market that we do today without those incentives and funding sources. That enables us with our partner Blue Bird to be able to then know what the ramp up needs to look like. We have some certainty and predictability in it. I talked a lot about how I think technologies have to come together differently for different applications, if we want to optimize them. And so, it works where you can invest in one kind of application, so we can partner with the right people and then have certainty in the ramp up. [The federal funding] is absolutely necessary. And I’m not clear on which mecha- nism works. I see your point on the on the grants, and I could appreciate rebates might be easier. The easiest, accessible way to get fund- ing into these segments is what I would say is going to be needed to spur adoption.
STN: You mentioned Blue
Bird. Talk about that new partnership and what it will look like in terms of what Accelera by Cummins is bringing to the table. Obvi- ously, Blue Bird has been a partner for some time. But can you talk more about how the Cummins portfolio will drive the production of 1,200 to 1,800 new electric school buses over the coming year?
Davis: I talked about we’ll
one go? Or do we lump some changes together so that when we rewrite the control algorithms and things, we’re doing it one time versus multiple times? That’s absolutely in our roadmap together with them as to kind of building our capabilities into the system more and more over time, and at the right moments for them. Because, you know, ultimately, it’s their customers, and they need to decide.
STN: The electric conversation right now is first and
sell components, subsys- tems and fully integrated drivetrains. Blue Bird is an example, where we’ve part- nered with them to do their full drivetrain integration. As we develop our product portfolio and advance, it gives us the opportunity to bring in our own components over time, in the right time that it makes sense. We can mature those and work with Blue Bird, to make sure that we prove those apps. What do you think about converting to an e-axel today? They use a central drive system, but when can we do really collaborative product planning with them? What’s our product roadmap? When is the right time to drop in, or just leverage the Siemens investments? Do we do that in
“...[W]e’re already starting to see players having to drop out or consolidation happening in the market because they can’t keep funding all the iterations. ... The industry has to coalesce on a couple of the technologies and solutions so that we can get economies of scale and start to move forward.”
-Amy Davis, on the parallels between diesel technology evolution and electrification
foremost infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure. What does Accelera bring to the table through Cum- mins’ economies of scale and global reach? How can Accelera influence some of those discussions and be a bridge partner for school districts in working with utilities?
Davis: I think one of the
benefits of being an es- tablished global company with a broad portfolio, the by Cummins, if you will, is that today we are in some stationary markets. We have some capabilities around energy storage, for exam- ple, that we’re going to try to exploit, how we use our battery technology and do more on energy storage, because we do this power generation work already. And then we have this elec- trolyzer portfolio. Most of the hydrogen build-out projects involve a utility or renewable energy developer of some kind. And so, through our electrolyzer work, we are on these projects with all kinds of partners. Each project has
a unique kind of consortium, but almost all of them in- volve an energy partner. For hydrogen, we’re very active because we’re a technology provider, and we’re building these relationships. And then what we’re doing more broadly is we’re really using those relationships to open up conversations directly with utilities. It’s why I tell people to partner with utilities on infrastructure because they are having the same challenges. They need to time
www.stnonline.com 53
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84