The event was powered by Association of State Road Transport Undertakings (ASRTU), BOCI and supported by Indian Tourist Transporters Association (ITTA) and Delhi Contract Bus Association (DCBA). Office bearers and members of All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) and All India Transport Welfare Association (AITWA) were also present at the occasion. More than 500 members from these bodies also attended the event.

Vijay Sampla, Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment, Delhi was the chief guest at the event. Satyender Jain, Minister of Health, Delhi and Imran Hussain, Minister of Environment, were guests of honour.

KT Rajashekhra, Chairman-BOCI, Prasanna Patwardhan, President-BOCI, Kultaran Singh Aitwal, Chairman-AIMTC, SK Mittal, President-AIMTC, Kishan Yadav, President-ITTA, S Jasbir Singh, Vice President-DCBA, Sandeep Kumar, Tata Motors, Rajan Sharma-Interads Exhibitions and Pradeep Singhal, President- AITWA were some of the dignitaries who graced the event.

Sandeep Kumar, Head-Sales & Marketing-CV Passenger, Tata Motors made a presentation about the various commercial passenger vehicles from Tata Motors to the audience. Kumar said "Tata Motors continues to remain committed to provide the best, safe, comfortable, affordable and sustainable public transport across India and we look forward to participating in the forthcoming Busworld India at Bengaluru in August 2018."

Presentations were also made by heads of BOCI and ITTA who also pointed out the problems being faced by this sector due to issues like fitness of vehicles, speed governors, total lack of parking space etc. The ministers from Delhi addressed the gathering and assured the sector of all the cooperation and support in sorting out the various issues faced by this sector within the power of the state government.

Vinod K. Dasari, Managing Director, Ashok Leyland, said, "Bangladesh is one of our key export markets and this order further strengthens our position. This order win in Bangladesh is yet another testimony of our leadership in the country. Our in-depth understanding of public transport and understanding of the market and customers is what differentiates us and has helped us win this order.

“Exports has been a strong focus for us to de-risk from cyclicality in Indian market and to globalize our product portfolio. This is a significant win for us and builds on the strong export growth we had last year”

Loading and unloading often involves manoeuvring in tight spaces – in particular for vehicles such as tankers that collect milk from farms or trucks that deliver drinks to supermarkets. This takes a great deal of time and frequently results in damage to the vehicle. Until now, mechanical self-steering axles could only be of assistance when the vehicle was travelling forwards. The innovative auxiliary steering system from the BPW Group now also provides steering functionality – and therefore trailer manoeuvrability – during reverse manoeuvres. The vehicle can therefore be manoeuvred quicker and automatically in reverse.

Collisions can also be avoided, “Until now, this function could only be achieved with active steering and the entire vehicle concept usually had to be adapted to this. Such solutions are complex and expensive”’ explains Bernhard Rossenbach, head of product management at BPW. “Vehicles with active steering systems are customised solutions. We wanted to offer a product that complements our portfolio perfectly and at the same time is easy for customers to install and to integrate in their existing vehicle concept, “ added Rossenbach.

The new system from BPW consists of a control unit, a hydraulic unit and a steering cylinder with an integrated steering angle sensor. The steering cylinder is fitted locally on the self-steering axle and is operated via the hydraulic unit with reservoir. The steering operates fully automatically but can also be operated manually with a remote control: as soon as the driver engages the reverse gear, the steering system is activated via the reversing lights and the rotational speed and rotational direction sensor. The control unit uses innovative sensor technology that automatically detects the direction and angle of steering. The auxiliary steering system is only activated during reverse travel. During forwards travel, the system is passive and the steering is performed mechanically via the self-steering action.

Source: IAA COMMERCIAL VEHICLES 2018

Karsan, a manufacturer of light commercial vehicles, shuttle buses, and city buses, is focused on providing contemporary product and service solutions for mass transportation. The company has been developing sustainable electric-driven vehicles since 2015 and introduced its first prototype electric minibus, the Karsan JEST, in 2016.

 The electrified bus is based on the Karsan ATAK eight-meter low-entry bus platform and is equipped with a TM4 SUMO MD electric motor and inverter. The TM4 SUMO MD is composed of a high-torque, permanent magnet variable reluctance (PMVR) direct drive motor and automotive-grade power electronics. The new motors with the PMVR technology for external rotors can deliver 45 percent more torque and operating speed than previous motors in the same compact package, while reducing cost.

PMVR works by adding specially-designed soft magnetic composites (SMCs) next to the magnets. SMCs are produced through a new forming process and fabrication method by TM4. The SMCs also allows the use of simpler and smaller magnets that are easier to manufacture and that uses less rare-earth in the fabrication process to account for 25 percent savings in magnetic material.

This new bus platform is able to operate with a range of up to 300 kilometers on a single charge. Dana is also a key contributor in the development of the vehicle control software, through the supply of hardware and services related to its TM4 NEURO 200 vehicle control unit platform and SynApps development tool.

Source: Dana / Karsan