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Valeo has officially inaugurated the Valeo Nanjing expansion plant in Yangtze Delta Region, Nanjing, one of China’s major automotive manufacturing bases. This inauguration marks a milestone in Valeo’s strategy of continuous development in Asia and consolidates its position as a global leader in transmission systems. Reducing CO2 emissions and boosting the Group’s presence in Asia and emerging countries are the two pillars of Valeo’s global strategy. The Nanjing plant extension is a further step to accompany the company’s growth in China, alongside their 22 existing plants, four new plants and two other extensions being built this year. On top of current activity for clutches and torque converters, the Nanjing plant will also be the first site in the world for Valeo to produce double-clutch systems. In order to meet the increasing global demand for CO2 emission reduction, auto suppliers are developing advanced transmission technologies. Valeo double clutch system is able to improve energy efficiency during power transmission which leads to better fuel economy. In 2011, Valeo Nanjing was awarded by the Jiangning Environment Bureau ‘Green Company’ certification for its outstanding environmental behavior. It has also been recognized by Shanghai GM for its excellent work in the Green Supply Chain Project. Valeo has received strong support from Nanjing Municipal People’s Government since its establishment. Valeo’s footprint in China can be traced back to 1994. In line with its ‘Becoming Chinese in China’ philosophy, Valeo China has been playing an important role in the local market. Based on its know-how and rich experience, Valeo is gradually improving the production capacity in China. Today it includes 22 sites. In 2012, three new plants were opened (Guangzhou, Wuhu and Huadu). In 2013, three plants are being extended (Foshan, Wuhan and Nanjing) and four other new ones are under construction. Valeo is an independent industrial […]

Alstom’s largest hydropower industrial site was inaugurated in Tianjin, China on September 17 in the presence of Patrick Kron, Chairman and CEO of Alstom. With an investment of 100 million on this new facility, Alstom aims to further tap into China’s increasing hydropower needs and grow its hydropower business throughout the region. The inauguration of Tianjin’s new site marks the completion of an upgrade programme, without interruption of the production. It includes an upgrade of the existing hydropower industrial facility and the construction of a new production area as well as a global technology centre (GTC).  Today, the Tianjin site is equipped with first class facilities and covers an overall area of 250,000 square meters. It houses approximately 2,000 Alstom employees including over 400 engineers. Alstom supplied recently, from its Tianjin site, four 800 MW class units to China’s Xiangjiaba hydropower plant. The most powerful hydroelectric generating units in the world were delivered in a record time for such large machines – at an average of one unit every two months. Alstom is the only manufacturer who delivered such powerful units already in commercial operation. Thanks to the completion of the Phase II project, the new site has 19 critical heavy machines including two new and state-of-the-art gantries. It will be able to deliver on an annual basis up to 26 turbine and generator units. The new global technology centre will address the research and development needs of the Asian market for all types of hydropower equipment. Its major activities include R&D in mechanics, hydraulics and electrical disciplines for hydropower turbines and generators as well as scale model tests of Francis and Kaplan turbines. The new GTC in Tianjin is part of Alstom’s global R&D network and closely linked with its European teams notably in Grenoble (France). The new workshop […]

PIC CAP Armadillo-T is a small and light pure-electric car that can fold in half for convenient parking. DAJEON, KOREA: Looking for a parking space for hours at a busy shopping mall or being stuck on roads jammed with cars releasing large amounts of carbon dioxide are all-too-familiar scenes for city dwellers.  A group of researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) recently developed a possible solution to such problems: a foldable, compact electric vehicle that can be utilised either as a personal car or part of the public transit system to connect major transportation routes within a city.  In-Soo Suh, Associate Professor of the Graduate School for Green Transportation at KAIST and his research team introduced a prototype micro electric car called ‘Armadillo-T,’ whose design is based on a native animal of South America, the armadillo, a placental mammal with a leathery armour shell. The research team imitated the animal’s distinctive protection characteristic of rolling up into a ball when facing with threat from predators. Just as armadillos hide themselves inside the shell, Armadillo-T tucks its rear body away, shrinking its original size of 2.8 meters (110 inches) down to almost half, 1.65 meters (65 inches), when folding. Armadillo-T is a four-wheel-drive, all-electric car with two seats and four in-wheel motors. Since the motors are installed inside the wheels, and the 13.6 kWh capacity of lithium-ion battery pack is housed on the front side, the battery and motors do not have to change their positions when the car folds. This not only optimizes the energy efficiency but also provides stability and ample room to drivers and passengers. Once folded, the small and light (weighs 450 kg) electric vehicle takes up only one-third of a 5-meter parking space, the standard parking size in Korea, allowing three […]