WCA March 2019

From the Americas “a digital guide to the new global economy,” scooters have become “stupendously popular” in developing countries like India, China, Thailand and Vietnam, where they became an emblem of the ascending middle class. Inexpensive, easy to park and capable of carrying heavier loads than motorcycles, scooters also became so popular that they choked the roadways of cities like Hanoi, in their sheer numbers and with the fumes from their inefficient two-stroke engines. But, now, the scooter is a presence in the same electric battery revolution that is reshaping cars and smartphones; and, according to Quartz , “to truly understand the changes coming” we need to look to China. (“Motor Scooters,” 10 th December) In a section headed “By the Digits”, Quartz supplied some data:  250 million: Number of electric two-wheeled vehicles worldwide  99: Percentage of those vehicles that are located in China  25 million: Honda scooters sold between 2001 and 2018 in India, where it has a 32 per cent market share  18 million: Vespa scooters sold over 70 years  100,000: Sales of Vespa scooters attributed to the 1953 movie Roman Holiday  $0.35: Price per minute to rent a dockless Muving scooter in Atlanta A buffalo aspires to be a wasp China is hoping that electric motor scooters are a cure for their transportation woes, especially airborne pollution. But, Quartz asserts, “To get wealthy Chinese consumers on two wheels, China will need its own Vespa [Italian for ‘wasp’], a scooter that has an appeal beyond price, efficiency and environmental consciousness.” A definite contender is Niu (Chinese for “buffalo”), founded in 2014 by a former CTO at Baidu who also did a stint as an executive at Chinese telecom giant Huawei. Niu’s initial public offering (IPO) in the USA last year gave it a market share of $654 million. India, which has long relied on Japanese and Chinese manufacturers for its electric scooters, launched its first homegrown e-scooter last year, from Ather Energy. One hurdle noted by Quartz : the limited Indian infrastructure, with only 350 EV charging stations for 500,000 vehicles. Two Taiwanese companies are also coming on strong, thanks to swappable batteries. First, the startup Gogoro was a hit at 2018 CES, the big consumer electronics show held in Las Vegas last January. In September, the company announced it was partnering with Yamaha, lending its technology to the much bigger brand. Then Taiwan’s market leader Kymco released its own swappable-battery standard, and the country found itself in the thick of a scooter-battery war.  There is a perennial downside to scooters, of course. They will always be far more vulnerable than cars on the road, providing less protection in the event of a collision. According to Quartz , “China is currently struggling with scooter safety.”

Steel A global environmental advocacy group calls for a reduction of the carbon footprint of structural steel production “Construction Destruction: the Hidden Carbon Costs of Dirty Steel,” a recent ten-page report from the campaign group Mighty Earth, was not well received by US steel-sector and construction firms. According to Nadine M Post, an editor of the weekly magazine Engineering News-Record (Troy, Michigan), which serves the construction industry worldwide, companies in the target industries consider the Mighty Earth initiative “well intended but naive.” (“Contractors, Steel Firms Blast Mighty Earth Report on ‘Dirty’ Structural Steel,” 5 th December) “The analysis greatly oversimplifies the steel-making process and the ability of participants in the supply chain to adapt to the proposals outlined,” David Zalesne, president of steel fabricator Owen Steel (Columbia, South Carolina), told ENR. Another source called the report, sponsored by the Center for International Policy, a non-governmental organisation, “a guerilla tactic by a startup NGO.” Ms Post noted that Mighty Earth “gives a nod” to advancements in energy efficiency by USA steel mills, which use more than 90 per cent recycled material in production; but that it offers no road map except to suggest a shift from fossil fuels to renewables for power needs. Its report identified steel producer Nucor Corp as “best-positioned to switch to 100 per cent clean energy for its electricity.” Katherine Miller, Nucor’s director of public affairs, responded that every ton of Nucor steel produced by way of efficient electric arc furnaces keeps some 215 tons of greenhouse gas emissions from entering the atmosphere – pollution which would not be averted if that same ton were made in China, where mills charge less for structural shapes. Energy-intensive manufacturers “require a steady, reliable and cost-effective level of baseload power generation,” said Ms Miller. In her view, given current technology and baseload power needs, it is not feasible to run a mill solely with renewables.  ENR noted that the Mighty Earth report spares building owners and designers, but scolds even environment- conscious construction firms for failure to commit to buying only materials “with the lowest possible global warming potentials.” It specifically called out Bechtel Corp and Fluor Corp — the largest construction companies in the USA – which, it said, have “not made any public efforts to address their projects’ embodied carbon.” These companies should work to achieve industry-wide commitments, which include requiring all steel makers and fabricators “to publish facility-specific” environmental product declarations, Mighty Earth says.

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Wire & Cable ASIA – March/April 2019

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