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Investigators have found that the Queensland underground mine where a worker was injured by hydrocarbon refrigerant igniting in their truck’s cabin earlier this year had been using the highly flammable product since “around 2010”. This is despite unauthorised hydrocarbon refrigerant retrofits being outlawed in Queensland under the Petroleum and Gas (Production and Safety) Act 2004. … Continue reading Queensland mine trucks had been using HCs for a decade before blast injured driver: Investigators

Official Toyota Australia LandCruiser 70 Series conversion for BHP

Toyota Motor Corporation Australia has entered into a binding letter of intent with VivoPower to collaborate on the electrification of LandCruiser 70 Series models using conversion kits designed and manufactured by VivoPower subsidiary Tembo. VASA member GB Auto is the exclusive Australia-wide distributor of Tembo products, committing to 2000 conversions over the first four years … Continue reading VASA member in partnership for Toyota Australia’s official electric LandCruiser 70 conversions

Audi heat pump

The Society of Automotive Engineers and Daikin are reportedly working to assess the performance and safety of a new refrigerant blend called D1V140 that is 77 per cent R1234yf, with the rest being a mystery Daikin-developed product called HFO1332(E). D1V140 is said to deliver better heat pump performance than YF, which has been found to reduce system capacity by … Continue reading Daikin developing YF blend for EV heat pumps

Repair info sharing is law

The Australian Senate has passed the Motor Vehicle Service and Repair Information Sharing Scheme Bill, which will, from July 1 next year, make it illegal for manufacturers to withhold information from qualified independent mechanics. Expected to help keep the cost of replacement parts, vehicle maintenance and repair affordable, the law has been welcomed by some automotive … Continue reading Repair info sharing becomes law

MTAA's 2021 Directions in Australias Automotive Industry report

The Motor Trades Association of Australia (MTAA) has warned that Australia has the worst automotive skills shortage in history, with 31,000 unfilled positions, against a backdrop of the industry-wide need to upskill in preparation for the transition to electrification while importing skilled labour remains impossible under COVID-related travel ban conditions. MTAA’s latest Directions in Australia’s Automotive … Continue reading MTAA warns of looming EV repair skills shortage

repair info sharing bill

The House of Representatives has unanimously passed the bill to mandate repair information sharing, with the law now expected to enter the Senate during June. Bipartisan support in the Lower House for the legislation bodes well and speeches from individual Members of Parliament acknowledged input from independent workshop owners in their constituencies. This is a … Continue reading Repair info sharing law passes Lower House, Senate debate and vote expected in June

EV battery assembly

A study of dealer management system data in the United States has found that repairs to electrified vehicles are so far proving more lucrative than originally predicted, the aggregated results suggesting EV parts and labour invoices tend to double those for conventional vehicles. The most frequent EV issues were electronic controller, high-voltage battery, charger/cable and battery contacts, … Continue reading EV fault diagnosis could prove lucrative

electric converted mine haul truck from emining.ch

A gauntlet has been thrown down by BHP, Rio Tinto and Vale – the world’s three largest mine operators – to accelerate the development of electric haul trucks for widespread global adoption in the surface mining industry. The Charge On Innovation Challenge has been launched with mining equipment, technology and services industry body Ausmine to encourage technology innovators to … Continue reading Mining giants challenge innovators to electrify haul trucks for global adoption