The Mindset Shift: From Electrification to Low-Emissions Technology
By John Felsenthal III, CFPHS, CFPECS
If you attended a trade show in the last few years or read a recent issue of Fluid Power Journal, then you are aware that the green transition is happening, but you still might not be sure how or why. In the short term, broadly speaking, “electrification” is not going to take over the mobile equipment market because in most, if not all, applications, the limitations of battery technology, charging capabilities, utility grid constraints, duty cycle requirements and costs are prohibitive on fully electric systems. Rather than looking at the coming technological adoption as electrification, it’s better to view it as a transition to low-emissions architecture. Market demands and government regulation have set out a path for a great shift in prime movers. It’s up to OEMs to be prepared to rise to the occasion and take advantage of this new market.
Transitioning to low-emissions technology is likely the greatest technological adoption an OEM will undergo since its inception. Engineers need to be disciplined in control theory and electrical principles in addition to hydraulic, pneumatic, and ICE technology. Picking the appropriate system architecture to adopt for each application and market is the most critical decision an OEM will make in pursuit of low emissions. Examples of architecture include ICE and hydraulic, hybrid ICE and hydraulic, fully electric prime movers (EPMs) and hydraulic, fully electric, and so on. Each architecture comes with its own benefits and implementation challenges with respect to performance, duty cycle, costs and regulatory compliance.
The first step in selecting a systems architecture is to set targets when it comes to meeting regulations standards, costs and performance requirements. Know what your market is willing to pay. Investigate the regulations that you will need to comply with tomorrow, next year and in the next decade. Finally, know the work your machine needs to do; this is accomplished by instrumenting your existing machine and deploying a data acquisition computer (DAC). A DAC will allow you to precisely size prime movers and batteries, which is critical to getting work done and keeping costs low.
If the low-emissions transition seems like a monster task, that’s because it is. Even the biggest companies in the world think so, which is why companies like Volvo, Honda and BMW are partnering up. If you wish to be successful in a low-emissions transition, consider partnering with Quality Hydraulics’ electrical engineering (EE) team, with its decades of experience designing EPM systems. When you work with Quality Hydraulics, you can expect a written action plan that will get you to your low-emissions goals, subcomponents that meet system requirements, field support, duty cycle analysis using a DAC, and commissioning of prototypes.
American manufacturing has a long road ahead if we want to meet the low-emissions goals set for us. I am confident that American exceptionalism will rise to the occasion and once again deliver state-of-the art, best-in-class equipment to drive the world forward.
