XCMG and BYD
Today consisted of three parts. Initially we visited the XCMG truck and mining equipment factory. Xcmg is the third largest mining transport equipment in the world with 50% of sales international. Fortescue is buying its electric mining trucks from Xcmg.
This year just 7% of the 1000 a year heavy construction units will be electric but despite the 30%-100% price premium they said they budget to quickly expand the electric share in the next couple of years.
They make their own battery cells on site in partnership with BYD.
Round at the prime mover road section the annual output is about 70,000 units a year it is 100% electric with prices in China with a 500 KWh battery around A$120,000.
The heavy machinery is exciting to look at and the presentation was fantastic. The leader of the team grew up in Turramurra.
Then it was a train trip South to look at an older BYD light truck factory. The battery for those is just a container top loaded in the tray of the truck and non swappable. Charge rate just 150KW.
However that’s only step one. They also showed their 1 MW flash charger used for new cars.
This charger has a liquid cooled hollow copper connector, very light, for heat dissipation at the say 800 amp current. I don’t understand how the receiving car battery can handle that charge rate.
In the evening we had a modern but old style hotel with a water garden. The hotel was naturally on a lake with musicians and a very active night market.
