RAC Electric Vehicles Inc (華德動能科技) has landed a NT$550 million (US$17.4 million) order from local bus operator Danan Bus Co (大南客運) to supply electric buses and deploy charging piles.
RAC has been contracted to deliver the first of the 48 electric buses to Danan Bus next year, the company said in a statement on Wednesday following a signing ceremony in Taipei.
The electric buses are expected to operate between the Taipei MRT’s Xinbeitou and Taipei City Hall stations, it said.
Photo courtesy of RAC Electric Vehicles Inc
RAC is to help install charging piles with a 120 kilowatt capacity, and build energy storage cabinets in the bus operator’s operation control center in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投), the statement said.
The charging piles and energy storage systems are to be designed and manufactured by RAC’s parent company, Mobiletron Co (車王電子), the statement said.
Maxine Technology Co (銓鼎科技), a subsidiary of RAC, is to help design vehicle fleet management software, a battery charging management system and an energy management system, it said.
RAC this year has signed orders to supply 64 electric buses to operators in Taiwan, it added.
RAC said it is confident that it would obtain subsidies from the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to build new electric buses.
The company in January received ministry subsidies of NT$10 million per vehicle to produce 105 electric buses.
The ministry has set a goal to electrify the nation’s buses entirely by 2030 through subsidizing electric buses.
RAC in June expanded its business in Japan to supply electric buses to Nishi-Nippon Railroad Co in Fukuoka City, the statement said.
RAC began using a new plant in Taichung this quarter to support growing customer demand locally and abroad, it said.
SMART MANUFACTURING: The company aims to have its production close to the market end, but attracting investment is still a challenge, the firm’s president said Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said its long-term global production plan would stay unchanged amid geopolitical and tariff policy uncertainties, citing its diversified global deployment. With operations in Taiwan, Thailand, China, India, Europe and the US, Delta follows a “produce at the market end” strategy and bases its production on customer demand, with major site plans unchanged, Delta president Simon Chang (張訓海) said on the sidelines of a company event yesterday. Thailand would remain Delta’s second headquarters, as stated in its first-quarter earnings conference, with its plant there adopting a full smart manufacturing system, Chang said. Thailand is the firm’s second-largest overseas
‘REMARKABLE SHOWING’: The economy likely grew 5 percent in the first half of the year, although it would likely taper off significantly, TIER economist Gordon Sun said The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) yesterday raised Taiwan’s GDP growth forecast for this year to 3.02 percent, citing robust export-driven expansion in the first half that is likely to give way to a notable slowdown later in the year as the front-loading of global shipments fades. The revised projection marks an upward adjustment of 0.11 percentage points from April’s estimate, driven by a surge in exports and corporate inventory buildup ahead of possible US tariff hikes, TIER economist Gordon Sun (孫明德) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy likely grew more than 5 percent in the first six months
SUPPLY RESILIENCE: The extra expense would be worth it, as the US firm is diversifying chip sourcing to avert disruptions similar to the one during the pandemic, the CEO said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) on Wednesday said that the chips her company gets from supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) would cost more when they are produced in TSMC’s Arizona facilities. Compared with similar parts from factories in Taiwan, the US chips would be “more than 5 percent, but less than 20 percent” in terms of higher costs, she said at an artificial intelligence (AI) event in Washington. AMD expects its first chips from TSMC’s Arizona facilities by the end of the year, Su said. The extra expense is worth it, because the company is
The seizure of one of the largest known mercury shipments in history, moving from mines in Mexico to illegal Amazon gold mining zones, exposes the wide use of the toxic metal in the rainforest, according to authorities. Peru’s customs agency, SUNAT, found 4 tonnes of illegal mercury in Lima’s port district of Callao, according to a report by the non-profit Environmental Investigations Agency (EIA). “This SUNAT intervention has prevented this chemical from having a serious impact on people’s health and the environment, as can be seen in several areas of the country devastated by the illegal use of mercury and illicit activities,”