Show Report: Hannover Messe 2023

EUROPEAN REPORT 
Guy Youngs
Guy Youngs

General Observations. The core topics at HANNOVER MESSE included artificial intelligence, hydrogen, energy management, connected and intelligent production, and the new Manufacturing-X data ecosystem.

More than 4,000 exhibitors presented their solutions and welcomed 130,000 visitors from around the globe. There seemed to be a very large Chinese contingent at the show (both as visitors and exhibitors), as well as a large number of local governments, universities and startups. There seemed to be a predominance of exhibitors showing bearings, copper fittings, cables and components as well as systems / electronics companies.

There was also a large number of independent robots in evidence, ranging from robotic dogs and robotic servers to robotic messengers following pre planned routes.

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Alternative Power Report, May 2023

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.

PSR Awards $2,000 Scholarship

Erin Kelly

Power Systems Research has awarded a $2,000 scholarship to Erin Kelly, a student at Eagan High School in Eagan, Minnesota. Erin plans to attend the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minn., and study computer engineering.

Erin enjoys reading, writing, playing and listening to music and all things theater and storytelling. She doesn’t really have a favorite school subject because, as she says, “There are so many ways to view the world and love learning about all of them.”

Her favorite high school memory is “seeing everyone on stage during on stage during our recorded concert style production of Les Miserables–in masks and social distancing, it was the first normal thing since the pandemic began.”

Power Systems Research has been supporting high school science and engineering programs for many years. It has been donating to the Eagan Foundation Scholarship program since 2013.

Another program PSR funds is the Experimental Vehicle Team at St. Thomas Academy in suburban St. Paul, Minnesota. The school successfully competes in international competitions with high schools and universities to build the most energy efficient vehicles. PSR

Global Electric Scooter Market Could Reach $56B in 2033

GLOBAL REPORT
Michael Aistrup
Michael Aistrup

The global electric scooter market is growing at a rate that will enable it to surpass $56 billion by the end of 2033, according to a forecast by. Power Systems Research. The forecast predicts a projected growth rate of 9.72% by 2033.

This high growth rate is attributed to the rising demand for electric vehicles because of the increasing worldwide population.

An Electric Vehicle (EV) is a vehicle that runs on electricity/battery power. Electric vehicles have low running costs due to fewer moving parts and are environmentally friendly as they use little or no fossil fuels. Some EVs use lead-acid or nickel-metal hydride batteries, but lithium-ion batteries are now used in battery-powered electric vehicles for their long life, excellent energy storage, and low self-discharge rate.

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Suzuki Moves Aggressively To Regain India Market Share

INDIA REPORT
Aditya Kondejkar

A key portion of Maruti Suzuki’s mid-term goal to achieve 50% overall PV (passenger vehicle) market share by becoming the number one SUV seller in the country. This is important for Maruti Suzuki because even though the automaker’s market share in the non-SUV segments is more than 65%, its SUV share was only 10.5% in 2022.

Source: The Times of India    Read The Article

Capacity Expansion.

The company is planning to invest Rs 18,000 crore for the Kharkhoda facility in Haryana. This will increase the capacity by one million units. Further, by the end of the decade, Maruti Suzuki plans to invest over 45,000 crore to quadruple production capacity to four million vehicles in order to meet domestic consumer demand and increase exports from India.

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Hyundai China Sales Drop 77% in Six Years

FAR EAST: SOUTH KOREA REPORT

South Korea’s Hyundai Motor has announced that it will sell two plants in China. Beijing Hyundai, a joint venture with China’s state-owned auto giant Beijing Automotive Group, will reduce the number of plants in operation to two. Sluggish sales in the Chinese market have prompted the company to make structural reforms.

Hyundai Motor’s sales in China were 260,000 units in 2022; in 2016 it sold 1.13 million units, a 77% decline in six years.

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Honda Forced To Reduce Car Features

FAR EAST: JAPAN REPORT
Akihiro Komuro
Akihiro Komuro

Honda will sell some of its new vehicles without a function that detects vehicles in the blind spot and warns the driver, saying the dedicated semiconductors required for this function have been in short supply.

To solve the situation where it takes about a year from order receipt to delivery, Honda will sell the new models with the function reduced so that they can be delivered in about six months.

Sales of the new SUV model “ZR-V” began with a specification that eliminates “Blind Spot Information (BSI),” which alerts the driver by detecting vehicles diagonally behind the vehicle and displaying them in the door mirror. Since the procurement of the necessary in-vehicle semiconductors was not completed in time and the delivery period was expected to be prolonged, the company decided to sell the car without this BSI function. Although it varies by store and model, the time from order to delivery can be reduced by half, from about one year to about six months.

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Ammonia-Powered Fuel Cell Developed for Deep Sea Shipping

ShipFC is the project financed by the Union European program Horizon 2020 and Hydrogen Europe aiming to prove that fuel cells powered by green ammonia can meet the strict IMO standards of zero-emission Deep Sea shipping.

Currently, a 100% zero-emission solution is not available in this segment. Batteries do not last longue enough with a size that can fit a ship onboard, and Hydrogen technology has some other challenging issues to resolve. Alternative fuel solutions are promising but still need to be tested, confirmed, and approved by DNA.

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What Is the Future of Alternative Power?

Guy Youngs
Guy Youngs

Making the switch from diesel powered machines to a low carbon option is not as simple as some would argue. Switching to electric has drawbacks such as their modest power density, which currently holds back their ability to power heavy equipment for a full working day. Cost is another important consideration.

So, what about HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil)? HVO, which is of particular interest to many equipment manufacturers, is obtained from cooking oil waste, grease and fat residues, waste fats and vegetable oil. The manufacture and use of HVO is nearly climate-neutral when only renewable energy sources are used in the production process. The problem with this fuel is its availability.

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