What are the challenges of the electrification of off-highway equipment immediately and what does the longer term maintain? Stefan Eichler from Danfoss Energy Options offers his knowledgeable perception
A key participant in off-highway automobile parts, Danfoss Energy Options is now, like a lot of the business, centered on sustainability and lowering or eliminating emissions. With over 17 years expertise on the firm, senior supervisor Stefan Eicher is effectively positioned to take the long-term view of the electrification mega development.
How do you see electrification advancing within the subsequent 5 or 10 years?
The drivers are altering, so electrification will advance sooner than anticipated. To start with, it was about carbon footprint and sustainability. Now, it’s extra about whole price of possession (TCO) and bettering the machine efficiency with electrification. Till now, we now have had electrified, formally diesel-driven machines, however OEMs are beginning to design their machines for the aim of being electrical. Gross sales are rising due to this, and OEMs at the moment are rising their manufacturing of electrical machines.
Proper now, there’s uncertainty out there. Clients forecast excessive however order low as a result of they’re unsure about funding. When it comes to common traits, all the most important corporations are on board however there are completely different drivers by market. Agriculture, for instance, is closely electrifying, however tends to go hybrid. They wish to maintain the diesel however additionally they wish to scale back the TCO and noise ranges.
How will machine design change?
Standard machines had been constructed across the diesel engine, even within the mechanical construction, for instance, with a crankshaft, the extension of the crankshaft and the pumps. The superstructure of the machine will look completely different for those who design it for an electrical drive. There’s no want for exhaust therapy, and immediately that’s as massive because the diesel engine. So you might have more room to work with and subsequently extra flexibility in designing the machine. You may as well put the motor in vertically which is unattainable with a diesel engine.
“Till now, we now have had electrified, formally diesel-driven machines, however OEMs are beginning to design machines for the aim of being electrical”
Are there any widespread misconceptions about electrification?
Electrification doesn’t simply imply a battery; it’s way more. Many individuals are involved in regards to the infrastructure bringing vitality to the place it’s wanted – such because the cable within the floor being too small. So you possibly can both improve the battery capability on a machine otherwise you put a battery on the web site and use it to cost multiple machine. We have to rethink the place the vitality is and the way we offer the vitality. In off-highway, there are answers already confirmed in use.
What different applied sciences will emerge round electrification?
Electrification is the enabler for autonomous machines. At the moment, everyone is missing operators, warehouses and on-highway trucking. If we actually begin pondering from a TCO perspective and electrify, autonomous autos are the pure subsequent step. We’re already seeing it with a number of massive OEMs who’ve developed proof-of-concept driverless excavators and wheel loaders, for instance.
This text was first printed within the August situation of iVT Worldwide
