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Truck & Bus Builder
The International Newsletter of Commercial Vehicle Manufacturing Developments
VOLUME 37 ISSUE NUMBER 5
May 2015
Agreement / Alternative Drive
Manufacture / Agreement
MIRA to partner with Samsung Techwin in
development of electric powertrains
UK / South Korea - MIRA Ltd of Nuneaton, UK
- an independent vehicle engineering research and
product testing consultancy – has announced a new
collaboration agreement with security and energy
solutions company, Samsung Techwin Co Ltd of
Pangyo, South Korea to develop of bespoke battery
and powertrain systems for automotive and off-highway
hybrid and electric vehicle applications.
MIRA and Samsung Techwin said they planned to
develop jointly cost effective, optimised battery and
powertrain systems for commercial vehicle, defence
vehicle or niche passenger car manufacturers;
deploying state of the art cell technologies and tailoring
the solution to the individual OEM.
The mission statement said: ‘The partnership will
bring together MIRA’s capabilities and experience in
design, development and testing bespoke battery and
powertrain systems, alongside Samsung Techwin’s
access to state of the art battery cells and manufacturing
facilities that provide quality at a competitive price.’
Dr Geoff Davis, chief commercial and technical
officer at MIRA, said: “This partnership has been
formed in response to the increasing demand for
hybrid and electric powertrains. Although this is led
by the passenger car sector, OEMs are increasingly
recognising the significant cost savings that can be
made through the technology - both in terms of fuel
consumption and emissions.”
Hong Ha, senior vice president of Samsung Techwin,
added: “Samsung Techwin can access high quality
battery and powertrain systems components and
manufacturing expertise, and MIRA has excellent
capabilities and expertise in the automotive field,
especially in design, testing and validation. Based on
this, I believe our partnership will have a huge potential
to open up many business opportunities in the future for
mutual benefit and growth.”
The partnership builds on the success of three years
of collaboration in battery pack and electric powertrain
development between the two businesses.
Agreement / Alternative
ASV expands NGV agreement with Westport
USA / Canada – Specialist vehicle manufacturer of
buses, fire, emergency and recreational vehicles, Allied
Specialty Vehicles (ASV) of Orlando, Florida, USA has
announced an exclusive partnership with Westport
Innovations Inc of Vancouver, Canada which expands
the availability of Westport’s compressed natural
gas (CNG) WiNG power system in ASV vehicles. The
Westport CNG WiNG Power System, which is currently
offered as an option in ASV’s Type A school buses
manufactured by its Collins Bus subsidiary, is to be
extended to ASV’s commercial bus, emergency and
other vehicle products.
The Westport WiNG Power System is a dedicated
natural gas fuel system for light-duty specialty vehicles
built on Ford truck chassis and backed by a Ford
Factory 3-year / 36,000-mile engine and powertrain
warranty. Westport is a Ford Qualified Vehicle Modifier
(QVM) to CNG stating that the fuel system has been
designed to meet Ford’s ex-factory build standards.
Tim Sullivan, ASV president and CEO, said: “Our
customers are demanding environmentally friendly
vehicles powered by clean alternative fuel systems that
reduce carbon emissions. The ability to expand the
Appointment
Lundstedt to head Volvo Group
Sweden - The Board of Directors of AB Volvo
has appointed Martin Lundstedt as president and
CEO of the Volvo Group, which is headquartered in
Gothenburg from October 2015 – Lundstedt replaces
Olof Persson, who steps down with immediate effect.
availability of the Westport CNG system to other ASV
vehicle lines not only demonstrates our commitment to
environmental responsibility and sustainability but it also
allows us to offer the first factory-certified OEM solution
for one-stop installations of alternative fuel systems.”
Commenting on the commercial benefits and market
for CNG powered vehicles, Paul Shaffer, Westport
Dallas vice president, said: “With the distinct price
benefits of natural gas, we’re excited to offer a CNG
powered product across multiple ASV vehicle platforms.
Historically, prices of alternative fuels, especially CNG,
are more stable and generally lower than gas and diesel
fuel prices that regularly fluctuate up and down, creating
a strategic long-term budgeting advantage for fleet
vehicle owners. And while global prices for gasoline
and diesel fuels are low right now, there is still strong
demand for vehicles with alternative fuel systems such
as CNG.”
The Westport WiNG Power Systems are currently
primarily installed in the Westport Dallas conversion
factory in Dallas. However, the systems are to be
transitioned to ASV factory-certified installations to
increase vehicle manufacturing output and efficiency.
Jan Gurander, Group chief financial officer, has been
appointed group interim acting president and CEO.
Lundstedt moves from the Scania Group
headquartered in Södertälje, Sweden; resigning his
role as president and CEO.
Carl-Henric Svanberg, chairman of the board at AB
Volvo, said: “After three years of focus on product
renewal, internal efficiency and restructuring, the
Kamaz starts truck assembly
in Azerbaijan
Russia / Azerbaijan – A Kamaz truck assembly
line has become operational at the Ganja Auto
Plant in Ganja, Azerbaijan following the agreement
struck in December 2014 between Ganja Auto and
Russia’s largest heavy truck builder, Kamaz of
Naberezhnye Chelny, Russia.
Assembly of Kamaz-43114 drop-side trucks
is the first vehicle to roll off the assembly line; a
Kamaz-65115 tipper is the next model to be built
at the plant. A new dedicated assembly workshop/
production facility for assembling the Kamaz trucks
is scheduled to be opened at the plant later this year.
Other Kamaz models are to follow; one is the
Kamaz-65117 drop-side truck with 6x4 wheel
arrangement, gross vehicle weight of 24t, payload
of 14t and an output of 280hp. Another is the
Kamaz-6520 heavy-duty truck. This is configured as
a tipper or as a chassis for a concrete mixer truck;
it is also in 6x4 configuration, has a gross weight of
33.1t, payload of 20t and has an output of 320hp.
The companies are looking to establish an annual
production volume of around a 1,000 vehicles.
Various state institutions, the administrations of major
cities, industrial, construction and transportation
companies are expected to become the main buyers
of the trucks built at production facility.
The history of the plant in Ganja began almost 30
years ago. During the Soviet era it was designated
as a plant for the production of small vans with
payloads of circa 1.5t. Its construction was started
in 1986 with completion scheduled for the end of
1989 but as a result of the economic and political
situation in the remaining years of the USSR, these
plans were stopped.
The plant was eventually commissioned 15 years
later in December 2004 with assembly of the VAZ11113 Oka mini car. Since 2006 the plant has been
assembling MAZ trucks and Belarus agricultural
tractors. Their production is to continue alongside
assembly of the Kamaz trucks.
In 2014 Kamaz exported some 6,000 vehicles,
which amounted to 14% of its overall sales, 200
of the vehicles were delivered to Azerbaijan (3.3%
of exports). By 2020 it is hopeful that kit exports
to Azerbeijan will account for 25% of total export
sales. If the plans of producing 1,000 vehicles a
year in Ganja materialize, Azerbaijan would become
one of Kamaz’s major export markets.
IN THIS ISSUE
ADL building DD bus chassis plant in Canada 2
Spheros buys ACC in USA3
Volkswagen sets up new CV division3
Cartwright buys shares back from J & S Cartwright 6
MAN launches MAN Lion’s Intercity7
Plaxton launches Cheetah XL midi-coach 11
Continued on page 4
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Truck & Bus Builder
April 2015
May
2013
Expansion / Export
Alternative Drive / Environment / Product
Lightning Hybrids sets up UK subsidiary to
develop business in Europe and India
USA / UK / India - Loveland, Colorado, USAbased manufacturer of hydraulic-hybrid systems
for buses and trucks in urban environments has
opened offices in the UK.
The systems supplier said that Tim Sherwood,
managing director of international business, was
to direct the initiative to expand the Lightning
Hybrids technology with commercial and municipal
customers outside the USA. Lightning Hybrids’
new UK office, which is in Egham, Surrey, south
west of London, is to be the hub for customer
development, supply chain fulfilment and employee
growth across the UK, Europe and India.
It announced that its first hybrid systems in the UK
were already delivered and installed last month and
were now on the road in two unnamed large local
fleets. The company says it has retrofitted systems
in a couple of Mercedes-Benz Atego (medium-duty
truck) models and Vario (light to light medium duty
chassis discontinued at Euro VI) models (used for
food service and parcel delivery in the London area.
It is delivering a Mercedes-Benz Actros to a fleet in
Istanbul in a few weeks and it has fitted a system to
an Ashok-Leyland city bus in Bangalore.
This move, the company said, was supported
in part by an investment from UK-based
Castrol innoVentures, Castrol’s venture and
innovation arm, as well as from Factor(E), a
venture development firm affiliated with the Shell
Foundation and Colorado State University.
Morgan DeFoort, Factor(E)’s CEO, remarked:
“Trucks and buses are some of the biggest and
fastest growing contributors to urban carbon
emissions. Lightning Hybrids has a durable
technology that can be installed easily on existing
or new vehicles in fleets around the world. They
are well positioned to have immediate and
lasting positive impact on the emissions and fuel
consumption of fleets.”
Lighting Hybrid said its UK registered office was
located in the Isosceles Inward Investment Incubator
near London’s Heathrow Airport. Isosceles is to
assist with on-going accounting and HR support.
Lightning Hybrids said it was also setting up a
series of satellite offices and service partners to help
support customers in the Midlands and elsewhere.
Tender
Sydney airport to invest in electric buses
Australia - Sydney airport is Australia’s busiest
airport: In 2014 the airport was used by 38.5 million
passengers – an average of 105,500 passengers
each day. It is located about eight kilometres
south of Sydney’s central business district and is
accessible to the city by both road and rail.
Last year Sydney Airport commenced works to
improve ground access to the airport precinct in line
with its five-year integrated ground transport plan
contained in the 2033 Master Plan and is to receive
up to some USD500m in approved state and federal
government funding to action these improvements.
This includes extensive work on road construction
between terminals and on traffic re-modelling to
improve flows in and out of and between terminals.
Sydney airport operates six public car parks and
one staff car park within the airport perimeter, with
a total capacity of approximately 17,000 vehicles.
Of the 38.5 million passengers using Sydney airport
in 2014, approximately 10 per cent, 3.8 million,
parked at the airport.
The environment and the sustainability of airport
T&BB
operations are being extensively considered by
the airport: Sydney Airport has already published a
five-year environment strategy statement as part of
the approved Master Plan 2033, and most recently
released a Sydney Airport Sustainability Report.
Claiming it is the first Australian airport to release
such a report, Sydney Airport said that it had
already taken action to improve the sustainability
of the airport. In a statement on sustainability, the
airport said: “We’ve invested significantly to reduce
waste, energy consumption and water usage
across the airport – from recycling water in our
terminals to installing in-ground power for aircraft to
improve air quality.”
As part of its effort to improve passenger
experience, Sydney airport is now considering
buying a number of electric buses, which it would
operate from its Blu Emu Car Park, which is located
in the south east sector of the airport and service
terminals T2 and T3. Bus manufacturers interested
in receiving further details on this tender should
contact the airport directly through the link below.
Kamaz and Drive Electro
presents G2 electric bus
Russia – Kamaz of Naberezhnye Chelny and
Drive Electro Engineering Company of Moscow
presented a second generation electric bus, called
the G2 during an annual event called the Parade of
Trams in Moscow last month. The G2 is based on the
Nefaz-52992 city bus, the same as the first electric bus
model made in 2011 – Nefaz is the city bus building
division of Kamaz. The G2 features new DE batteries,
which triple the range of the vehicle, the companies
stated, adding that was the first electric bus with such
parameters in Russia.
The bus is rapid charged at the last stop at the
end of the route at a specially equipped station in
just six minutes. It has a range of 100km, which, the
companies’ stated, was enough for most operational
routes within most Russian cities, even with
considerable congestion. The rapid charge system
allows the number of batteries to be reduced resulting
in a reduction in the vehicle weight and cost, as well
as the benefit of increased passenger capacity. The
DE batteries are made of Lithium Titanate (LTO); the
greatest advantages of which are enhanced frostendurance and a tripled service life.
The designers claimed that due to the low operating
costs the bus would have a payback period of ten
years and that it was some 20% cheaper to operate
than a regular conventional diesel bus, while also
being an environmentally clean alternative. The new
technology is free of the shortcomings inherent in
the first generation of electric buses, said Kamaz.
These were fitted with Lithium Iron Phosphate
(LiFePO4) batteries; the first generation Nefaz electric
bus currently operating in Novosibirsk, which was
introduced in 2009 and was fitted with Drive Electro
Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries. The Trolza trolleybus maker and Liaz bus manufacturer also chose
LiFePO4 batteries: These batteries were and continue
to be employed by 13 trolley-buses, which are based
on the Trolza Megapolis model and are in regular
operation in Tula. As for the electric Liaz-6274 city bus,
this is a trial model and is still undergoing tests.
The DE LTO batteries were also used for the first time
in eight hybrid demonstration Kamaz tractor trucks in
Naberezhnye Chelny in 2014.
The city authorities in Moscow have shown interest in
the development of the new type of transit passenger
and there is readiness to adopt an electric bus for test
operation in Moscow.
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Drive Electro Engineering Company designs electric
and hybrid technologies for commercial vehicles. It was
established by the Research Institute for Combined
Power Installations (NIIKEU) in Moscow in 2007.
Invitation to Tender – Supply of Electric Buses for Sydney Airport
Sydney Airport is Australia’s gateway airport, connecting
Sydney with almost 90 international, domestic and
regional destinations. In 2014, the airport welcomed
38.5 million passengers, making Sydney the busiest
airport in Australia.
Expressions of interest should be registered by using the
URL below for a form that must be completed in order to
qualify for participation in the Tender.
As part of our commitment to sustainability, Sydney
Airport is considering the introduction of electric buses
to shuttle airport customers and staff to and from the
airport’s Blu Emu long stay car park, which services
the T2/T3 terminals.
www.sydneyairport.com.au/corporate/business/services/
electricbustender.aspx
Registrations close at 5.00pm Australian Eastern Standard
Time on Friday 12 June 2015.
We are now seeking interested manufacturers of electric
buses to participate in an Open Tender for the supply
and maintenance of these buses.
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