 trillion, an increase of 39%. This metric is used as a baromometer for the Brazilian economy.

Source: M&T     Read The Article

PSR Analysis: This result is aligned with what we see in the sales of new trucks and trailers and confirms our increase in FY 2021 sales and production. Part of the increase is due to inflation in local currency, but part is due to good results in Agribusiness and Mining. Other segments of the economy have had a lower increase because of COVID19 if compared with 2020, when the uncertainty in March and April had a higher impact than in 2021. PSR

Fabio Ferraresi is Director-Business Development, South America, for Power Systems Research

Mercedes Grows in EV Bus Market

Emiliano Marzoli
Emiliano Marzoli

While smaller players are struggling to remain competitive in the EV bus space, Mercedes-Benz is targeting more clients and more volumes. 

Mercedes-Benz has handed over one eCitaro G electric articulated bus with solid-state batteries each to Hamburger Hochbahn and Verkehrsbetriebe Hamburg-Holstein.  The two new electric articulated buses each have seven battery packs with solid electrolyte and an energy content of 441 kWh, allowing up to 200km range, depending on operational conditions. 

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Edge Computing Brings Data Closer To Home

John Krzesicki
John Krzesicki

It’s often said that there’s nothing new under the sun, only new ways of doing old things. That may be especially true in how we handle data.

Ever since Power Systems Research began tracking global production of engines and powertrains in 1976, its analysts have been alert to new trends surrounding power and data movement.

Today, as three essential metrics in data handling change— cloud costs, volume and processing time—, the structure of data networks also is changing. In many cases, it’s not practical to send vast amounts of data to the cloud to be processed and then wait for the results. Now, it’s often necessary to have smaller data centers located near the activity, at the edge of the action, if you will.

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DATAPOINT: NA Harvesters, 2021 Production, 550 Units

550 units is the estimate by Power Systems Research of the number of Harvesters to be produced in North America in 2021. This information comes from industry interviews and from two proprietary databases maintained by Power Systems Research: EnginLink™ , which provides information on engines, and OE Link™, a database of equipment manufacturers.

Market Share: Dominating the NA market for Harvester production is Deere with 50.5% of total units produced.  In second position with combined plant total of 20% is Oxbo “International; third is Flory with 13%.

Trends: In 2020, production of Harvesters in NA decreased 17%.  Production is expected to increase 19% in 2021 over 2020.  The Ag industry has fluctuated over the years and demand for new products has declined.  Due to falling commodity prices in recent years, farmers/cultivators can’t afford new equipment and have spent years of refurbishing existing units.

Uncertainties of COVID-related factors led farmers to avoid spending nominal profits on new machinery. Over the past several years, the dramatic fall in net farm income in 2015 and 2016 seems to be leveling out at a lower level. However, America’s farmers are enduring the impact of a continuation of the current trade war with China. 

On the flip side, the harvester production increase is attributed to the desire for new machines to increase productivity and to end up with a profitable yield.  Expect production to fluctuate over the next 3-5 years with a slight gain of 5% by 2025.   PSR

Carol Turner is Senior Analyst, Global Operations, at Power Systems Research

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Truck Happenings in Europe

Chris Fisher
Chris Fisher

We have heard during the past few years that battery electric commercial trucks will ultimately replace the diesel-powered internal combustion engine for commercial trucks.  At some point in the future this might be true for short and regional haul freight carriers, but what about the long-haul heavy truck segment? 

Currently, the lack of charging infrastructure, range anxiety and the extreme weights associated with the batteries will be a significant deterrent to mass adoption of long-haul battery electric trucks. 

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DATAPOINT: NA Skid Steer Loaders, 2021 Production Forecast: 95,100 Units

95,100 units is the estimate by Power Systems Research of the number of Skid Steer Loaders to be produced in North America (Canada and the U.S.) in 2021.

This information comes from industry interviews and from two proprietary databases maintained by Power Systems Research: EnginLink™ , which provides information on engines, and OE Link™, a database of equipment manufacturers.

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CTT Bauma Moscow Shows Growing Optimism in Russian Construction Market

Maxim Sakov
Maxim Sakov

The CTT Bauma trade show is main event of construction industry in Russia. Since 2017 it’s owned and operated by Messe Munich. The show was conducted this year in Moscow May 25-28 in its usual place, the Crocus Expocenter. Last year, the fair was off because of the COVID pandemic, but this year we saw that both the exhibition and construction industries are showing a growing trend. The fair’s indoor exposition was restored to three pavilions, and the outdoor exposition also grew in size versus 2019. There were 351 exhibitors from 17 countries, somewhat better than last time. A total of 184 brands were represented.

Here is, however, one unpleasant factor. Most of the international OEMs did not participate in the fair this time. Wirtgen, Volvo, Cummins, Caterpillar, Ammann, Hyundai, Renault, Komatsu machines were missing from this fair. John Deere, Doosan, Kato, and some other brands were limited, having only small booths, set by the local dealers. Many Russian machine makers, who usually participate in the fair, also ignored the event. Among them – GAZ, Chetra, DST-10, Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant, YAMZ.

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