After 48 years being held in the Belgian city of Kortrijk, Busworld is moving to the country’s capital in 2019 for the first time.
This major change echoes the one currently transforming the passenger transportation industry – the powertrain revolution.
In the interests of both the climate and public health, now and in the future, powertrains must reduce or eliminate their CO2 emissions.
Around the world, cities are taking action to restrict road access exclusively to clean vehicles, limiting emissions of greenhouse gases and fine particles.
The world’s major cities, and even some smaller ones, have become the new regulators, stipulating which vehicles can and cannot use their roads.
The solution being adopted for buses and coaches is powertrain electrification, a change that has a significant impact right from the vehicle design phase.
How, for example, can vehicle manufacturers continue to ensure passenger comfort when there is no longer an internal combustion engine to help regulate temperature?
Environmentally friendly vehicles
The increasing popularity of more environmentally friendly vehicles raises the critical question of how much energy is needed to produce heat or cool air in the cabin.
Batteries, which are highly sensitive to changes in temperature, also pose a challenge because they need to be constantly maintained within the optimal operating range.
Valeo’s innovations provide practical, efficient solutions, regardless of the weather, the size of the vehicle, its powertrain type, and the nature (whether urban, peri-urban or long-haul) and duration of its journey.
The technologies developed by Valeo generate the right air flows, while using the minimum amount of energy necessary and reusing recoverable energy.
These actions are driven by electronics and software programs that are also developed by Valeo.
Valeo is also innovating in the area of battery cooling, with new systems that extend vehicle range and improve the preservation of battery service life.
All these innovations work together to reduce the total cost of operating buses and coaches.
The innovative technologies presented by Valeo at the 25th Busworld exhibition offer clear insights into what mobility will look like in the future.
And given that some of them are already being fitted in vehicles coming off the assembly line today, that future is very near.
All of these technologies are designed to bridge the gap between the challenges facing our planet today and the need for people in every part of the world to get around, both in urban areas and elsewhere.
Innovation is the driving force behind the future of transportation.
It is also central to Valeo’s strategy, as illustrated by the fact that the company invested over 2 billion euros, or close to 13% of original equipment sales, in research and development in 2018.
To learn more about Valeo, click the ‘more details’ link.