Innovation Was the Name of the Game at Agritechnica 2019

HANNOVER, Germany–For many years, Agritechnica has been growing and strengthening its role as the top European agricultural trade show. Despite the struggles that the industry is facing, with declining order books and a less than enthusiastic outlook for 2020, Agritechnica 2019 held here Nov. 11-16, 2019, reaffirmed its position as the most important ag tech event in Europe.  The show reported 2,820 exhibitors and 450,000 visitors, more than 130,000 of them from outside Germany.

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Autotor Plant To Suspend Assembly of BMW Cars

Autotor’s Kaliningrad plant plans to suspend assembly of BMW cars from the middle of June to the beginning of July because of a components shortage. This is told by CEO of the plant Ruslan Sadykov.

Stephen Teichert, head of BMW Russia, claims Autotor production capacity has been reduced by about 70%; however, in July the OEM plans to increase production to pre-COVID-19 level.     Read The Article

PSR Analysis: The Autotor plant in Russia assembles passenger cars kits for BMW, Hyundai and Kia, and trucks for Hyundai, Daewoo, and Ford. Currently, the problems are claimed only for BMW components. The supply chain problems have been caused by COVID-19 lockdowns. PSR

Maxim Sakov Is Market Consultant, Russia, for Power Systems Research

PowerTALK™ News, November 2021

Akihiro Komuro, PSR’s analyst in Japan, reports on the expansion of VinFast EV subsidiary of the Vietnamese conglomerate VinGroup that is expanding to the US. VinFast has announced plans for a US headquarters and manufacturing plant in California. Other stories in this issue of PowerTALK include:

  • Global Economic Forecast: On Path To Recovery
  • DataPoint: North America AG Tractors
  • Europe: BMW Starts Production of EV Motorcycle
  • South America
    • Stellantis Confirms Second LCV
    • Higer Bus To Produce EV Buses in Brazil
    • Concessions for Proconve L7 Seen
    • Argentine Auto Sales Decline
  • China: Weichai Produces 150-Ton Mining Truck
  • Japan: NEDO Begins R&D on Hydrogen Aircraft
  • South Korea: Hyundai Launches Wage Half Price Plant
  • Vietnam: VinFast Launches EVs, Plans US HQ and Production Plant
  • India: Chip Shortage Batters Auto Industry
  • Russia
    • AutoVAZ Halts Production
    • Assembly of Russian Railway Kits Starts in India
    • Russian Mega-Project in Doubt

UAZ Patriot SUV Collects US$ 3.8 Million in Pre-orders in USA

Maxim Sakov
Maxim Sakov

The North-American premiere of the UAZ Patriot SUV took place recently at the Los Angeles international Autosalon. The exclusive importer of the vehicle is Bremach Inc., a California company.  The Russian car has its own name, Bremach 4×4. The name Taos, announced earlier, was rejected to avoid the conflict with Volkswagen, which has had a product with this name since 2020.

The Patriot was introduced in two  versions–standard and off-road extreme. Both models are equipped with 2.7 gasoline engine ZMZ Pro of 149 hp and a six-gear automatic transmission Punch Powerglide 6L50, connected all-wheel drive. Standard version costs US$ 26,405 in USA.

According to Bremach, in the first 24 hours after the introduction, they received deposits totaling US$ 3.8 million. How many cars were ordered, was not disclosed, but the minimum deposit is US$ 100.

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Hydrogen Truck To Help Decarbonize Mining Industry

A new hydrogen fuel truck is being tested by the mining industry in hopes of helping to decarbonize activities that have been exceptionally challenging to mitigate. The mining industry contributes 7% of the world’s total carbon emissions per year, (according to McKinsey). This represents more than twice the carbon emissions from the global shipping industry, for example.

The hydrogen-powered vehicle is meant to replace typical mining haul vehicles, which pollute heavily.

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CONEXPO CONEXPO 2023 Features Hydrogen, Electric Equipment

Walking CONEXPO 2023, the giant international construction show in Las Vegas this month, it was obvious that OEMs are devoting huge amounts of resources to developing alternative power sources for their compact equipment.

Hydrogen powered units and battery packs were common and new products powered by alternative energy sources were popular with attendees. New technology was the name of the game at this year’s show.

However, there were several prototypes that were built only for the show, according to some exhibitors, and were not likely to be put into mass production anytime soon. In fact, one manufacturer told us, “This was manufactured for the purpose of the exhibition and is not intended for mass production.”

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Are Hydrogen Engines in Your Future?

Guy Youngs
Guy Youngs

According to newly published research by Interact Analysis, hydrogen internal combustion engines (H2 ICE) are forecast to be sold in 220,000 vehicles in 2035.

On the plus side, H2 ICE vehicles have some notable advantages. The engine technology is reasonably similar to diesel engines, enabling use of existing knowledge, design and production vehicles. The vehicles can deliver high power, work with impure fuel, work in dirty and dusty conditions and refuel quickly.

On the downside, there is no hydrogen infrastructure in place in almost all locations in the world, there is a lack of awareness about the technology and limited development so far. Most importantly, the current cost of hydrogen fuel is high – it will need a big reduction before the vehicles can become competitive. Even at half the cost of today, H2 ICE vehicles do not have a good total cost of ownership. The cost of the engine is not substantial, but the cost of the tanks adds a lot to the cost of the vehicle, then there is infrastructure and above all hydrogen fuel.

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Edge Computing: Microgrids

In part 3 of “Living on the Edge” John Krzesicki examines microgrids with his guest Thomas Bourgeois, Deputy Director of the Pace Energy and Climate Center.

Transcript

Welcome to the PSR PowerTALK podcast produced by Power Systems Research.

00:06 John Krzesicki

Hello, my name is John Krzesicki. Today it’s my pleasure to host the Power Systems “Living on the Edge” series. The show we have conversation with industry experts on their insight into the future of intelligent technology.

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China 2023 EV Sales To Grow To 8.4 Million Units

CHINA REPORT
Jack Hao
Jack Hao

The development trend for the new energy vehicle (EVs) market remained positive through 2022. In November, retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles reached 598,000 units, with a year-on-year growth of 58.2%. From January to November, the domestic retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles were 5.03 million units, with a year-on-year growth of 100.1%.

As for December, the Passenger Transport Federation believes that the subsidy for new energy vehicles will decline by 12,600 RMB this year, which is much more than the decline of 5000 RMB in the previous two years. In addition, some vehicle enterprises have announced a price increase for next year, which may promote strong pre-buying of new energy vehicles at the end of the year and boost sales.

This year, the new energy vehicle market is expected to achieve the annual sales of 6.5 million vehicles.

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