In Individual: Dean Portney of Hawker Powersource
Dean Portney is vice chairman of gross sales and advertising and marketing for Hawker Powersource, a supplier of batteries and modular charging methods for the motive energy business. Portney has been with Hawker for 26 years in a wide range of gross sales and administration positions, together with supervisor of nationwide accounts and Jap regional gross sales supervisor. Portney, who beforehand labored for Potomac Industrial Vehicles, has been concerned with MHI for 32 years. He holds levels in economics and finance from the College of Maryland.
Q: How would you describe the present state of the fabric dealing with and battery markets?
A: The fabric dealing with business and battery markets are quickly recovering from the pandemic, the place provide chain points impacted manufacturing and leadtimes considerably. Through the pandemic, our battery and charger enterprise grew exponentially and continues to be rising. As well as, attributable to adjustments within the workforce and the event of latest battery chemistries previous to the pandemic, we have been in a position to supply options and remedy lots of the upkeep points that traditionally plagued battery operations.
Q: What influence have new forms of batteries, akin to lithium and hydrogen, had on the business?
A: New energy chemistries have had a constructive influence on the business, contemplating staffing situation challenges, along with the rising autonomous automobile market. They’ve provided much more advantageous advantages.
The important thing to a great energy companion is customers not accepting a “one dimension suits all” method. Merely acknowledged, completely different chemistries supply distinctive advantages and potential options for delivering value reductions. We refer to those as hybrid options—the place a person might use a mixture of chemistries below one roof by having an professional pair the suitable, lowest-cost answer for every kind of truck and utility of their operation(s).
Q: Customers have progressively been shifting away from inside combustion forklifts to electrical fashions. How has that impacted your organization and development out there?
A: The shift from IC to electric-powered vans would naturally seem to extend development within the motive energy business—particularly when you think about that in some markets, electrical fork vans account for greater than 65% of that market and their share continues to be rising. It’s necessary to not neglect that the introduction of quick charging within the late Nineteen Nineties, adopted by the emergence of alternative charging during the last seven years, permits us to benefit from superior chemistries. These charging dynamics together with the usage of new chemistries have decreased the variety of batteries traditionally utilized per truck in higher-demand purposes.
Q: How has the expansion in adoption of autonomous cellular robots affected the battery business?
A: Autonomous materials dealing with autos have assisted in driving the event of superior maintenance-free options on the ability aspect in addition to inductive (wi-fi) charging, nearly eliminating the necessity for human intervention. This package deal is really autonomous. This has the potential to extend the lifetime of merchandise, thus decreasing the necessity for substitute batteries.
Q: What applied sciences have most impacted the design of batteries and chargers in the course of the previous 5 years?
A: Skinny plate pure lead (TPPL) and lithium battery applied sciences have impacted us vastly over the previous 5 years. Many are predicting maintenance-free superior chemistries will develop to 40% of the market over the subsequent few years. As Hawker has been the pioneer within the high-frequency switch-mode -charger expertise since 1984, we’re effectively positioned to supply superior inductive charging in motive energy that may have vital influence on charging for years to return.
Q: Are there specific applied sciences or tasks you’re creating that you just want to share?
A: We’ve been within the monitoring enterprise for about 17 years and are creating a brand new product with AI. This new expertise will embody studying and correct predictive analytics, benefiting customers.
Q: What locations your organization in a singular place to supply and provide worth to customers of electrical autos?
A: Hawker has been a motive energy options supplier relationship again nearly 40 years. With our breadth of battery chemistries, charging applied sciences, knowledge gadgets, and modeling software program like Hawker Edge, we’re in a singular place to supply superior hybrid-motive energy options, using buyer operational and price knowledge.
