The Italian manufacturer Mavel will supply the Chinese NIO with electric drive systems consisting of motor, controller and transmission.
Furthermore: NIO Capital has led a new round of funding that should convey tens of millions of dollars into the Italian company’s coffers to supply the components to NIO’s electric cars. The choice fell on the Italian Mavel because the motors developed by the Italian company feature an innovative structural and engineering design and offer significant highlights in terms of power density and efficiency.
For the Italian company, the investment by NIO represents the umpteenth confirmation of the validity of the work it is carrying out in the development of electric powertrains. At present, we do not know the details about what electric drives it will develop for NIO, but we can remind the collaborations already undertaken with other prestigious brands such as Aston Martin, Ducati, Energica, McLaren and Norton.
Italian electric motors for the Chinese NIO
Developing an innovative vehicle control unit
The British manufacturer Saietta Group has accomplished the development of a new vehicle control unit (VCU), which has been developed in collaboration with HCLTech specifically for three and four wheel light electric vehicles (LEV) in Asia. The addition of the VCU to the existing range of motors, controllers and transmissions by Saietta improves the company’s capability of providing OEM with complete eDrive solutions that can be customized quickly and cheaply for specific applications.
The VCU will be manufactured in India by Saietta VNA, a joint venture between Saietta Group and Padmini VNA and the first units will be delivered as part of complete eDrive solutions to one of the major manufacturers of electric three-and four-wheelers in India. The VCU is highly modular and can be configured to optimize the operation of a complete electric powertrain, managing the operation of the motor, of the controller, of the transmission, of batteries and of the recharge process of batteries, as well as of other manifold critical functions of the vehicle.
Tony Gott, Executive Chairman and Interim Chief Executive Officer, Saietta Group plc, said: “As with all elements of our leading-edge eDrive solutions, the VCU is designed to be cost-effective for Asia and is highly modular. This allows our engineers to tailor the functionality precisely to a customer’s requirements and thereby deliver a competitive edge”.
Why do certified components in end products matter in the marketplace? Find out in the UL Solutions’ webinar
Certified components in end products are increasingly important in the marketplace. The advantages are essential whether you manufacture components or end products. Adopting a safety-by-design approach places user safety at the forefront of appliance development to prevent harm rather than to remediate after the fact.
However, safe appliances and extended appliance lifetime aren’t just consumer demands. European governments are driving manufacturers to take responsibility for their appliance products’ environmental impact, urging them to make sure they can remain in use for as long as possible. Increasing appliances’ repairability level is one way to extend their lifetime and support more sustainable production and consumption.
To reflect on these issues, UL Solutions proposes the webinar “Appliances and Components: an overview of safety and repairability” on October 3rd at 3 PM.
SIGN UP for the webinar! Participants will receive a promotional code for a 10% discount on testing and certification services related to component certification and/or appliance repairability.
Speakers:
• Giorgio Decataldo, Business development manager for appliances, HVAC and components, UL Solutions
• Pika Patel, Global business development manager for Controls, UL Solutions
Moderator:
• Alessandro Garnero, Editor in chief, Tecniche Nuove
MECSPE Bari: sustainability and enabling technologies for Industry 5.0
MECSPE returns to Bari (Nov. 23-25) with a special appointment at Milan Digital Week (Oct. 6) together with MADE – Competence Center Industry 4.0, to delve into the topics of sustainability and enabling technologies for Industry 5.0.
The manufacturing industry has a positive direct and indirect effect on the socioeconomic fabric of Italy, as well as having an important impact on people’s lives.
Automotive, food, energy, aerospace, and so on, there is no sector where manufacturing companies in recent years have not brought value and innovation.
Therefore, it is important to assess the health of the industry, not only from an economic perspective but also by checking the propensity of entrepreneurs for “growth.”
In this regard, Italian business captains have a very clear idea: according to the latest MECSPE Observatory, the leading manufacturing industry trade show organized by Senaf with an extraordinary stop in Bari Nov. 23-25 at the Nuova Fiera del Levante, nearly three out of four (equivalent to 73% of the companies) are planning a path to growth within the next two years.
In particular, one-third plan to do so dimensionally, one-quarter by expanding production into new areas, and 15 percent by focusing on internationalization.
Moreover, many entrepreneurs (as many as 26 percent), again in the next two years, are looking with interest at extraordinary transactions such as mergers and acquisitions (M&A).
In terms of how to raise the economic resources, although most will draw from the capital they already have (53 percent), there are an increasing number of companies that will consider participating in public tenders (31 percent) and bringing in new partners (12 percent).
The data thus show a sector—manufacturing—that is alive and dynamic but needs guidance to help companies understand the market in all its aspects.
This is precisely the role of MECSPE, which returns to Bari with many initiatives and events to facilitate companies in this phase of development by focusing on essential themes for the entire manufacturing industry: innovation, sustainability, and training.
Incentives and investments to digitise businesses
What can motivate entrepreneurs to invest in making businesses more digital, green, and with adequate skills?
Certainly, economic aid plays a key role, but it comes with lights (many) and shadows: in fact, 55 percent of companies have already taken advantage of government Industria 4.0 incentives and four out of ten have invested more than €500K, with 13 percent having invested more than €3M.
Yet, according to entrepreneurs, the measures taken are not enough, but this is not a complete rejection: almost half rate the measures as insufficient but still important for innovation, while only 12 percent think they are totally inadequate.
Looking at the incentives that companies will apply for in 2023, the most popular is the capital goods tax credit for digital transformation (47 percent), followed by training 4.0 (37 percent) and incentives for innovation in the research and development area (27 percent).
In this scenario, MECSPE can make a difference with its exhibition platform which has been offering entrepreneurs opportunities for exchange and learning for more than two decades by following precisely the three focal themes for the entire manufacturing industry.
Macro topics that will develop starting from the new Exhibition Heart “Energy Transition & Sustainability in the Manufacturing Industry: from Transportation to Companies” a central area of the event where technology and market experts will explain the new challenges of the industry with a focus on mobility, manufacturing, and the hydrogen supply chain.
In addition, there is a novelty this year: On October 6, MECSPE, together with MADE – Competence Center Industria 4.0, will be among the protagonists of Milan Digital Week with the event “The new face of the manufacturing industry capable of combining well-being, environmental sustainability, and business economics”.
More and more enterprise 5.0
Companies and industry experts will explore the themes of sustainability and new digital-enabling technologies applied to the manufacturing industry, essential accelerators toward a new virtuous way of doing business that is increasingly 5.0 and responsive to the needs of young people and the environment.
«To support the digitization process of Italian companies, the competence centres established by the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy now play an important role» says Federico Ravasio, communications manager of MADE Competence Center. «Companies, through MADE 4.0, can access two important non-repayable financing tools. The first concerns standard services such as training courses, consulting on product and process technological innovation, intellectual property, access to credit, etc. The second is a call for innovation projects of industrial research, feasibility study, and experimental development. Entrepreneurs will thus have €14 M at their disposal and will be able to find all the right tools and skills to implement their sustainable digital transition projects.»
«Italian companies have an extraordinary ability to adapt, and the numbers of the last edition of MECSPE testify to how much these realities have understood the need to evolve» says Maruska Sabato, MECSPE project manager. «Our commitment is to propose a dynamic and comprehensive event, where companies can discover and embrace the most innovative technologies to achieve their goals in terms of growth and digitalization. We believe that by guiding companies toward adopting virtuous practices and promoting cohesion and networking, we can turn challenges into opportunities and open new paths toward a forward-looking industry.»
The figures of MECSPE BARI 2019
20,000 sq m of exhibition area, 16,243 visitors including professionals and students, 656 companies attending, 54 conferences and workshops, 10 special initiatives, 6 exhibition areas, 3 pavilions, 1 exhibition heart “Intelligent WORKSHOPS”.
All in one system for heavy vehicles
Bonfiglioli has recently exhibited for the sectors of earth handling machines and building industry an “All In One” EDS (Electric Drive System) solution. It is a mechatronic solution with integrated reducer, electric motor and driver for the electric traction of earth handling machines and commercial vehicles.
EDS-D, in its base configuration, is made up by permanent-magnet motor, inverter and reducer with differential. The optional components that can be added to the system are the DCDC converter and the Telematic Power Unit. To make EDS-D more flexible and to provide customers with the possibility of adapting the e-powertrain to specific applications, it is possible to add a Powertrain Control Unit to the standard configuration. EDS-D can be supplied as complete system (All-in One) or as separate components. «Our historical presence in the Industrial Automation sector has allowed us to rely on “in house” competences, to operate with system logic and to offer an integrated solution. In brief: digitalization and electrification speed up the transition towards a zero-emission scenario, monitored in real time, which grants safety and control to workers. Moreover, batteries are less cumbersome than what imagined and become the only driving force of even large excavators or full electric concrete mixers».
Vision One-Eleven, new concept with axial flux motor
The Vision One-Eleven prototype by Mercedes is equipped with an innovative fully-electric propulsion technology with an extremely powerful and efficient axial-flux motor developed by the British Yasa, 100% sister company of Mercedes-Benz AG since July 2021.
«Mercedes-Benz Vision One-Eleven combines a breathtaking design with a forefront powertrain technology. Like its historical homonymous, it explores new courses for the future of sports performances. At the core of the compact and extremely efficient powertrain there is the innovative high-tech axial-flux electric Yasa motor. If offers a power resembling the one of motor sports in a much smaller package. This makes Yasa axial-flux motor ideal for high-performance electric vehicles. In combination with the cells of cylinder batteries liquid-cooled and inspired to the Formula 1 world, Mercedes-Benz Vision One-Eleven is another test point in the broad range of performances enclosed in our four-pronged development strategy for electric traction» explained Markus Schäfer, member of the Board of Directors of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, Chief Technology Officer.
EU Battery Passport as key for circularity
According to the European Union’s programmes, companies will have to provide detailed data about the batteries they manufacture or sell starting from 2027. Aras, company that supplies low-code platforms, has informed that in the next future the whole lifecycle of big batteries, like those installed in electric cars, will be filed in digital form. The new passport by the European Union (EU) of batteries is a legal requisite that also constitutes an opportunity to manage data, in order to analyse and assess fully the constant flow of information, starting from the mining of raw materials and up to the use and recycling, so creating more innovative products and more efficient value chains.
«Batteries, with a planned service life of about 20 years for bigger ones, generate big quantities of data, which cover the extraction of raw materials, the production, various use options and the final recycling possibilities. Upon initiative of the EU, in the future these data will have to be filed. After about ten years, the batteries of electric cars reach the end of their first life. However, with slight modifications, batteries might have a second life. They might be used, for instance, as charge stations for electric cars or as storage systems for solar plants for private use. So, extending their service life, these batteries might be useful for 20 years before being dismantled and reused as part of a recycling strategy», stated Luigi Salerno, Country Manager of Aras Italia.
BorgWarner and onsemi, strategies in inverters for higher performances
BorgWarner will integrate 1200 and 750 V power devices of EliteSiC series by onsemi in its own Viper power modules for traction inverters, specifically ideated to enhance electric vehicles’ performances. The collaboration between the two players was born just for silicon carbide devices (SiC): the signed agreement – the companies announce – will generate profits exceeding one billion Euros in the lapse of its own duration. onsemi supplies the products of high-performance EliteSiC range assuring the high standards, in terms of quality, reliability and supply continuity demanded by the market of traction for electric vehicles.
“onsemi’s strategy that provides for unceasing investments aimed at increasing the manufacturing capacity of SiC devices by exploiting its own end-to-end supply chain – underlined Stefan Demmerle, vice president of BorgWarner and President and General Manager of the PowerDrive Systems division – grants us the possibility of going on supporting the steeply rising demand for our solutions, both now and in the future”.
Silicon carbide traction inverters by BorgWarner already at present grant more efficiency, higher cooling performances and faster recharge speeds. Thanks to the use of EliteSic technology, the solutions by BorgWarner will be characterized by even higher power density and efficiency levels, with consequent increment of both the autonomy and the overall performances of electric vehicles.
“The integration of EliteSic technology into traction inverters allows increasing electric vehicles’ energy efficiency – affirmed Simon Keeton, Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Power Solutions Group of onsemi – contributing to mitigating the fuelling anxiety, one of the major hindrances to the adoption of electric vehicles.
Gigabat project, innovative solutions by Comau
From a technological pint of view, Comau has consolidated and proven expertise in the assembly of electric motors, modules and battery packs with whatever cell typology, besides being able to satisfy the last phases of cell machining. Comau designs technologies for the formation of high energy-efficiency cells also in the ambit of Gigabat a project in the electric mobility field that aims at strengthening the European Union’s manufacturing chain for the large-scale cell production.
Aiming at a saving of electric and thermal energy up to 20%, the solution by Comau recovers and reuses the electricity in excess produced during the long and intense procedure of cell activation that lasts for several days. The innovative design of the cell formation chamber enhances the company’s commitment to the industrialization of sustainable and efficient electric mobility solutions. Comau will also exploit enabling proprietary algorithms and digital technologies to further optimize a long and highly complex process.
Innovative systems of energy distribution and a high energy-efficiency power electronics will be at stake to avoid energy losses, meanwhile decreasing the overall energy demand. Besides, Comau will use its proprietary algorithms and digital platforms to further optimize the long and complex cell formation process.
“Europe is operating to implement a more and more autonomous manufacturing cell of batteries and high energy-efficiency cells represent a fundamental stage to hit this target. The electric mobility already constitutes an important and steeply rising part of Comau business. Initiatives like these, which go hand in hand with our strategy of technological development and our constant commitment to enable and to optimize a sustainable automation, will allow us to increasingly cover all the phases of the electrification life cycle, reaching a saving of electric and thermal energy up to 20%”, stated Pietro Gorlier, CEO of Comau.
Perovskite solar cells for vehicle-integrated
The automotive company Toyota Motor Corp and the start-up EneCoat Technologies Co., with headquarters in Kyoto prefecture, have announced a project for the development of state-of-the-art perovskite (PSC) solar cells. It is a particular type of lighter and thinner photovoltaic cells than those made of crystalline silicon, and they are also foldable. They are expected to be used in electric vehicles already in 2026. According to some rumours, the Japanese Itochu Corporation might soon start collaborating with ZF German Group, third world supplier of car components, for the launch of a commercial electric vehicle already in 2026.
The Japanese company aims at decreasing the costs of electric batteries through a fixed-price subscription, so that the total subscription cost summed to the one of the electricity needed to charge batteries is lower than the fuel cost.