Automotive News

Toyota commercial hydrogen facility employs Emerson technology

Global software and technology company Emerson and Toyota Australia have collaborated to transform part of Toyota Australia’s operations into a commercialgrade hydrogen production, storage and refueling plant.

The project, supported by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), adopts Emerson’s automation expertise to provide the control system that helps Toyota Australia demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of manufacturing hydrogen fuels, including the use of renewable solar energy. For the Toyota Australia Hydrogen Centre, Emerson’s advanced DeltaV distributed control system gathers data from the plant’s complex equipment, making it easier to monitor production and storage of hydrogen gas and document and validate the sustainability of operations. “By incorporating a digital automation foundation to eliminate data silos, Toyota Australia can not only significantly reduce costs, but also gain greater visibility into system performance, making it easier to maintain and report sustainability performance and increase productivity,” said Mark Bulanda, executive president of Emerson’s Automation Solutions business.

Auto aftermarket expo returns to Melbourne

The Australian Auto Aftermarket Expo was held across three days 7 – 9 April, thousands of trade visitors travelled from across Australia and New Zealand to attend.

For many, it was the first chance to connect and network in person in nearly three years. And for the first time, Expo-Saturday saw the public join trade visitors to experience the best of Australia’s $25 billion aftermarket industry. With the theme ‘The Future Is Here’, the Expo’s features were designed around the most comprehensive seminar program in the Expo’s history. Sessions focused on the most important industry topics including mandatory data sharing, the skills shortage and electric vehicles The all-new Workshop of the Future Pavilion held daily sessions to help fast-track the automotive industry’s understanding of and transition to, servicing and repairing the future generation of vehicles, covering the ICE and EV car parc. More than 270 of the industry’s leading brands exhibited at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre, showcasing the latest vehicle repair and servicing equipment, parts, tools and accessories, new technology and trends.

Bosch acquires Australian MoTeC Group

Bosch has acquired the Melbourne based MoTeC Group, a company that offers a wide range of motorsports technology for the customer motorsport market.

The company specialises in the development, manufacture, and distribution of motorsport technology for teams in numerous racing series and is well established in this market. MoTeC will become an integral part of Bosch Motorsport, a business unit of Bosch Engineering GmbH, a 100 percent Bosch subsidiary based in Abstatt, Germany. As an engineering service provider, Bosch Engineering offers customized development and consulting services in the automotive and motorsport sectors. With its wide range of motorsports technology, MoTeC’s portfolio includes vehicle and engine control units, displays, data loggers and onboard power supply control units for conventional as well as electrified racing series. The company serves customers in Australia, Asia-Pacific, Europe, USA and Japan through a global network of around 250 dealers. With the acquisition of the MoTeC Group, Bosch Motorsport is extending its product portfolio and distribution to serve additional racing series as well as the racer market in the future. In addition, Bosch Motorsport is expanding its sales network and market presence primarily in the Asia-Pacific region, USA and the UK. “With the MoTeC Group’s many years of experience and comprehensive expertise, as well as its worldwide dealer network, we are strengthening our position in motorsports and ideally complementing our product portfolio,” says Dr. Klaus Boettcher, Vice President Bosch Motorsport. The MoTeC Group employs 54 people worldwide between its headquarters and a sales and technical customer service office in Banbury (UK). The MoTeC Group’s business operations will continue as a separate legal entity, under its own brand. The company will maintain its approach to distribution through dealers across the world, and also its wholly owned subsidiary in the UK, and their third-part distributor in the US.

Cupra comes to Australia

Australian production of Spain’s Cupra battery electric cars will start in November with an on sale date as early as 2023

“Last year in Munich I expressed my determination to get the CUPRA Born to Australia as soon as possible,” Cupra CEO and president Wayne Griffiths said. “I can tell you this morning that Cupra’s first fully electric model and European Car of the Year finalist, will go into production for Australia in the last quarter of this year and will start deliveries early in 2023. “Already a sales success in Europe, the Cupra Born is a car that in its every aspect embodies the visual and dynamic aesthetic that sets our brand apart. “As you know, since January we have had three Cupra Borns on your streets running tens of thousands of kilometres of tests, accruing valuable data that is being assessed in Barcelona right now.” Cupra begins online sales shortly with an initial range comprising the Formentor crossover, Ateca SUV and Leon hatchback. The Formentor and Leon line-ups each include a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), the first affordable European cars of this type to be offered in this country.” Director of CUPRA Australia Ben Wilks said that some 6500 expressions of public interest have been received by the brand to date.

Briefs

EV sales reach record numbers

Electric vehicle (EV) sales have reached record numbers in recent years, with annual sales projected to increase ten-fold in the next 15 years, especially in China and Europe, due to favourable policies and auto manufacturer commitments, according to GlobalData. Eighteen countries have set goals to completely end sales of gasoline and diesel passenger vehicles, nearly half of which are for 2030. In addition, China’s target is that 25 percent of all vehicle sales be electric by 2025, India’s is for 30 percent of passenger vehicles by 2030, and the US aims for 50 percent of all vehicle sales by 2030. The oil and gas sector companies are diversifying their business to adapt to the energy transition including Shell, TotalEnergies, and Mitsui who are developing EV charging, battery manufacturing, and other EV value chain capabilities through acquisitions and partnerships.

Smart trial for EV charging

Electric vehicle drivers in Victoria, Tasmania and the ACT are participating in a smart charger trial looking at how home fast charging technology can potentially reduce their energy costs and manage the additional demands on the electricity grid during peak times. Five electricity network businesses – Jemena, AusNet, United Energy, TasNetworks and EVOEnergy, together with charging infrastructure company JET Charge – are partnering in the 12-month EV Grid Trial, co-funded by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).

Victorian grants for business charging stations

Victorian businesses can apply for a share of $1.5 million in grants to install electric vehicle charging stations, helping the transition to using zero emissions vehicles. The state government said businesses can save up to $500 per month per car in their fleet, saying the turn-over of fleets will flow-on to the second-hand EV market, in turn making them more affordable.

Bridging the gap between thermofluid science and battery electrochemistry

Imperial College London and Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE) are working on a project to bridge the gap between thermofluid science and battery electrochemistry; developing a first-of-akind multiphase multiphysics model of battery failure via thermal runaway (a self-sustaining cascade of exothermic reactions that produce large volumes of gas). The model will consider gas dynamics and its interactions with electrochemical and thermal behaviours, with the goal of advancing the understanding of initiation and propagation of the thermal runaway processes and accelerate the design of countermeasures. Applying the multiphase multiphysics modelling toolsets will enable the design of safer battery packs with fewer iterations and physical tests; saving time, costs and materials.