Tesla Offers Lounges at Supercharger Stations


Tesla has linked up with bk World to provide its Supercharger stations to offer services to customers while their vehicles charge. Tesla has been trying to deploy its Supercharger stations at properties that include amenities that offer food, coffee, and restrooms, but that is not always easy. At a few locations, Tesla has deployed its own lounges to offer those amenities, including one test site in Germany which even has a swimming pool, and another has a restaurant.  

Source: Electrek Read The Article

PSR Analysis: With over 300 lounges planned in Europe, Tesla is trying to make the recharge wait time more enjoyable for customers, and at the same time generate another revenue stream. Providing customers with activities while they wait could encourage charger use and could develop charging stations into a destination location like selling customers of IKEA meatballs when they visit a store. Anything to help relieve the boredom of a charge waiting time that can run to an hour or more is an improvement.   PSR

Guy Youngs is Forecast & Adoption Lead at Power Systems Research

Daimler Beefs Up Western Star Brand


For a number of years, we have been hearing rumors that Daimler will likely put the Western Star truck brand out to pasture, primarily due to the brand’s low market share in the class 8 truck segment.  However, this does not appear to be the case. 

Chris Fisher
Chris Fisher

During the past two years, Western Star has upgraded or is planning to upgrade their entire truck lineup based upon their current platforms.

Western Star typically focuses on the on-highway vocational side of the heavy truck segment along with other niche applications.  DTNA has recently placed an emphasis on the on-highway vocational segment with both the Freightliner and Western Star brands.

The vocational truck segment represents approximately 25% of the class 8 truck market. This is somewhat low volume when compared to the class 8 freight segment, but the vocational trucks are highly profitable for the OEMs. Also having more diversification within the heavy truck market somewhat shields the OEMs from the volatility of the freight only segment.

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Tesla Cuts Prices of China-Made Cars

Jack Hao
Jack Hao

Taking advantage of new battery options and big government subsidies, Tesla has slashed its Model 3 prices in China. The company’s Chinese website is now advertising a base price for the popular battery-electric sedan of 249,900 yuan, or roughly $36,800.

While this is big news for the company in its efforts to remain dominant in the Chinese market, U.S. consumers won’t be affected…at least, not yet

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Daimler India Adopts Aggressive Dealer Strategy

Daimler India, which recently set up 10 new touchpoints, plans to have at least 350 dealerships across India in the next two years as it looks to deepen market penetration.

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In September, DICV announced plans to grow its BharatBenz dealer network by 10%, exceeding 250 outlets by the end of 2020. With the opening of these new touchpoints, the company moves a step closer to cutting the distance between dealerships from 160 km to 120 km. The company is expanding strategically. The touchpoints are located on leading national and state highways, improving DICV’s golden quadrilateral coverage.

Along with increasing domestic reach, the company is focusing on the export market. Post announcement of the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, the company plans to invest in the country. The new investment could be used to increase the localization levels of components to avail the PLI. Furthermore, India has moved to BS-VI norms (equivalent euro 6 norms), it will be relatively easier for the company to cater to domestic as well as an export market with the same engines (with few moderations).   PSR

Aditya Kondejkar is Research Analyst – South Asia Operations – for Power Systems Research

Product Definitions Guide

Product Descriptions by Segment and Application Power Systems Research tracks some 250 products in 13 major industrial segments. This Guide defines each product that PSR lists in its proprietary databases. Segment: Agriculture Application: 2-Wheel Tractors 2-Wheel Tractors Application: Ag Tractors 2-Wheel Drive Tractors 4WD Articulated Ag Tractors MFWD Tractors (Mechanical Front Wheel Drive) Tracked Ag

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Truck News

NORTH AMERICA REPORT
Chris Fisher
Chris Fisher

During the past few years there has been plenty of talk about battery electric power replacing diesel-powered internal combustion engines in commercial trucks.  At some point this might be true for short and regional haul freight carriers, but what about the long-haul heavy truck segment? 

Currently, the lack of a sufficient charging infrastructure, range anxiety and the extreme weights associated with the batteries are significant deterrents to mass adoption of long-haul battery electric trucks.  However, hydrogen fuel cell trucks for long-haul applications appear to be a viable option in this segment.  Even though fuel cell trucks currently have a greater range and lighter weight than battery electric trucks, they have the same problem as electric trucks: a lack of refueling infrastructure.

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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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A New Class of Hybrids

The word “hybrid” in the power generation universe has generally been understood to mean a fossil-fuel engine supplemented by another power source, usually a renewable.

Tyler Wiegert
Tyler Wiegert

Then, the word grew to include vehicles and equipment that ran primarily on battery power but could be switched to a smaller engine that would recharge the battery while it ran.

Now, we are entering a time when “hybrid” includes drive systems that are primarily renewable-based and supplemented by an additional renewable system.

In this sphere, alternative power has primarily meant batteries and hydrogen fuel cells; one of the major impediments to wide adoption has always been range.

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Chris Fisher Truck News – February 2021

In this episode of the PSR PowerTALK Podcast Chris Fisher, Power Systems’ Senior Commercial Vehicle Analyst, discusses the Q4 2020 global production facts and related forecasts for medium and heavy trucks.

Transcript

Welcome to PowerTALK Truck podcast February 2021. Produced by Power Systems Research, the leading supplier of global production data and forecasts to the engine power products and Components industries. Here’s today’s host, Emiliano Marzoli, Manager of Power Systems Research, European Operations.

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