Driving Tomorrow: Key Updates in the Mobility Landscape
The 12th edition of the Mobility Roundup highlights significant developments in the automotive and mobility sectors. Key stories include Mahindra’s advanced negotiations with Volkswagen’s Indian subsidiary for a joint venture focusing on electric SUVs, Hyundai and Kia’s innovative thermal management systems for electric vehicles, Volvo Trucks’ new charge management service aimed at optimizing electric truck operations, GM and Samsung SDI’s plans to open a US cell plant by 2027, and Toyota’s establishment of a production chain for fuel cells in China. These updates underscore the industry’s ongoing efforts to enhance technology, efficiency, and sustainability in vehicle production and operations.
Mahindra and Indian VW subsidiary negotiate joint venture
The information was revealed by The Economic Times, citing insiders. According to the report, talks to establish a 50:50 joint venture are already at an “advanced stage.” Both sides are reportedly mainly focussing on the joint production of electric SUVs. However, according to the Indian newspaper, combustion models are also planned to a lesser extent. The main objective is to “share costs, technology and vehicle platforms for future product development.”
For Mahindra, this is another attempt to set up a joint venture with a global car manufacturer. A potential cooperation with Ford was dropped in January 2021 without results. A joint venture with the Renault-Nissan Alliance was abandoned in 2010 after just five years.
Hyundai & Kia present three new thermal management systems
The two companies developed three new temperature control technologies to enhance comfort and energy efficiency in electric vehicles and have undertaken different approaches for each.
The ‘Nano Cooling Film’ is capable of lowering interior temperature by over 12°C to significantly improve in-vehicle conditions and reduce cabin cooling requirements when applied to the vehicle’s windows. The idea behind the technology is to filter the infrared rays from the sun, similarly to a regular tinting film, but also allow the heat to escape the vehicle. Tests were undertaken with the film installed and “recorded an interior temperature of 48.5°C, compared with 36.0°C for the vehicles fitted with Nano Cooling Film.” This technology is not new, however, as Hunydai writes that it “installed transparent Nano Cooling Film for free on around 70 vehicles in Pakistan, where tinting is legally prohibited” last April.
Volvo Trucks launches charge management service
The new platform allows hauliers to create charging plans, which determine when vehicles are expected to start charging and reach full battery levels. This would allow increased productivity and uptime, according to Volvo, “by ensuring that the trucks within a fleet are sufficiently charged for planned operations and by reducing the number of unplanned charging sessions.”
Recommended by LinkedIn
“Charging is a key area when operating an electric truck. As a transport company, you want to make sure that your trucks are charged and ready when it’s time for the next transport mission. Following up the charging process is also important to be able to see if there are deviations. This service helps the haulers with all of this,” said Johan Östberg, Electromobility service owner at Volvo Trucks.
GM and Samsung SDI to open US cell plant in 2027
Samsung SDI and GM made their plans official in April 2023 and have been working on finalising the key details ever since. It has now been decided that the joint venture will be located in New Carlisle in the US state of Indiana on a 275-hectare site and is expected to create more than 1,600 jobs. Both partners are prepared to invest a total of around 3.5 billion US dollars (around 3.14 billion euros). An increase in capacity from 27 to 36 GWh per year is planned at a later date.
With commissioning scheduled for 2027, the duo’s timetable has been pushed back slightly. In June 2023, an authority of the US state of Indiana (‘Indiana Economic Development Corporation’) was still talking about 2026. According to Samsung, however, the joint venture should “stay aligned with the market pace” anyway, which means that demand is being pushed back a little.
Toyota establishes production chain for fuel cells in China
Toyota started construction work on the new fuel cell centre in October 2022. In addition to the research and development laboratories and production facilities, the site in the Beijing Economic Technological Development Area also includes a hydrogen filling station. As Toyota China announced at the opening of the facility, around 10,000 fuel cell systems and stacks can be produced per year in the first expansion stage on 44,000 square metres. An expansion to 113,000 square metres is already planned and is scheduled to begin in 2026.
Toyota’s two Chinese fuel cell joint ventures for commercial vehicles – United Fuel Cell System R&D (Toyota holds 65 per cent of the shares) and Toyota Sinohytec Fuel Cell (Toyota holds 50 per cent) – have invested in the plant. Toyota mentioned at the groundbreaking ceremony that the investment would amount to around 8 billion yen (around 50 million euros).
What did you find most exciting in this week's roundup? We'd love to hear your thoughts! Stay tuned for the next KPIT Mobility Roundup, where we'll keep you in the driver's seat of the latest trends and innovations shaping the future of how we move.
Chartered Accountant
3moVery informative