Battery Electric Trends & Analysis

Follow PSR’s team of analysts as they track the rapidly expanding global battery electric power market, including, battery technology, transportation, eMobility, mergers and acquisitions and more.

Foton Announces Electric Truck in Brazil

After adding 28 Ford dealers to bring its dealer total in Brazil to 38 dealers, the Chinese giant is preparing to introduce an EV to i its new lineup in H2 2021. It plans to add trucks in the 17 ton – 24 ton range for 2022, the most popular in Brazil. In addition to the EV and Diesel Trucks, Foton will evaluate the potential for a CNG Trucks for launch after the EV, but it has shorter term potential for higher volumes.

Source: O Estado de São Paulo      Read The Article

PSR Analysis: Currently, Foton produces an LCV under a manufacturing agreement with GEFCO and imports Medium Trucks for sale in Brazil. These Trucks should be nationalized by 2025. The new line of Heavy Trucks meets P8 requirements for 2023 and may be nationalized by 2025 as well. So far, the volumes are very small, but we see an important growth forecast exceeding the overall market.     PSR

By Fabio Ferraresi is Director of Business Development-South America, for Power Systems Research

PowerTALK™ News, February 2021

Chris Fisher, senior commercial vehicle analyst at Power Systems Research, provides a forecast in the February 2021 issue of PowerTALK™ News for MHV. 

Here are more articles in this issue:

  • North America: Electric Motorcycles
  • DataPoint: Global Snowmobiles
  • Europe: Volvo Penta Plans Zero Emissions
  • South America: Brazil Vehicle Exports Up 22%
  • Taiwan: Innovation Powers Gorgoro Network
  • Japan: Honda Launches Electric Bike
  • South Korea: Hyundai Offers Custom EVs
  • Indonesia: New Tesla Investment?
  • India: Union 2021 Budget Misses Mark
  • Russia: KAMAZ Plans EV Buses

KAMAZ Intends To Double Production of Electric Powered Buses

In 2020, NEFAZ, a subsidiary of KAMAZ, made 202 electric buses. In 2021, it plans to double the production of this innovative transport.

Today, in Moscow has 400 working KAMAZ electric buses, half of which were supplied during 2020. “We can make machine, which became tech leader on domestic market. We could enter Moscow passenger transport market. It changes the scale of the business and our respect to own product,” says KAMAZ general director Sergey Kogogin.

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Union Budget 2021 Misses Mark for Autos

Aditya Kondejkar

The Union Budget 2021 is very important since it comes during an unprecedented pandemic. The most significant pain points of the economy are the lack of demand and liquidity. The shrinking market’s impact and the weak demand is evident after the Economic Survey said that the country would experience a current account surplus for the first time in 17 years.

The automotive industry is the key stakeholder of the country’s economy. It suffered extensive sluggishness in the past 10-12 quarters after introducing GST, the new safety norms, insurance regulations, axle, and emission norms. These led to a hefty increase in purchase costs. The industry was waiting for direct announcements to reduce purchase cost and improve customer sentiment

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Tesla Proposes Investment in Indonesia to Promote EV Industry

Akihiro Komuro
Akihiro Komuro

The Indonesian government announced on Feb. 5 that it had received an investment proposal from Tesla. The country is the world’s largest producer of nickel, which is essential for the production of batteries for EVs. In order to promote the EV and battery related industries, Indonesia had invited Tesla to invest in the country.

Details of the talks between Indonesia and Tesla cannot be disclosed due to confidentiality agreements, but it is said that they have mainly discussed battery and energy storage solutions. The Indonesian vice-minister said, “If Tesla only wants to buy raw materials, we are not interested. The proposal is more than the procurement of raw materials and extends to energy storage systems such as MegaPack, PowerPack and Powerwall,” he said.

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Hyundai To Custom Design EVs for each Customer

South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group is launching a new business to produce EVs to order, according to customer preferences. It is designed to be used for corporate purposes such as delivery and car sharing, and the body design and loading capacity can be flexibly changed to suit the intended use.

The company will take advantage of the characteristics of EVs, which have a higher degree of freedom in design than gasoline vehicles. The company will also introduce a business model that does not involve mass production to accelerate the growth of its EV business.

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Gogoro Network Powered Through Innovative Solutions

To date, there have been over 151 million battery swaps, an average of 2.8 per second.

Erik Martin
Erik Martin

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Imagine being asked to design and build a totally new, green energy infrastructure for an entire country — from scratch.

This was the goal given to Gogoro Network (GN) General Manager Alan Pan (潘璟倫) by Gogoro founder and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森). Sitting down for an interview with Taiwan News, Pan described some of the issues electric scooters faced before Gogoro, including limited charging solutions due to lack of space in Taiwan and high battery and maintenance costs.

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NA Electric Motorcycle Segment Growing

Michael Aistrup
Michael Aistrup

Motorcycling in America is changing as industry leaders and new technology competitors are trying to attract newer/younger riders who want something different from Harley-Davidson’s big cruisers or screaming Japanese and European performance bikes.

The changes are in response to younger riders who are attracted to the efficiency and fun of two-wheel travel associated with e-motorcycles, while older riders are losing interest, or simply becoming unable to ride any longer.

At present, e-motorcycles remain a niche market. Riders are typically city dwellers in their early 40s–slightly younger than the average age of a U.S. motorcycle rider, which is 47, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council’s U.S. Motorcycle Owner Survey — and uses the bike to commute.

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Komatsu to Sell Electric Construction Equipment in Europe

Akihiro Komuro
Akihiro Komuro

Komatsu plans to release a battery-powered compact excavator that emits no exhaust gas in Europe in 2022. The company will also promote the quietness of the product and expects to use it in residential areas. Hitachi Construction Machinery will also double orders for electric excavators in fiscal 2021 compared to the previous year. Following the trend in the automobile industry, competition in the field of electric construction machinery is now in full swing.

The compact excavator to be launched by Komatsu will use lithium-ion batteries that are lightweight and can operate for a long time. It uses a motor instead of an engine, making less noise and emitting no exhaust gas. The company will first market the product in Europe, where environmental regulations are strict, and then consider launching it in Japan. Komatsu began renting several small excavators powered by lead-acid batteries on a trial basis in Japan in April 2020.

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Hyundai and Apple in Talks To Develop Self-Driving EVs

Hyundai Motor and Apple are negotiating a partnership in the field of self-driving EVs, reports the Korean newspaper Korea IT News. Other media reported that Hyundai and Apple are aiming to launch a self-driving EV in 2027. Soon after this report, Hyundai announced that it was in early stage talks with Apple. (The above is excerpted from Newsweek)

Hyundai is playing a central role in the Apollo Project, the self-driving EV strategy of Chinese IT giant Baidu and is also actively mass-producing EVs.

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