Foton To Produce Trucks in Brazil Again

This article initially appeared in the February 2020 issue of PowerTALK News.

Foton says it will start producing Trucks in Guaíba-RS, in the facility formerly designated for his own factory. However, the production will be handled by GEFCO under a manufacturing contract, with parts imported from China. Previously, Foton assembled its trucks at the Agrale plant, also in Rio Grande do Sul state, to meet commitments made under government incentive programs. The number of models built here is likely to increase during the year, but no details have been disclosed.

Fabio Ferraresi
Fabio Ferraresi

Source: Automotive Business     Read The Article

PSR Analysis: At the same time Foton works on local production, it is working on adding about 50 dealers from Ford Trucks, which closed its operations in Brazil, to eliminate one of the biggest gaps to increase sales. The other gaps, such as reliability perception and spare parts availability, will take longer to be addressed, but we can see growth in sales and production of the Chinese OEM in Brazil, given more positive market conditions. PSR

Fabio Ferraresi is Director-Business Development SA

XCMG To Produce EV Trucks in Brazil in Two years

Fabio Ferraresi
Fabio Ferraresi

XCMG announced plans to produce battery electric trucks in Brazil at Pouso Alegre (MG) plant in two years. Until then, the company expects to build a local network of suppliers and wait for new industrial policies that are expected for the electric vehicle segment.

The current plan consists of starting with the assembly of chassis and cabins at the Minas Gerais plant with components produced by local suppliers. Batteries and other components of the electric powertrain will be imported from China.

This first stage fits the company’s electric trucks within the scope of Finame, the BNDES credit line that finances the acquisition of machinery and equipment. To access this line, the product to be financed must have a certain percentage of parts and components produced in the country.

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Eletra Converts Trucks and Buses to Electric in Brazil

Eletra started converting Trucks and Buses from 3.5 to 54 Tons for the range of 50km to 150km by replacing the actual Powertrain (ICE, Transmission, Axels,) and suspension with batteries, electric drive and new suspension. The main benefits for the approach is to provide 30% less cost than a new Electric Truck and shorten the timing to meet sustainability targets, since the retrofit is done quickly. Companies like Ambev (AB-Inbev) announced 102 trucks retrofitted with Eletra.

Source: M&T    Read The Article

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The Future of Commercial Vehicles. Perspectives for Brazil

Published in Automotive Business, August, 26, 2020

1. INTRODUCTION

The use of diesel in Commercial Vehicles and its alternatives has been studied and discussed globally over the past two decades. We have updated future trends annually based on the new platforms in our data and new models in development allowing us a 10-year horizon. In August 2019 we published an article on the subject for Automotive Business Brazil, which is now updating.

Carlos Briganti
Carlos Briganti

In the 2019 article we said that fossil diesel propulsion for commercial vehicles would be exposed to several alternatives and therefore the 20s decade would be a decade of significant changes, justifying yearly monitoring of the subject.

This whole range of studies was then impacted by COVID-19, a new event at the beginning of this decade that is another factor of change in this complex subject.

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Joint Development of Fuel Cell Trucks Advances

The development of fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) that use hydrogen as a fuel for heavy-duty trucks is accelerating. Since the start of 2020, major manufacturers such as Hino, Isuzu, and Daimler have been announcing cooperation with other companies one after another.

Akihiro Komuro
Akihito Komuro

In April, Daimler and Volvo announced that they would establish a 50-50 joint venture to develop and mass produce fuel cell heavy-duty trucks.

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Mercedes Produces Initial Heavy Trucks in China

CHINA REPORT
Jack Hao
Jack Hao

Mercedes-Benz heavy-duty truck factory in China has started mass production and its first domestic Chinese heavy-duty truck has rolled off the assembly line. The rollout reflects the Mercedes Benz truck localization project, under which Mercedes is producing heavy duty trucks built specifically for the domestic Chinese market.

The first batch of Mercedes Benz domestic heavy trucks is scheduled to  be delivered to customers in early November.

In the process of localization, MB is striving to achieve a balance between high quality and cost. It is working with 150 domestic suppliers to improve manufacturing quality capability and localize the supply of more than 1500 parts. Presently, the localization rate of Mercedes Benz heavy truck Actros series exceeds 50%, and the localization rate of Actros C series is 90%.

Mercedes Benz trucks has established a Mercedes Benz business unit under the joint venture of Daimler Trucks Co., Ltd. and Foton Motor, which have a 50: 50 share ownership.

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Recharging Slows Electrification of HD Trucks

CHINA REPORT
Jack Hao
Jack Hao

In 2022, the penetration rate of new energy units in the commercial vehicle market exceeded 10%, and the penetration rate of heavy-duty trucks was close to 5%. The new energy subsidy policy was scheduled to be withdrawn at the end of 2023, but data for the January to October period is basically the same as the previous year. The share of new energy units for the commercial vehicle segment is far lower than the market share of 30.4% for new energy passenger vehicles.

With the accelerated adjustment of China’s transportation structure, it is expected that by 2025, the national railway and water freight volume will increase by 10% and 12%, respectively, compared to 2020, while the road freight volume will relatively decrease. In this context, bulk and ultra long-distance road transportation will gradually exit the market, and the advantages of short and point-to-point road trunk transportation with radii of around 500 kilometers and 300 kilometers will be further highlighted.

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Volvo To Produce Trucks in China in 2022

Jack Hao
Jack Hao

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

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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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