May 16, 2018 Vol. 15 No. 10

Even the most casual observer of the North American transportation scene will be aware that Chinese companies and their technologies are increasingly present. Less so in the world of cars than that of trucks and buses, but in terms of electric commercial vehicles they’re coming on very strong.

BYD is a giant in China, making cars and buses and trucks in very large numbers, and it’s already here selling electric yard tractors and more recently an electric cabover road tractor. It has an assembly plant in California. There has been interest in the road-going cabover from the Loblaw Group here in Canada, among many others.

And now, for another example, there’s the AVM EV27 electric bus that can be fully recharged in less than 10 minutes — about as long as it takes to refuel an equivalent diesel vehicle — and it has a range of up to 200 miles. It’s been said, reasonably enough, that it could revolutionize public transport infrastructure, but that’s no less true of local/regional freight and vocational trucking. Even after 10,000 charge cycles, the batteries are said to retain 95% of their efficiency,

The AVM EV27 is the result of a five-year collaboration between Advanced Vehicle Manufacturing of Los Angeles and Chinese technology company Yinglong. It’s unclear which company supplies which components at this point but the latter is a major player in China’s bus market as well as in battery technology. It supplies batteries for a range of commercial vehicles in China, including refuse trucks as well as buses and vans.

AVM has consulted on several EV projects around the world. It’s part of the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator project, which supports companies in California to develop clean air plans.

The bus was on display at the recent ACT Expo show in California, and also at the Commercial Vehicles Show in England.

The EV27 shuttle buses will be made in China initially, but both companies are looking for manufacturing partners to help them expand into new markets. AVM says there are already 250 orders for the 27-foot-long buses, and it’s preparing to build the 350-kilowatt charging infrastructure to support its EVs.

CUMMINS HAS FORMED ANOTHER joint venture in China, this time with JAC Motors. The partnership will allow the two companies to produce and develop diesel engines for the Chinese market. It’s a 50/50 relationship that arises after Cummins bought Navistar’s 50% equity position in the JAC-Navistar Diesel Engine Company.

The partnership will continue its operations at the JAC manufacturing facility in Hefei, China. Cummins currently supplies diesel engines to JAC Motors in the Chinese market. The joint venture will focus on developing new products that meet upcoming Chinese emissions standards.