Successful Showcase at eCarTec in Munich

Nov 08, 2016 Warehousing Ireland Logistics, Materials Handling, News Comments Off on Successful Showcase at eCarTec in Munich

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As one of the world’s leading manufacturers and service providers of intralogistics solutions, Jungheinrich is also capable of translating its innovative expertise to other industry sectors. As a result, the Hamburg-based company – being the sole exhibitor from the intralogistics sector – showcased its trend-setting products and solutions to a professional audience at the eCarTec in Munich, thereby demonstrating its innovation leadership in electro-mobility. This only recently established industry event is deemed to be the world’s largest tradeshow for electric and hybrid mobility. From 18 to 20 October 2016, more than 430 national as well as international exhibitors presented electric vehicles, storage systems, drive and motor technologies as well as solutions relating to energy, infrastructure and financing. The event, which took place in cooperation with sMove360 for connected and autonomous driving, was complemented by a conference and an outdoor area for test driving the latest electric and hybrid vehicles.

At the tradeshow, the Jungheinrich production division “Energy and Drive Systems“ presented entire drive and energy storage solutions comprising electronic drive controls, lithium-ion batteries, charging systems and peripheral components such as displays and pedals. A major attraction was the skidsteer mini digger by Tobroco (“Giant” brand), which had been developed for various attachments and which Jungheinrich had retrofitted with an electric drive. “With cleaning machines as well as in the construction equipment sector we can see a clear trend towards electro-mobility,” Dr. Carsten Harnisch, Head of Division Energy and Drive Systems, explains. “Especially in regard to construction machinery for indoor use, topics such as noise and exhaust emissions are at the forefront. In this area, combustion engines can no longer hold a candle to electric drives, also considering that eDrives are much more low-maintenance.“

The “electrification” in this sector also doesn’t spare larger vehicles. With the Kramer 5055e, Jungheinrich retrofitted a wheel loader with a 32-kW motor plus a hydraulic drive with a maximum of 40 kW amounting to a total capacity of more than 70 kW. The continuous output is 40 kW.“ This new, cost-efficient and – most of all – emission-free electric drive, of which we already sold 70 units this year, allows the wheel loader to effortlessly work inside buildings and noise-sensitive environments,” Harnisch states and adds with some pride: “This vehicle won this year’s bauma innovation prize, which in our business is called the Oscar’s of construction machinery.“

Another exhibit on display in Munich was the small electric car Wenckstern. This “hot rod“ is in many cities used for city tours. Harnisch: “The original vehicle was fitted with a petrol engine and was very high-maintenance. Using our standard components, we completely retrofitted the car with an eDrive. This entails numerous benefits: On the one hand, the vehicle becomes more reliable and can run 15,000 hours – which equals approximately 400,000 km – without maintenance. On the other hand, businesses renting out these cars can venture into new areas, in which emissions are unwelcome or even prohibited. I am thinking, for example, of the German island Amrum, where conventional cars have been banned. Here, all the advantages of our robust industrial drives, which power our forklift trucks every single day, come to full effect.“

Jungheinrich is capable of providing its customers with complete solutions including control systems, batteries (lithium-ion and lead-acid), charging technology and peripherals. “Especially in terms of energy efficiency, we are in a leading position, because – among other things – we can produce control units that not only contribute to optimum energy efficiency but also feel great during operations. We can basically retrofit any combustion engine vehicle with an electric drive,“ Harnisch emphasizes, adding: “Our battery technology is a real USP in view of our competitors, as one specialty of our solution also lies in the fact that all components communicate with one another: Our control units communicate with the batteries and these in turn with the charging devices, thereby creating fully interconnected systems, which in the future can share your data directly with the cloud. And this makes our solutions entirely Industry 4.0-ready.“

In order to keep playing in the electro-mobility’s Champions League in the future, Harnisch wants to showcase his products again at the next eCarTec and at similar events: “I believe these tradeshows still have great potential for improvement just like the industry itself. And if we happen to meet some more electronics and motor suppliers at one of these future events, we’ll be very pleased.“

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