2023-08-20
Read several articles about the development of new alternative power products in the August issue of Alternative Power Report. Articles cover topics from golf carts as second vehicles, discoveries by VW research team, a new EV fast charging program in Europe and more news about hydrogen power.
Argonne National Laboratory’s cradle-to-grave analysis considers everything from raw material extraction to vehicle scrappage to provide a holistic view of the sustainability of different vehicle and fuel technologies.
The analysis showed that EVs (which have no tailpipe emissions) also have fewer greenhouse gas emissions than conventional gasoline or hybrid electric vehicles when the entire life cycle is considered.
2023-07-27
BYD announced the installation of an industrial complex in Camaçari, Bahia. The largest manufacturer of electric vehicles in the world, the Asian giant will invest, in five years, about US$ 600 Million (R $ 3 Billion) in the installation of three factories at the Bahia complex, generating about 5,000 direct and indirect jobs. In addition to passenger vehicles, electric bus and truck chassis will be made on site, as well as a battery split.
The company will take over Ford’s facilities. The deal, however, has not yet been officially announced. The Camaçari pole is the last factory that still belonged to the North American brand in Brazil. The automaker, which announced the end of its local production in 2021, has already sold its facilities in Taubaté (SP) and São Bernardo do Campo (SP).
Unlike what happened with automobiles, in which new propulsion technologies registered an increase of almost 60% in the first half of 2023, heavy vehicles powered by electricity or gas dropped 55.5% in this period.
From the 604 units licensed in H1 2022, the volume fell to 269 from January to June this year. The survey was released by the National Association of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (Anfavea).
Source: Automotive Business Read The Article
PSR Analysis. Although OEMs say the drop is in line with the overall market reduction, the ICE market does not account for the significant decrease in sales. Sales from January to June 2023 are only 1% below 2022 in the same period. The small volumes and the size of orders can explain the oscillation with orders postponed from Q1 2023 and Q2 2023 with expectations for incentives and better credit in the second half of 2023.
Fabio Ferraresi is Director Business Development-South America for Power Systems Research
2023-07-26
South Korea’s Hyundai Motor has announced that it will sell two plants in China. Beijing Hyundai, a joint venture with China’s state-owned auto giant Beijing Automotive Group, will reduce the number of plants in operation to two. Sluggish sales in the Chinese market have prompted the company to make structural reforms.
Hyundai Motor’s sales in China were 260,000 units in 2022; in 2016 it sold 1.13 million units, a 77% decline in six years.
Honda will sell some of its new vehicles without a function that detects vehicles in the blind spot and warns the driver, saying the dedicated semiconductors required for this function have been in short supply.
To solve the situation where it takes about a year from order receipt to delivery, Honda will sell the new models with the function reduced so that they can be delivered in about six months.
Sales of the new SUV model “ZR-V” began with a specification that eliminates “Blind Spot Information (BSI),” which alerts the driver by detecting vehicles diagonally behind the vehicle and displaying them in the door mirror. Since the procurement of the necessary in-vehicle semiconductors was not completed in time and the delivery period was expected to be prolonged, the company decided to sell the car without this BSI function. Although it varies by store and model, the time from order to delivery can be reduced by half, from about one year to about six months.
The new national standard for automotive emissions, scheduled to be implemented July 1, 2023, could boost China’s auto industry, say industry insiders.
The Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and other departments recently issued a joint notice proposing that the National VI Emission Standards for automobiles (National VI B) be implemented nationwide July 1, 2023.
Industry insiders believe that the implementation of the new regulations will drive car companies to accelerate technological upgrading, thereby achieving green and low-carbon development of the automotive industry.
2023-06-19
A key portion of Maruti Suzuki’s mid-term goal to achieve 50% overall PV (passenger vehicle) market share by becoming the number one SUV seller in the country. This is important for Maruti Suzuki because even though the automaker’s market share in the non-SUV segments is more than 65%, its SUV share was only 10.5% in 2022.
Source: The Times of India Read The Article
The company is planning to invest Rs 18,000 crore for the Kharkhoda facility in Haryana. This will increase the capacity by one million units. Further, by the end of the decade, Maruti Suzuki plans to invest over 45,000 crore to quadruple production capacity to four million vehicles in order to meet domestic consumer demand and increase exports from India.
Amid the global shift to EVs, Indonesia is vying to become the new leader in this segment.
Indonesia has already surpassed Thailand in passenger car production and has begun full-scale EV production ahead of Thailand. Thailand has begun to defend its position as the auto manufacturing hub of Southeast Asia by offering preferential policies for EVs, including subsidies for both domestic production and sales.
Indonesia’s greatest strength is its abundance of nickel, which is used in car batteries. It is said to have the largest nickel reserves in the world, and investment in this resource is growing rapidly. In April, the Indonesian government announced that it was considering investing in a nickel production venture involving Ford of the United States and that VW of Germany was also considering participation.
South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solutions said they plan to build a joint automotive battery plant in the United States.
They will split the total investment of $4.3 billion (about 600 billion yen) on a 50-50 basis and plan to start operations by the end of 2025. As conditions for EV subsidies in the U.S. become clearer, several local investment plans are in the works.
The new plant will be built in Bryan County, Georgia. With a standard production capacity of 30 gigawatt-hours per year, it will be able to supply batteries for approximately 300,000 EVs. In addition to Hyundai Motor’s dedicated EV plant in Georgia, the plant will also supply batteries to Kia’s plant in Georgia and Hyundai Motor’s plant in Alabama.
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