IVT International | Where next for off-highway electrification?

In this exclusive interview the ceo and founder of Flash Battery gives his insight into battery management, AI systems and the challenges of electrifying large industrial vehicles

With vehicle electrification established as one of the major trends in the off-highway industry today battery manufacturers are at the forefront of innovation. At this year’s iVT Expo in Cologne, conference manager Janet Diserens caught up with Flash Battery’s CEO and founder Marco Righi to get his expert view on exactly what the future has in store.

In the next five years, what trends do you expect to transform the off-highway vehicle industry?

Looking to the future of the off-highway vehicle industry, electrification, automation and predictive maintenance are the main drivers of change that will take hold over the next five years. Among the priority goals of OEMs and manufacturers, is the desire to optimise the efficiency of their machines.

This is a goal that can find a concrete and viable solution only in electrification. Autonomous driving is already a reality for vehicles, and industrial machines will also enjoy the management and efficiency benefits introduced by the possibility of performing tasks without human intervention.

In the next five years, I expect the introduction of predictive maintenance. Many steps have been made in remote connectivity and anomaly diagnosis. However, to date, systems are only reactive and not predictive. As technologies and data analysis evolve, off-highway vehicles will increasingly be able to predict upcoming faults and plan maintenance work in advance, reducing downtime and optimising operational reliability.