Wabererâs (vehicle operator in international full truckload transportation in Europe) is willing to test and is open to participate in the introduction of Teslaâs e-trucks in Europe.
Also, as the firsts from Europe, Wabererâs tested the Tesla Semi e-truck designed for long-distance transportation. Wabererâs and Paccar Group (supplier of Daf trucks) are discussing the testing and introduction of electric and driverless vehicles under development.
âWe at Wabererâs are committed to continuous innovation and seize every opportunity participate in our partnersâ R&D and innovation programs. Electric and driverless truck developments may significantly reduce the environmental impact of road transportation and have a favourable effect on the cost side at the same time. We see a great opportunity in developments concerning logistic infrastructure. In fact, we have effectively implemented several digital innovations in our operationsâ, said Ferenc LajkĂł, Ceo of Wabererâs.
Testing e-trucks in Europe?
BorgWarnerâs more and more electric direction
It is very recent the news of the takeover of Santroll Automotive Components, the Chinese playerâs eMotor division, by the American BorgWarner. They are steps towards east and towards electrification: Santroll is in fact focused on electric drive units, also for buses, with advanced technologies such as high-density electric windings of hairpin type and synchronous variable reluctance motors with very high performances. Santroll supplies its patented technology to the Chinese OEM market.
With nearly 400 full-time employees, Santroll brings manufacturing equipment design capabilities and proven automation expertise that have allowed it to secure business relationships with many leading customers in China. The hairpin winding type is already used also by BorgWarner for its HVH 320 electric motor, intended for equipping the commercial vehicles, its first electric step.
The takeover announcement was diffused last April 1st, after one month and a half of works. «We are pleased to accomplish Santroll takeover and to welcome in BorgWarner the talented Santroll employees in China», are the words by FrĂ©dĂ©ric Lissalde, President and CEO of BorgWarner, company with a history of 130 years, that today are accelerating the worldâs transition to eMobility.
One of the largest high-speed charging networks in Europe is incoming
Be Charge, company fully controlled by Plenitude, which is in its turn a branch of Eni Group, will receive from the European Commission and the Italian Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) over 100 million Euros for the implementation by 2025 of one of the largest high-speed charging networks in Europe. In the specific case, CDP, as national promotion institute, has granted a funding worth 50 millions, with the addition of other 50.4 millions as non-refundable grant awarded by the European Commission.
The goal of this operation is favouring the development of the infrastructures dedicated to the electric mobility and speeding up the energy transition towards the implementation of a network with over 2,000 âultra-fastâ charge points, with a minimum power of 150 kW, along the main European transport corridors of eight Countries: Italy, Spain, France, Austria, Germany, Portugal, Slovenia and Greece.
âThis operation is framed in the programme of the company, which today counts more than 15,000 charging points, and has the goal of developing a high-power European infrastructure for electric vehicles and of doubling its network by 2026, reaching 30,000 pointsâ, stated Stefano Goberti, Managing Director of Plenitude.
Adina VÄlean, European Commissioner for Transport, declared: âWith the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Facility, we are going to support the fast introduction of recharge infrastructures. In this way, we will permit the diffusion on the market of zero- and low-emission vehicles and, finally, to transform our climatic goals into realityâ.
Mega-factory of electric scooters according to Industry 4.0 principles
Ola, one of the leader mobility companies in the world, has selected ABB as one of its key partners for robotics and automation solutions for its mega-factory in India, which will release its so longed- for electric scooter.
The structure, expected to be ready and operational next months, is likely to be the largest factory of scooters in the world. In the main process lines, ABB automation solutions and ABB robots will be used, exploited also for the assembling lines of batteries and motors.
They will be digitally integrated into the factory enabled by the artificial intelligence, to optimize performances, the productivity and the quality of robot product.
The exploitation of ABB robots and automation solutions will assure the remote digital connectivity and the monitoring of robots that will use the artificial intelligence motor and the technological stack owned by Ola.
With an initial yearly capacity of 2 million units, the mega factory of Ola will create 10,000 workplaces and will act as global production hub of the company for both India and for the international markets in Europe, United Kingdom, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand. It is foreseen the mega-factory will be the most automated in the Country, with about 5,000 robots and autonomous-guided vehicles in use once the factory will be completely operational at its full capacity.
United Kingdom: electric vehicles drive the recovery
The British automotive market has not completely overcome the repercussions of lockdown but in Spring the sales of BEV and plug-in reached record levels. Meanwhile, the growing diffusion of cheaper models leads the Government to review its dedicated incentive programme.
The data concerning the market trend last March, provided by Society of motor manufacturers and traders, SMMT, leave no doubts.
In the United Kingdom, the sales of full-electric and plug-in vehicles represent almost 14% of the total, while in the same period of last year they did not exceed 7.3%.
Reported also by sources such as The Guardian, SMMT has calculated that in such period Her Majestyâs subjects purchased about 22,000 units of battery-powered cars and other 17,000 hybrid models, in the course of a particularly critical year for industry and trade.
At the end of the first quarter, registrations were dropping by 37% versus the average of 450,000 regularly maintained in 2010 and 2019.
Although we have witnessed their upswing (+11%, worth 284,000 new registrations), the losses suffered since the first phases of Covid-19 diffusion were huge indeed, amounting to, in money terms, over 22 billion pounds.
The negative peak was reached in April 2020, when the total sector turnover dropped by even 97%.
Surpassing France
If we look at the e-mobility behaviour along the entire first 2021-quarter, further surprises emerge.
From January to March, about 31.800 BEV were delivered, 7.5% of overall sales: the double of what estimated just twelve months ago.
The exploit has allowed Great Britain, at least in the zero-impact mobility field, to surpass France, where, according to some independent analyses, the threshold of 30.500 units was not overcome.
Germany is still distant, with its record share of about 65,000 electric cars marketed in the 90 opening days of the current year, but the step forward is undoubtedly significant and the trend is likely to consolidate.
This is mainly due to Boris Johnsonâs decision of undertaking the decarbonization way.
In their turn instead, UK citizens, officially called to give up old diesel or petrol engines by 2030, pose at least some not negligible conditions.
We want columns
Our domestic general press as well has rightly highlighted a survey among consumers that SMMT has commissioned to the specialized company Savanta ComRes, regarding the reasons in favour or against the purchase of an electric vehicle.
It emerged that 37% of interviewees are ready to buy it within 2025, but also that other 44% would willingly delay the shift to 2035.
Finally, 24% would not change their conventional internal combustion engine with a zero emission one.
Undoubtedly, higher prices weigh (52%) but also the scarce presence of recharge stations on the territory (44%) that goes hand in hand with the fear of remaining on foot during longer journeys (38%).
Not fortuitously, the numerical increment of charging stations is one of the demands addressed to Downing Street by manufacturers and induced activities in recent times, estimating in 16.7 billion pounds (equal to over 18.5 billion Euros) the necessary investments for the creation of a really satisfactory network, spread in sufficiently capillary way.
Spending or not spending: this is the dilemma
A real enterprise, we daresay, considering that in the current yearâs spring we could count fewer than 19.500 columns in operation whereas at least 1.7 million would be necessary by 2030 to hit the challenging target of 2.8 million five years later.
To achieve that, we should activate as many as 507 recharge places a day during next fifteen years.
Going back to the Society of motor manufacturers and traders, among the desiderata submitted to the premier there is also the restoration of the bonus for the purchase of those hybrid plug-in that on one hand assure undisputable environmental sustainability advantages and on the other hand grant more certainties in autonomy and mileage.
However, precisely in the incentive matter, Johnsonâs executive seems to have triggered a partial reverse.
The essential idea is that nowadays the offer of models with retail cost under 35,000 pounds has widened by over 50% and therefore the concessions that previously concerned the tariff range between 35 and 50,000 can be eliminated.
Still in force instead â the provision is dated March 18th – the incentives in favour of those who intend to shift to hybrid or electric under 35,000 pounds, although decreased from 3,000 to 2,500 pounds.
It is a Country for start-ups
According to what reported by specialized British sites, the Government believes that the owners of sufficient resources for a high-end four wheels do not need a subsidy from taxpayers.
Beyond the respective price lists, it is sure that in the UK panorama the proposal of green vehicles is becoming richer, due also to the aggressive entry into the arena of some ambitious start-ups.
Among them, undoubtedly stands out the London Arrival, headed by the founder and CEO Denis Sverdlov, with a recent début at NASDAQ with an estimate worth 13.6 billion dollars, the highest than ever for a British debutant at the New York Stock Exchange.
1,800 employees spread in Great Britain, United States and Germany, next summer and winter it has planned the first road tests â and with passengers on board â of its electric buses and vans.
What more matters and more attracts investors is its business paradigm made up of highly scalable and flexible factories, close to potential customers; and of technologies and components fully in-house designed and manufactured.
A strategy that should aid it in decreasing manufacturing costs by 30%, and in approaching the market with an aggressive proposal.
Therefore, suiting a scenario where the competition in e-mobility is intensifying.
(by Giuseppe Fazio)
Electric motors with Italian heart
Electric motors for the models by Volkswagen Group manufactured on Meb platform equip the proud Made in Italy signed by Euro Group Laminations. The company comes into play with the exclusive supply of rotors and stators for the electric traction motors of Meb modular platform at Baranzate (Mi). It is an important contract that will heighten the importance of the automotive segment of the family company, which counts 1,950 people in the world, almost half of them in Italy, where it operates with seven of its 12 factories.
«We can affirm â the CEO Marco Arduini declared- we rely on 53 years of experience and we are the number one in our segment by size, but especially we avail ourselves of advanced technologies in the various processes. Moreover, we are a family-owned company that is aware of the importance of gaining and maintaining the confidence of those turning to us».
In 2016, Euro Group entered the electric car business through the agreement with an American manufacturer, launching pad to work in China for Volkswagen Group for the eTraction architecture, used also in Europe for the e-Up and for the e-Golf.
Agreement worth 19 billion dollars between GM and G Chem
LG Chem has signed an agreement worth 18.6 billion dollars, to supply 10 years of materials for batteries and for electric vehicles to General Motors.
The chemical South Korean company will supply the automotive United States company with at least 500.000 tons of cathodic materials, sufficient to manufacture batteries for 5 million electric vehicles, until 2035. LG declared that they will produce the materials in the factory in Tennessee, under construction, starting in 2026. «This contract is based on GMâs commitment to creating a provisioning chain of electric vehicles with strong and sustainable batteries to support our steeply rising requirements of electric vehicle manufacturing», declared Jeff Morrison, vice-president of GM, manager of global purchases and of the provisioning chain.
Electric joint venture for Audi and FAW
Two industrial giants, the Chinese automotive company First Automotive Works and the German Audi have recently signed a memorandum of understanding for the creation of a joint venture for the production of electric vehicles based on the Premium Platform Electric.
What does it actually happen? Audi will bring the PPE developed with Porsche to China and on its base, within four years, they will produce different fully electric Audi models to be released on the Chinese market. The current scenario is very positive: in the first nine months of 2020, Audi delivered 4.5% more of electric cars versus the same period of the previous year.
«The agreement â stated Qiu Xiandong, general manager of FAW Group â is a strong message about the further enhancement of the Chinese automotive industry and the strengthening of the international cooperation in the sector of green energy vehicles».
The German witness is as enthusiastic: «This decision â affirmed Markus Duesmann, president of Audi AG board of directors â underlines the strategic importance of the Chinese market that induces us to go on with innovations on a local scale».
The electric prototype of Mercedes
It is called Vision EQXX the new fully electric prototype announced by Mercedes, a model that is likely to be the zero-emission vehicle with the highest autonomy ever obtained, over 1,200 km. This achievement would allow travelling from Beijing to Shanghai with a single charge.
Behind the development of Mercedes Vision EQXX there is a team with headquarters in Stuttgart, supported by the British Group AMG High Performance Powertrain, specialized in design and development of electric motors for motorsport. Feather in the cap of this new model will be the efficiency level of the vehicle and of the powertrain. «We have â affirmed Markus Schafer, Research and Development Manager of Mercedes â set up a team of our engineers to undertake an extraordinary challenge: manufacturing the electric car with the highest autonomy and efficiency ever implemented. It is a wide project, researching for state-of-the-art technologies».
Vision EQXX demo car will be very important to improve further the electric cars of Mercedes EQ range, constantly widened.
The importance of high-efficiency motors in industry
The energy efficiency issue in industry is more topical than ever and the data recently issued by IEA International Energy Agency, following a report, reveal that industry uses 37% of global energy requirements and produces 24% of total CO2 emissions. In particular, about 70% of electricity consumptions in industry can be associated to electric motors.
They refer to various types of motors, small size ones, equipping household appliances but also automation devices of car windows; average-size ones, which for instance are installed in conditioning systems, machines tools, lifts or in subways, as well as motors used in ships, trains and heavy-duty equipment.
Among the other possible actions to reduce the environmental impact, in the report they underline it is important to use high-efficiency electric motors (starting from IE3, Premium Efficiency according to International Efficiency regulations) and variable-speed drives for the control of motors. The achievable results are noteworthy. In comparison, for instance, with a conventional pumping system that features 28% efficiency, with a high energy efficiency system an 82% percentage is reached. Therefore, if the technology is available, what is expected is a strong signal by Institutions to favour their faster adoption and, at the same time, companies must be convinced that nowadays an enhancement of electric motorsâ efficiency is necessary.