The National Development Council (NDC) announced guidelines for net zero this March, specifying a more aggressive schedule for bus electrification than for passenger car electrification, with 35% of buses to be electric by 2025 and 100% by 2030. In light of such a tight schedule, the Auto Future editorial team visited the Taipei headquarters of the leader in domestic electric bus technology, MTBM, on the afternoon of August 23 to interview Mr. Zihong You, the manager in charge of overall planning, for a comprehensive discussion on the company's technology and operational planning.
Zihong You, the manager of MTBM (Left), Jeff Lee (Middle) and Seven Tseng (Right), editors of Auto Future.
MTBM, the largest shareholder of Kuo-Kuang Motor Transportation, has solid experience in bus fleet operation and understands frontline needs and the pain points of using Chinese-made electric buses for commercial operations in the past. MTBM has been developing electric bus technology since 2014, and its electric bus products have been certified by the ARTC (Automotive Research and Testing Center) and the VSCC (Vehicle Safety Certification Center) in vehicle safety type approval and vehicle performance tests by 2019. Furthermore, MTBM was the first to receive subsidies from the DMIT (Design and Made in Taiwan) demonstration program sponsored by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications last year, with a maximum subsidy of NT$10 million for each vehicle purchase. The program covers 10 major technical inspection items, including auto body assembly, intelligent system, battery pack, vehicle control unit (VCU), battery management system (BMS), vehicle frame, recharging (charging port and charging pile), motor, etc., all of which must complete localization within three years. It is proof that MTBM is moving towards the goal of fully independent design and production step by step. Mr. You's explanation makes it clear that MTBM has developed a unique and pragmatic electric bus technology and fleet operation model through actual operating experiences…
- Lithium titanate, or lithium-titanium-oxide, (LTO) batteries are used. Unlike the other two mainstream LFP (Lithium FerroPhosphate) and NMC (lithium-Nickel-Manganese-Cobalt-oxide) batteries on the market, the LTO battery features high safety and high-power fast charging, which charges the battery from 20% to 80% in 15 minutes. Another advantage of the LTO battery is that it can be charged and discharged up to 20,000 times (cycle life), which translates into a service life of 10-12 years on an electric bus, equivalent to the service life of an electric bus. LTO batteries do not need to be replaced once or twice like other types of batteries in 10~12 years. Having said that, the energy density of LTO batteries is relatively low, so with the same battery capacity, the LTO battery is much heavier. However, a vehicle as large and heavy as a bus is not as sensitive to the impact of the weight difference on driving performance as a passenger car. The LTO battery currently used by MTBM is a technology from Toshiba. Earlier this year, MTBM decided to set up a joint venture with Formosa Electronic Industries to improve the technology and capacity of the battery pack process in the future, and the new company will be able to customize the pack design for different battery capacities according to the needs of bus companies.
- The "fleet and charging" operating model is unique. Unlike other manufacturers, MTBM adopts fast charging and installs charging piles at bus rest stops and transfer stations. Buses can be charged to 80% of capacity in as little as 15 minutes and hit the road any time. This model allows one charging pile to be used for 5 to 10 buses (depending on the business model) while eliminating the need for slow charging for over 5 hours that affects vehicle utilization rate. It also saves the parking and turnaround space required for multiple vehicles to charge at night and the cost of installing multiple charging piles and avoids potential risks (there was a case overseas where an automaker parked multiple electric vehicles for charging, and one of them accidentally caught fire and caused all the vehicles to burn down).
MTBM is expanding its business at full throttle in the domestic bus market worth a total of 16,000 units. It expects to deliver 250 electric buses this year, the first time MTBM's production of electric buses has surpassed that of traditional diesel buses, and the figure is expected to reach 750 units next year. The company's development plans for future overseas business are even more than worth the wait…
- MTBM will build an electric bus industrial park in Erlin, Changhua to attract upstream vendors and manufacturers to move in and invest in the electric bus industry together. Production is expected to commence in 2024, with an annual production capacity of 2,000 completed vehicles and 10,000 sets of parts exported based on the concept of whole-plant parts export. Key components, such as motors, are currently made by ZF of Germany, but technical cooperation with Taiwanese manufacturers is in progress. The cooperation is likely to start mass production in the Changhua industrial park and supply the key components in the future.
- MTBM is planning to establish a joint venture with technology giant Wistron and build an electric bus manufacturing plant in the United States. With Wistron's experience in smart factories, MTBM will build and operate a local manufacturing plant in the U.S. to meet the U.S. government's required local content rate of produced vehicles and tap into the local market worth hundreds of thousands of electric buses.
- MTBM is planning to build factories in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, with an annual production capacity of over 2,000 units per factory in the future.
MTBM currently has an R&D team consisting of dozens of employees in Dayuan, Taoyuan, with annual R&D expenditures reaching 10% of the company's revenue. The team is working hard to develop new technologies, such as 12-meter long 3-door luxury buses, 9-meter long buses, and 7-meter long buses that will be supplied to Japan and India next year. The buses are being developed to meet market demand in different countries. For example, urban low-floor buses and medium- and long-haul intercity buses differ greatly in the availability of luggage compartments and battery positions, and the development requires a lot of R&D manpower to complete. In terms of commercial operators, although the current cost of electric buses is twice that of diesel buses, three incentives should greatly increase the willingness of bus companies to purchase electric buses. First, it is the direction of net zero policies. Second, electric buses cost less than diesel buses in operation and maintenance. Third, the government is pushing for subsidies allotted to the purchase of electric vehicles. I expect the goal of 100% bus electrification in Taiwan to be achieved by 2030, way ahead of passenger car electrification. As for the timeline for the combination of electric buses with self-driving technology, Mr. You figured it would take some time, but he brought up an interesting point about dedicated lanes: changing BRT (bus rapid transit) to ART (autonomous rapid transit) with a design that brings a function similar to lane centering and magnetic rails to work together seamlessly. This may be the area where it is easier to realize the commercialization of self-driving electric buses ahead of schedule.