2022-05-23
Tata Motors recently unveiled the electric avatar of its most popular small commercial vehicle Ace. The company said it has booked orders for 39,000 units from top e-commerce players. India’s largest commercial vehicle manufacturer plans to transform commercial vehicles to achieve a net-zero target by 2070 for the country. PSR
Aditya Kondejkar is Research Analyst – South Asia Operations, for Power Systems Research
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.
Hyundai Motor Indonesia (HMID) said it has signed contracts for more than 800 units of the Ioniq 5 EV announced at the Indonesia International Motor Show (IIMS) Hybrid 2022 in Jakarta.
The company announced that it has started mass production of the Ioniq 5 and that it will begin shipping to dealers in April. The Creta SUV was the second most sold model after the Ioniq 5, with approximately 600 units sold, bringing the total number of vehicles sold to over 1,500, including EVs and gasoline-powered vehicles.
The Nippon Foundation, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Group company Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., and Shin Nihonkai Ferry Co., Ltd. have successfully completed a demonstration test of the world’s first fully autonomous ship navigation systems on a large ferry, conducted on the Iyonada Sea from Shinmoji, Kitakyushuu City, in January.
This demonstration was part of MEGURI2040, a fully autonomous ship navigation project launched by The Nippon Foundation in February 2020.
Japan’s declining birthrate, aging population, and shrinking population have resulted in labor shortages in many fields. Seafarers in coastal shipping, which requires hard work on board, are no exception. More than half of the seafarers in coastal shipping are over 50 years old, which poses a major challenge.
Under its new Five Year Plan, Beijing will expand restriction on the use of vehicles entering Beijing. At the same time, Beijing will restrict the use of China III diesel trucks and will implement regional traffic restrictions during peak hours of working days, strengthen the management of illegal electric three and four wheeled vehicles, and implement a preferential traffic policy for new energy logistics and distribution vehicles.
The Five Year Plan also calls for the promotion of low-carbon new energy transportation tools, and the promotion of “oil for electricity” of vehicles in public transport, rental (including cruise and online appointment), tourism and freight transportation.
Today, 69,000 diesel trucks have been eliminated in Beijing, and the proportion of clean energy and new energy vehicles in public transportation has reached 90.2%. Beijing plans to accelerate the promotion of new energy intelligent vehicle technology and cost reductions in many applications.
Over the last decade we have worked to reduce fossil fuel consumption in Europe without cutting back the use of our cars, trucks, and motorbikes. It was thought that by mixing diesel and fuel with crop-based bio-fuel it would reduce fossil fuel usage.
However, over the last 30 years the emission of CO2 has increased, raising questions about the effectiveness of this measure. After extended analysis from the Environmental Action Germany (DUH), it has been concluded that this may not be a solution to the problem of reducing carbon emissions.
Consider that the production and consumption of immense areas of land across the globe dedicated to the cultivation of these fuels actually have a huge environmental cost. For example, to satisfy Germany’s appetite for these natural bio-fuels, 1.3 million hectares of land have been converted to its production. This equates to 9.2 million tons of CO2 saved each year. However, if we were to dedicate this land to natural restoration projects with a portion dedicated to solar energy production, we would be able to save 27.5 million tons of CO2 each year.
6,800 units is the estimate by Power Systems Research of the number of Hydraulic Power Units to be produced in the United States during 2022.
A Hydraulic Power Unit (HPU) usually refers to a self-contained, free-standing engine assembly that is used to drive one piece of equipment. HPUs are powered by internal combustion engines or AC/DC electric motors.
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 production of HPUs in NA is Stanley Hydraulic with 49% of total units produced. In second position is Great Northern (Brave) with 9.5%. Tradewinds Powers is third with 8%.
Trends: Production of HPUs in the US increased 22% from 2020 to 2021. Production is expected to increase another 6% from in 2022. Hydraulic Power Units (power packs) are used in a variety of applications and industries ranging from marine, construction and military applications.
The overall gain in 2022 is attributed to the increase in construction and marine related activities. This product segment will continue to increase steadily over the next 5 years as warranted by current economic conditions and related demands. Expect an additional 10% increase by 2025. PSR
Carol Turner is Senior Analyst, Global Operations, for Power Systems Research
2022-04-23
Korean materials giants are rushing to increase production of battery materials for EVs. Lotte Chemical plans to invest 160 billion yen to build plants for electrolytes and other materials in Korea and the U.S. LG Chem and POSCO have also announced plans to increase production. The three major Korean battery manufacturers, including LG, have active investment plans, but they are lagging their Chinese counterparts in the upstream area of battery materials. Materials companies are also increasing their supply capacity to compete with the Chinese.
Lotte Chemical, a major petrochemical company, will build a new plant for organic solvents for electrolytes in its own plant. The company will build a new factory with a total investment of 602 billion won, aiming for production by the end of 2023. The company is also considering building a plant related to electrolyte and cathode materials in Louisiana, U.S. It has begun coordination with local governments and other related parties in anticipation of starting production in 2025. The investment is expected to be in the order of 100 billion yen.
The Thai government plans to introduce an incentive program to promote EVs starting in 2022. The program will focus on providing subsidies to lower sales prices and reducing excise and import taxes. Automakers taking advantage of the program will be required to produce EVs locally from 2024 onward.
According to local media, the subsidy is 70,000 to 150,000 baht per vehicle, depending on the model and battery capacity. The excise tax on purchases will be reduced from the current 8% to 2%. Import duties will be reduced by 20-40% depending on battery capacity and sales price. The current maximum tariff rate is 80%, but the trade agreement will impose no tariff on Chinese-made products and 20% on Japanese-made products. Japanese-made products are also expected to be tariff-free if they meet the conditions. The current sales prices of imported cars vary from about 1 million baht for EVs from China’s SAIC Motor Group and Great Wall Motor to about 1.5 million baht for Nissan Motor’s LEAF at campaign prices.
2022-04-22
Yanmar Holdings Co. Ltd. announced it has acquired a majority share in ELEO Technologies B.V., a battery technology company based in Helmond, the Netherlands. By integrating ELEO’s advanced, scalable, and modular battery technology, Yanmar said it will further its electrified powertrain capabilities with customized solutions for off-road applications.
After joining the Yanmar Group as part of Yanmar Power Technology Co., Ltd., ELEO will continue to operate as a stand-alone entity under its own brand at its current location in Helmond, the Netherlands.
Founded in 2017, ELEO Technologies develops and produces advanced modular battery packs which are differentiated by their proprietary battery management system (BMS) and thermal management technologies. The company is near completion with a new advanced production facility that will increase its annual battery production capacity to 500 MWh, equivalent to approximately 10,000 battery packs.
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