The Future of Off-Highway Vehicles is Electric

As off-highway electric vehicles (EV) evolve, they are beginning to deliver operational benefits that will further accelerate progress toward a more sustainable future.

EV adoption accelerated in the late 20th century thanks to technological advances, environmental regulations and sustainability efforts undertaken across a variety of industries. Over the past 20 years in particular, advanced batteries, new charging technology and the integration of sensors have greatly improved the performance and reliability of off-highway fleets, including construction vehicles, mining equipment, tractors, and other agricultural equipment.

The EV industry for commercial, off-highway applications is well positioned for another era of growth. Here’s why: Economies of scale are kicking in and cost barriers continue to fall. As a result, off-highway fleet operators are increasingly seeing benefits from EVs beyond improved sustainability.

Advances in autonomous driving, in particular, offer improvements in safety, durability and precision. These early results are inspiring off-highway EV manufacturers and users across industries to invest in further technological developments that will continue to improve the efficiency and sustainability of their fleets.

As the market for off-highway electric vehicles continues to evolve and grow, it’s critical that manufacturers have access to a broad portfolio of components that support their efforts. But to support that evolution, component manufacturers must develop reasonable standards to drive interoperability between equipment from different manufacturers. This interoperability will help pave the way for broader adoption of technologies and tools that help the off-highway EV industry advance its products and respond to ongoing regulatory pressures.

TE Connectivity helps deliver the ecosystem that EV manufacturers need, while also working to standardize the specifications being adopted in many regions. The evolution of widely held and achievable standards is important for accelerating progress in a sustainable way.

As standards evolve and advancements reach a critical mass, economies of scale will make additional technological advancements more affordable, further contributing to the operational benefits of off-highway EV usage. What’s more, the advancements in the off-highway market will likely produce new sets of tools with applications in adjacent markets with similar challenges and concerns, such as long-haul on-highway transportation and passenger vehicles.

While passenger and off-road EVs have both benefited from advancements in durability, safety, and terrain adaptability, the off-road EV market has been able to seize opportunities to move forward in areas like autonomous operation, as it comes with fewer challenges than the on-road market. The array of environmental sensors, cameras, radar, AI, and advanced algorithms available can help EV operators perceive their environment more accurately and execute potentially dangerous driving tasks more precisely. Off-highway environments such as mines, construction sites, and fields are also typically more controlled than on-highway environments, where vehicles would need to interact with unpredictable humans on a complex highway network.

These conditions make the off-highway vehicle industry a faster pathway to autonomous operations. The safety and operational benefits demonstrated in that industry, in turn, could inspire manufacturers to pursue further innovation in other EV applications — providing greater incentive than the regulatory push for greater sustainability can achieve on its own.

In mining, for example, there has been significant progress in automating surface mining vehicles. OEMs continue to work toward fully autonomous mining vehicles that can handle challenging terrain, low light conditions, and weak GPS signals deep underground. In construction, the ability to recognize and respond to a dynamic environment by recognizing objects and obstacles is making it possible for autonomous machinery to work safely alongside humans in the construction zone. And in agricultural settings, autonomous tractors, harvesters, and drones are already in use. As connectivity and the ability to handle varied terrain improve, connected swarms of autonomous robotic vehicles can help to improve safety, reliability, and precision.

Even as off-highway EV manufacturers focus on increasing autonomous capabilities, they must look ahead to further advancements that connect autonomous vehicles to one another and the world around them. As the market continues to grow and become more standardized, manufacturers will have opportunities to reduce costs and gain a competitive advantage if they can position themselves appropriately.

The challenge for manufacturers is to develop an innovation strategy that helps them adopt these advances as they arrive. Partners like TE Connectivity use the expertise and insights available to them to look ahead, so that they are ready to support their customers when they decide to move ahead themselves. Manufacturers who build flexibility into their current systems and collaborate with knowledgeable technology partners can provide a foundation for innovative solutions across areas such as these:

• Automation in the construction industry. Autonomous electric vehicles developed for specific construction tasks like excavation, hauling and monitoring could prepare a construction site with minimal human intervention. This would improve safety in a dangerous environment and increase productivity by allowing machines to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
• The development of intelligent fleets. Connected vehicles offer an opportunity to deliver data that operators can use to remotely monitor and optimize operations on a single site or across multiple locations. For example, mining operations could coordinate fleet planning to ensure the right equipment is charged and available in specific locations to avoid delays in operations.
• Integrating technologies that interact with vehicles. Sensor technology in infrastructure will revolutionize industries in terms of safety, operational efficiency and sustainability. For example, vehicles will be able to run as long as they possibly can before going to the nearest available charging facility on their own.
  

With ongoing advancements in AI and the potential for smart integration of renewable energy sources for on-site charging, manufacturers have runway for additional technological advancements that support greater operational efficiencies in the coming years. With its broad portfolio of connector systems, sensors and power distribution systems designed to support this future, TE stands ready to advance electrification with robust, reliable and customizable solutions for the off-highway electric vehicle market — and for others throughout the transportation industry.