Engines powered by gasoline and diesel fuel are reaching a critical point in production compared to electric and hybrid vehicles, according to reports in the April issue of Alternative Power Report. 2026 could be a critical year. Read about this trend and related articles that address alternative power in this issue.
In early May, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) held a virtual public hearing regarding the Phase 3 greenhouse gas emission standards for heavy duty trucks. There are various comments and opinions from the stakeholders that attended the hearing. Along with introducing the Phase 3 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) rules to begin for MY 2028 trucks, the EPA also revised the Phase 2 GHG standards for the MY 2027 truck standards.
This link from CCJ (Commercial Carrier Journal) is a good overview of the conference.
CCJ: ‘Destined to fail’: Trucking sounds off to EPA on new Phase 3 greenhouse-gas regs
The Environmental Protection Agency this week held virtual public hearings related to its Phase 3 greenhouse gas emissions standards for heavy-duty trucks, unveiled last month. Among the dozens who testified during the hearings, trucking industry stakeholders were part of a small minority advocating for EPA to take a step back and reconsider the proposed standards that would take effect beginning with model-year 2027 trucks.
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.
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
The announced reorganization of several commercial vehicles companies came suddenly and was one that few in the industry expected.
On May 30, Toyota Motor Corporation and Daimler Trucks of Germany announced a business merger between Toyota-owned Hino Motors and Daimler-owned Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation. The merger is expected to be completed by the end of 2024.
The four companies have reached a basic agreement that calls for Toyota and Daimler to establish a holding company by the end of 2024 with the aim of going public. Hino Motors and Mitsubishi Fuso will become part of the holding company. Toyota and Daimler will hold the same percentage of shares in the holding company, and Hino Motors will cease to be a consolidated subsidiary of Toyota after the merger.
Accelera and Shaanxi Auto’s Dechuang Future have jointly developed a 31-ton Hydrogen fuel battery residue vehicle. Sixty Cummins Accelera Hydrogen fuel cell driven muck trucks were delivered and put into operation in Shanghai.
It is reported that this vehicle is matched with Cummins 125kW Hydrogen fuel battery engine system and 127kWh Lithium iron phosphate power battery, and uses the 410kW drive motor and AMT automatic transmission with ultra-low system energy consumption independently developed by Dechuang in the future to form a “new energy power chain,” so that the vehicle’s power performance indicators such as maximum speed, hill starting ability, climbing ability, loading capacity, etc. are higher than the industry average.
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
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.
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.
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.
This month author Guy Youngs discusses several reports on new techniques in battery production, hydrogen power and several types of alternative powers.
Monthly news and analysis from PSR’s experts
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