The May issue of the Alternative Power Report produced by Power Systems Research contains several articles that discuss plans for production of alternative power sources. These include articles on VW’s plans to build its largest battery factory in Canada, Cummins decision to invest $1 billion in a hydrogen fuel network plus a report Caterpillar and NMG joining forces.
Doosan Infracore announced on March 24 that “the share of product marketing and customer support using live content broadcasting on SNS is growing in China.” The company has conducted more than 20 live machine maintenance training sessions through SNS, and the total number of users has reached about 7,300, with 140,000 followers on WeChat.
More than 1,200 machines were sold through such online marketing, and the sales of parts sold on WeChat reached 10 billion won.
Chris Fisher, Senior Commercial Vehicle Analyst at Power Systems Research, discusses the Q2 2021 global production facts and related forecasts for medium and heavy trucks, as reported in the quarterly PSR Truck Production Index.
Welcome to the PSR PowerTALK podcast produced by Power Systems Research.
00:06 Joe Delmont
From Power Systems Research, I’m Joe Delmont, editor of PSR PowerTALK.
Today we’ll discuss global truck production with Chris Fisher. Chris is Senior Commercial Vehicle Analyst at Power Systems Research.
President and Founder, Japan Electrification Research Institute, Ltd.
SUMMARY. The global auto industry is bubbling with changes and dramatic new ideas, but the current declining financial performances of Japanese auto OEMs may force them to drop out of the race temporarily before they can take advantage of the growing demand for autonomous vehicles.
China and South Korea are increasing their investments in Indonesia. According to BKPM (Indonesia’s Investment Coordination Agency), China (including Hong Kong) accounted for $8.4 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2020, up 11% from the previous year, and South Korea accounted for $1.8 billion, up 64%.
Japan, which has been the driving force behind investment to date, has seen a clear decline of 40% to $2.6 billion. Singapore ranked first in FDI in 2020 with $9.8 billion, followed by China and Japan in second and third place, then the European Union in fourth place, and South Korea in fifth place.
Volvo Trucks expects to start production of the new heavy-duty Volvo FH, Volvo FM and Volvo FMX trucks in Taiyuan for local customers in China late next year. Volvo Trucks has agreed to acquire a subsidiary of China’s Jiangling Motors Co to produce trucks for the local market starting late next year. JMC Heavy Duty Vehicle Co, which includes a manufacturing site in Taiyuan, capital of North China’s Shanxi province, will be purchased for $120.4 million (780 million yuan), said the Swedish truck maker.
Source: China Daily Read The Article
VW China has increased its share in the electric vehicle joint venture JAC Volkswagen to 75% and obtained joint venture management rights. At the same time, it has obtained a 26% stake in the EV battery maker Gotion High-Tech to support the future electrification of the group. The total investment of the above two projects is estimated to be about €2 billion.
The plant, which has an estimated investment of US$3.06 billion (20 billion yuan) from both Volkswagen and JAC Motors, will be finished by the end of 2022, and its first vehicle will roll off the assembly line in 2023.
With the increasing penetration of the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) network across India, many cities may transition from conventional diesel-powered vehicles to CNG for the last mile.
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) could be a favorable option for heavy and long hauls due to its higher energy density and hence a lower payload penalty and potential range, a lower carbon footprint/noise levels and its cryogenic temperatures which makes it a theft-proof fuel option.
At the same time, the use of HPDI (High-Pressure Direct Injection), a system that enables heavy–duty trucks to operate on natural gas with diesel- like performance would also aid in the switch to LNG.
After months of investigation, the European Commission says it has found evidence that China has been “unfairly” subsidizing the EVs it exports to Europe. Possible “remedies” on the table include retroactive tariffs on Chinese EVs.
Source: Electrek: Read The Article
PSR Analysis: This article was mentioned in previous issues of the Alternative Power Report and now that the EU has found its evidence, we can expect tariffs to be raised, especially as the European car market continues to flounder. PSR
Guy Youngs is Forecast & Adoption Lead at Power Systems Research
Komatsu says it plans to restructure its business in China this year, cutting its annual production capacity of construction machinery equipment in China by nearly 40% to 10,000 units.
At the same time, due to sluggish market demand, it will merge its equipment production subsidiary and its parts subsidiary in Jining City, Shandong Province. The production subsidiary and casting subsidiary based in Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province, also will be merged.
Komatsu’s production subsidiaries in the two provinces previously terminated their joint venture relationship. Even if the annual production capacity is reduced to 10,000 units, it is expected that local production capacity will enable Komatsu to increase exports to Southeast Asia and other regions.
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