The fifth Automotive Megatrends 2015 held in Pune covered the technologies and trends that will steer the automotive industry over the next 10 years.
The agenda for the two-day Automotive Megatrends was to tackle the key areas of light, medium and heavy vehicle design in India. It was conducted through a mix of big picture discussions and a series of specific presentations on broader topics like Powertrain Innovation, Freight Efficiency and Lightweighting & Manufacturing. Day 1 of the event was more relevant to the commercial vehicles audience, attended by this writer, while day 2 was dedicated to passenger vehicles.
The day kick-started with a 90-minute panel discussion moderated by Martin Kahl, Editor, Automotive World. Top executives like A. Ramasubramnian, President, Asia Motor Works Ltd., Vinod Aggarwal, CEO, VE Commercial Vehicle, Pierre-Jean Verge-Salamon, President – India, Asia Oceania Sales, Volvo Group Truck Sales, A.K. Jindal, Head – Engineering Commercial Vehicles, Tata Motors, and Per Aleby, Director – Buses & Coaches, Scania, discussed the key megatrends which look set to shape the country’s truck and bus industry over the next 10 years and beyond.
Looking for sustained growth
Amongst the few triggers that will boost sales is the opening up of coal mines and rapid infrastructural growth. Pierre-Jean Verge-Salamon, President-India, Asia Oceania Sales, Volvo Group Truck Sales, looked optimistic, and said: “Out of the total domestic coal production of 565 MT, Coal India produces 490 MT. This is targeted to be doubled to one billion tonnes annually by 2019. This would spur the demand of high horsepower trucks, and the Volvo Group has geared up for this challenge.”
Echoing his sentiments, Vinod Aggarwal said: “The M&HCV sector has picked up steam due to the replacement demands. Similarly, it is essential for the companies to start mining and mine enough since the bidding price has been high. They will have to do a lot of work to cover the cost over a long period of time.”
A. Ramasubramnian had a more calculated remark when he pushed for sustainable growth in infrastructure over the next 10 years. “Government policies, including GST implementation, should be done soon. Infrastructure policies should be planned periodically for continuous work over the next 10 years. This will avoid too much of sudden growth or sudden fall of demand and save the industry from cyclicity.”
To improve public transport, reduce traffic congestion on roads and ease commuter comfort and safety, Per Aleby urged: “The Government, along with State Transport Undertakings, should plan wider roads and encourage BRTS for buses and people to ply on it. More cars or vehicles on road are not the right solution to air pollution, but energy efficient city and inter-city buses with quick frequency are the need of the hour.”
Jindal, reflecting on Aleby’s smart energy efficient vehicle, propagated for easy to use technology in cabins. “As women are entering each and every field, we would expect more women drivers playing a role in technology changes and guiding us for transformation in the years to come.”
Technology for road freight efficiency
In India where more than 50 per cent freight is transported on road, freight efficiency has been a major challenge. While there are issues like toll tax, bad roads, traffic and delay in implementation of GST, there are issues that can be taken care of by OEMs and suppliers like body chassis and braking.
In a presentation at road freight efficiency, Kunal Sharma, Country Manager of Jacobs Vehicle Systems, focused on the vehicle braking system in order to improve safety and productivity. “Freight efficiency is the sum of safety and productivity. Braking system is the heart beat that ensures both. Productivity can be increased and trip time be reduced with right size of engine brakes.”
He further said that a right size of engine brakes can extend the foundation brake life by two to five times. This will lead to an increase in turnaround time (trip times) and improve fuel economy. “Service brakes wear out much faster when they are hot and become less effective at high temperatures.”
For instance, to slow a heavily loaded vehicle from 90 to 70 kph, a truck with no engine brake will take 20 seconds or more to stop, a 200 kw engine brake will take 10 seconds, while a 300 kw engine brake will take 8.4 seconds.
Roger Remmel, Brand Manager, Edscha Trailer Systems, spoke on the advantages of flexible roof system in containers. Road freight transport efficiency improvements are of great importance for India‘s economy. Flexible roof, side curtain and full tarpaulin roof system will have positive impact on road safety, cargo safety as well as environmental protection. “The highly flexible PVC system secures cargo, reduces fuel consumption because of faster loading and unloading of cargo which is 20 times quicker, and translates into cost reduction of Rs. 15 per km”.
The need to improve road freight efficiency was also proposed by Fabio Sacchi, Vice President, Sub Sector, DHL Customer Solutions and Innovations at DHL. With transport responsible for 23 per cent of energy-related greenhouse gases, DHL looks at green optimization by burning less but burning clean. “Efficient logistics through cutting waste out of the transport system is the need of the hour, and DHL is working with a number of OEMs and other industry partners to identify freight efficiency opportunities.”
On the future of city buses, Michail Voigt, Sales Manager, Siemens, discussed options for ‘zero-emission city buses’. “The city bus of the future will have a highly efficient electric drive with electric auxiliaries, a battery covering a high portion of the average daily energy consumption, possibly with overnight depot charging and supplemental charging on-board via range extenders or off-board via stationary or while driving.”