Eberspaecher Suetrak Bus Climate Control Systems India unveiled its new fifth generation of the roof-mounted air-conditioning system AC 353 for large buses at Prawaas 2019. A legend in its own category and as a benchmark in the industry, the all new AC 353 G5 is more efficient, and is light in weight.
Mr. K P Singh, MD – India, Head – APAC said, “AC 353 G5 gives better performance while using less quantities of refrigerant. Within a short period of time, the unit will be manufactured from our new manufacturing facility under construction in Bangalore.”
As the supporting sponsor, Eberspaecher hailed Prawaas as the ‘good initiative’ and as a confidence booster to the industry and all its stakeholders. Mr. Singh shared: “This is a great platform to meet the industry shareholders, potential buyers, OEMs, operators – all under one roof.”
The Takeaways
The takeaways are big, especially, when the industry is showing signs of sluggishness and OEMs, customers and component makers are hopeful that it does not get drawn out for long and the industry bounces back on the feet sooner. Mr. Singh agreed: “Prawaas gives confidence that the industry is moving in the right direction especially because many new products have been launched by the OEMs and bus builders. There is definite visible movement in the industry and that is what gives us the confidence and encouragement to bring out new products to meet their upcoming requirements.”
Technology As trendsetter
As pioneers in technology for bus air-conditioning systems, Eberspaecher’s new AC 353 G5 is benchmark in itself due to its higher performance, light weight and lower electrical consumption. According to Mr. Singh, it is beneficial to the operators’ fleets as the life cycles improve further. It also means that the overall service costs for these units will be lower what is being offered by the competition. The AC 353 G5 has a new look. Its minimalistic design, as well as its clear lines and contours, makes the AC 353 G5 unmistakably more puristic and dynamic than ever before.
Capacity Building
Eberspaecher is working towards doubling their capacity in its plant in Bangalore, India and significant investments have been made to make the whole production more efficient. He added: “We will soon be able to produce almost 10,000 air-conditioning systems in a year, which is twice the capacity that we have currently. We have also invested substantially in putting up all-electric lines to produce all-electric systems by next year from the new plant.”
One reason for doubling the capacity is that Eberspaecher aims to feed an increased portion of the export market from India. He shared: “This is a step in the direction where we want to be known among the top three players in the domestic market. There are untapped markets in countries in other regions which we would like to cater to from this facility. So, overall, the volumes will help us sustain this bigger facility and to have optimization in one facility under one roof.”
Currently, Eberspaecher exports to various markets in the Middle East from the existing facility. And plans are afoot to supply to South East Asian markets too. Mr. Singh hinted: “Look out for new products being added to suit these market requirements.”
Is CO2 The Future?
Alternative fuels are what will rule the roost. And it holds true in terms of alternative refrigerants for bus air-conditioning systems too.
The APAC Head said: “We are working with a timeline to move away from hydrocarbons as the refrigerants. In Europe, CO2 is the upcoming option up for refrigerants. Therefore, we will be offering a CO2 heat pump for hybrid and electric buses as of 2021. India will not be too far behind. Yet, it is important to move faster on the same lines.”
But there are some aspects of CO2, when being used as alternate refrigerant in hot countries, which pose a downside. Mr. Singh explained, “CO2 cannot stand high pressures, tropical climate conditions and high temperatures like we have in India. So CO2 is still a work-in-progress for such markets. We expect to have alternate refrigerant with lower Global Warming Potential (GWP) to be available sooner for high ambient temperature countries like India.”
In a nutshell, Eberspaecher’s all new AC 353 G5 created waves and exceeded the footfalls that the company expected during the show.