A regular participant at Auto Expo, Alkraft Thermotechnologies is taking the latest edition of the show as a platform to push for aluminium cooling systems designed for BS-VI powertrains. The company’s products on display include innovative and cutting-edge thermal management solutions meant for heavy haulage trucks, tippers, prime-movers, and bus applications.
M.H. Zakkir Hussain, CEO, Alkraft, was present at the company’s pavilion to interact with visitors and customers. He said: “BS-VI homologation and vehicle testing at the hands of the automakers are going on right now. Most of them have given schedules to suppliers for key aggregates and we expect the volumes to pick up in the coming months.” However, he added, the volume threshold is likely to be far less than the BS-IV era, thanks to the subdued vehicle demand and the slowdown in the market.
Hussain opines that the market outlook is expected to be ‘low-key’ in the coming months, and demand may pick up from after September this year. “Post September, some demand is expected, although complete recovery of the commercial vehicle market back to the 2018 scenario seems unlikely to occur as early as we might aspire, and may happen only next year”, he noted.
Although the primary target customers for Alkraft at this expo are the OEMs and system suppliers, the company is striving to push aftermarket promotion as well. Asked on innovation and future technologies, the CEO replied that his company is constantly engaged in challenging the status quo in terms of design, validation, and technology of its products, so as to come up with innovative solutions to address new challenges for BS-VI and EVs. He said that thermal management solutions from Alkraft meant for electric vehicles which were introduced at Auto Expo 2018 are being trialled with various OEMs and on vehicle prototypes for continuous R&D.