Robots do the heavy lifting at an electric truck engine factory

Before machines, the garden. The visit to the first Italian factory dedicated to the production of engines for electric commercial vehicles begins in a space attached to the assembly line, where a pomegranate tree stands out. There are stools made from recycled pallets, bushes and shade, it looks like a picnic area.

In the shed next door, robotic arms lift axles and batteries that weigh hundreds of pounds. The workers who run the operations were recruited by FPT Industrial ePowertrain from universities and technical courses and are highly skilled labor. Most of the 200 workers appear to be no more than 30 years old.

The relationship between garden, youth and machinery is direct: the company, which is part of the Iveco Group, wants to show itself capable of a new era, in which both factories and their products are “zero carbon”.

The discourse of promoting the quality of life of employees and customers becomes more important when the target audience has a CNPJ and is concerned with reducing their emissions.

The result of the work appears in components that will be part of light and heavy commercial vehicles from different automakers. All powered by electricity.

These are items such as the axle incorporated into the electric motor of the Nikola Tre Class 8, one of the first components to come out of the new factory, located in Turin, Italy. It sounds simple when compared to traditional diesel-powered sets, but it’s a sign of the times.

The power can exceed 1,000 hp, but the heavy vehicle that is produced in Coolidge (Arizona, USA) has approximately 650 hp. Depending on the battery pack used, the range can exceed 500 kilometers on one charge.

These batteries also cross the ocean to the United States: part of the Italian factory is dedicated to the assembly and testing of accumulators. Altogether, there are 15,000 m² divided into two lines for the production of systems for light commercial vehicles, plus the line of electrical components for trucks.

There is capacity to produce 20,000 electric axles and an equal number of battery packs per year. Virtual reality is combined with videos with component assembly instructions, redundancy necessary to minimize the risk of errors and consequent rework.

One of the differences to conventional factories is in the lighting. The facilities make better use of sunlight, as well as using LEDs for greater energy efficiency. It is a feature of modern plants, which contrast with the ancient sheds of the 20th century.

Autonomous trolleys transport parts and tools through the aisles, saving employees’ efforts. Some robotic arms are controlled by joysticks and move with delicacy; parts that weigh more than 100 kilos are attached to each other without the joint making noise.

Silence is another characteristic of the Turin factory, both because of the nature of the work –there are no noisy aisles with stamping presses in car factories– and because of the modernity of the equipment.

Sylvain Blaise, president of the Iveco Group’s powertrain business unit, accompanied the entire visit. Shortly before the tour of the assembly line, he highlighted the company’s goal: to neutralize the carbon emitted in operations by 2040, which means anticipating the goal stipulated by the Paris Agreement by ten years.

This ambition is passed on to employees, many in their first jobs. It is noted the engagement of these workers, who underwent training not only to learn how to deal with robots, but also to understand how the ESG agenda works in this new industrial revolution.

After a few hours on the production line for components for electric vehicles, one has the impression that this is the only way forward. But FPT Industrial itself shows that this is not the case when it presents its area of ​​tests and development of combustion engines.

Diesel remains present and dominant, but accompanied by biomethane and other alternatives with less environmental impact. There are impressive products, such as the 20-liter V8 engine that equips agricultural machinery.

At the moment, however, the concern is not just about emissions. “It’s a difficult time, we have the War in Ukraine and rising component costs,” said Stefano Lo Russo, the mayor of Turin, during the meeting that preceded the visit. “It’s a sign of courage to invest in this way in a rapidly changing landscape.”

The journalist traveled at the invitation of the Iveco Group