The Mexican company Megaflux and the Mexico City Passenger Transport Network (RTP) signed an agreement to make an electric bus 10.5 meters long. The manufacturer will develop the new vehicle during the second half of the year according to the parameters requested by RTP, with the intention of delivering it in the first quarter of 2023.
Roberto Gottfried, CEO and co-founder of Megaflux, explains that the company is one of those that participates in the development of new electromobility solutions for Mexico City, whose government has explored various alternatives that enrich the electric transport network that today uses energy electric wires. The next step is to add alternatives that do not depend on wiring, from taxis and pedicabs to electric buses. Megaflux participates in this last area of development.
“We work with the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation of Mexico City and so far this administration has carried out technological developments with them to meet the needs of zero-emission public transport,” says Gottfried.
To rapidly advance in more environmentally friendly mobility schemes, says Gottfried, you do not necessarily have to reinvent a vehicle from scratch, which takes at least five years. Rather, Megaflux is working on converting the current fleet of RTP diesel buses to make them electric. “It’s about taking everything that’s great in the industry and introducing a new powertrain, a new way of moving the vehicle, not necessarily reinventing the vehicle.
After validating an electric drive train for buses, the Mexican company signed an agreement this Thursday to ‘electrify’ a first unit. “It is the outcome of three years of work,” he adds.
Megaflux, a company that initially developed rotating electrical machinery, today offers electrification solutions to companies and governments, ranging from design and supervision to commissioning and maintenance of the units. Among its clients are, in addition to RTP, the multinational Grupo Modelo.
Beer travels in electric trucks
Megaflux and Grupo Modelo began a collaboration 18 months ago with a view to manufacturing the first fully electric vehicle for the distribution of beer in metropolitan areas. After months of research, design and testing, they unveiled in March this year “the world’s first all-electric low-bed truck.”
After the presentation, both firms focused their efforts on developing a vehicle with a range of up to 80 kilometers per charge, contemplating another 20 additional kilometers of backup. This truck, focused on meeting the operational requirements of the brewery, has a “safe height” for operators who are delivering beer or soft drinks and at the same time has a capacity of 12 tons.
The first units are already in pilot tests in Mexico City and the intention is that by the end of this year there will be 10 circulating and distributing drinks.
To electrify Grupo Modelo’s delivery units, the company took an Isuzo chassis as a base and adapted a lithium battery pack developed by Megaflux.
Gottfried details that to develop the lithium battery pack, cells from China are first selected and imported, and then the module design starts in a laboratory located in Iztapalapa, east of CDMX. Finally the assembly is done.
Iztapalapa, the center of technological development
For four years, the Iztapalapa city hall has housed the company’s laboratory, built after receiving, together with the UNAM Engineering Institute and the National Institute of Electricity and Clean Energies, the award for the Project for the Development of Technologies of Sustainable Energy (Prodetes), granted by the World Bank.
They are currently working on several projects to develop vehicles with the capacity to mobilize up to 15 tons, with the aim of making the electrification of fleets a reality in Mexico.
“Energy conditioning, energy distribution and the correct section of the charging modes are what make the implementation of an electric fleet successful or not”, underlines the manager.
After the project carried out in conjunction with Grupo Modelo, Megaflux joined the National Private Transport Association (ANTP), a movement that could help the Mexican company close new “strategic alliances” with other large multinationals. Bachoco, Bimbo and Bonafont are some of the partners attached to the ANTP.
