Tatung Co (大同) is planning to enter the electric vehicle (EV) software and hardware design business, Tatung president Chaney Ho (何春盛) said at an electro mobility trade show in Taipei yesterday.
The company has long been a maker of EV components, especially motors, and is planning to expand the branch and offer powertrain solutions, especially for buses, Ho said.
“Tatung has been a partner for EV motors since 2006, but we lacked a complete powertrain solution,” he said. “Our collaboration with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (工研院) to develop a powertrain is bearing fruit, and we already have orders for our 250-kilowatt (kW) powertrain.”
Photo: CNA
The company is also developing a 330kW powertrain, he added.
Tatung is eyeing EV buses as an initial market for the company’s products, Ho said.
While the Taiwanese market is small, with about 16,000 units sold per year, global demand for electric buses is at least 2 million units per year, he said.
Tatung would use the Taiwanese market as a springboard for its global ambitions, he said.
It is also planning to combine its to-be-developed powertrain with a bus chassis and export the technology, he said.
“Next year we hope to mass-produce our 330kW powertrain and design it into commercial logistics vehicles,” Ho said.
Tatung is also planning to expand into EV software and hardware design, Ho said.
However, Ho said he is cautious about the prospect of mass production in Taiwan.
The company might instead focus on developing components domestically and assemble the vehicles somewhere else, for example in Southeast Asia, he said.
“It would also be a good opportunity for us to strategically strengthen our presence in Southeast Asian countries,” he said.
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