< PreviousM orocco-based construction and industrial plant contractor Société Chérifi enne de Matériel Industriel et Ferroviaire (SCIF) has expanded its fl eet of mobile cranes with two Liebherr LTM 1070-4.2 all-terrain cranes and an LRT 1100-2.1 rough- terrain crane. Among these three cranes, the LRT 1100-2.1 and one of the LTM 1070-4.2 models are used machines. Liebherr is not only a leading manufacturer of mobile cranes, but also among the largest used crane dealers in the world. Since it was founded, the Liebherr plant in Ehingen has delivered more than 10,000 used cranes to customers around the world. Mohamed El Houri, installations director, SCIF, said: “Liebherr is the manufacturer, and therefore has all the competence it needs to deliver perfect used cranes. The two machines we ordered were refurbished at the factory and we are very impressed with the cranes’ quality.” The LRT 1100-2.1, the fi rst of its kind to arrive in Morocco, is one of the latest generation of Liebherr rough terrain cranes providing advanced safety features such as the VarioBase variable supporting base as standard. SCIF opted for the crane because of features such as the off -road handling, pick-and-carry feature and 50 metre telescopic boom that are useful for the jobs SCIF deals with on a regular basis. The boom on the LTM 1070-4.2 is also 50 metres in length. The two compact, fl exible 4-axle cranes will cover around 70% of the load cases SCIF has to tackle. Rachid Makboul, sales director, SCIF, said: “We have had some very good experience with our Liebherr LTM 1130-5.1, which we bought in 2016. Its quality and reliability are outstanding. Furthermore, with its branch offi ce in Casablanca, very close to our base, Liebherr provides us with excellent service and fast supplies of spare parts.” The new LTM 1070-4.2 working with the used LRT 1100-2.1 on a new cement plant site. 20 PLANT / MACHINERY / VEHICLESwww.plantmachineryvehicles.comMAY 2021 CRANES MOROCCAN CONTRACTOR SCIF INVESTS IN USED LIEBHERR MOBILE CRANES INCLUDING FIRST LRT 1100-2.1 MODEL IN THE COUNTRYJ ohnson Arabia was contracted by the Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) to lift three transformers for a substation located in Al Khawaneej, Dubai. The two-day lifting job was assigned to a Liebherr LTM 1400 7.1, a 400t all-terrain crane. However, space limitations at the site created restrictions for positioning of the crane outriggers, and the only option was to add propping support on the manholes nearby to position the outriggers. The complex lifting job was completed with the crane operating in two positions. Two of the transformers were lifted from fi rst crane position and third transformer was lifted from the second crane position. ROUGH-TERRIAN AND SPIDER CRANES JOIN RENTAL FLEET In addition to increasing its AWP fl eet in February and opening a second branch in Muscat, Oman, Johnson Arabia ordered a couple of new Grove GRT8100 100t rough- terrain cranes. This investment was made keeping in mind the growth of the oil and gas sector and other infrastructure projects in the UAE. So far, the new Grove cranes have been fully occupied since they arrived, at oil fi elds and government projects in Fujairah. Additionally Johnson Arabia expanded its current fl eet of spider cranes to include more models. This was also in response to the growing demand in projects with space constraints like the pavilions at the Dubai Expo site, mall refurbishments and extensions and glass and glazing works for buildings. NEW IPAF TRAINING CENTRE IN ABU DHABI Johnson Arabia has opened an IPAF training centre in Abu Dhabi to address the need for easily accessible training in the emirate. Prior to the movement restrictions due to COVID, it was easy to shuttle trainees to and from Abu Dhabi. The change in circumstances required a separate training facility. The training in Abu Dhabi is scheduled weekly and in small batches with adherence to COVID guidelines. Trainees are fi nding the small groups benefi cial because they get more opportunities to learn from each other and the instructors. The Liebherr LTM 1400 7.1 all-terrain crane lifting a transformer with its outriggers positioned on manholes. Johnson Arabia's IPAF training centre in Abu Dhabi. A new Grove Grt8100 rough-terrain crane at Johnson Arabia's yard. 21 PLANT / MACHINERY / VEHICLESwww.plantmachineryvehicles.comMAY 2021 CRANES JOHNSON ARABIA TACKLES SPACE CONSTRAINTS TO LIFT TRANSFORMERS FOR SUBSTATION IN DUBAIGovernment incentives, regulations, and value-added business models accelerate infrastructure development for electric vehicles in the UAE CHARGING UP COVER STORY 22 PLANT / MACHINERY / VEHICLESwww.plantmachineryvehicles.comMAY 2021A quick search of electric vehicle (EV) chargers in the UAE on Google Maps or Plug Share will reveal their widespread distribution across the country. EV chargers are now a familiar sight at government offi ces, commercial and residential buildings, airports, petrol stations, shopping malls, and hospitals. EV chargers, particularly in Dubai, have proliferated in the last few years since the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) launched its ‘EV Green Charger’ initiative in 2015 to encourage the adoption of EVs. Since then, DEWA has installed around 300 charg- ing stations in Dubai. As more public charging stations are installed in the UAE, owners of battery electric vehicles will not have to worry about the driv- ing range required for inter-emirate travel. This growing network along with government regulations and incentives are helping create the ecosystem required for EV adoption. The ‘Dubai Green Building’ regulations for new buildings specifi es that 5% of parking spaces should be dedicated to green or low emission vehicles. A directive issued by the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy requires government organisations in Dubai to increase the proportion of hybrid and electric vehicles procured annually to at least 10% of their over- all number of purchased and leased vehicles until the end of 2024. This percentage will increase to 20% from 2025–2029 and 30% from 2030 onwards. With regard to incentives, DEWA is provid- ing free charging until 31 December 2021 for non-commercial EV customers registered in the EV Green Charger initiative, exclusively at public charging stations. The Federal Electric- ity and Water Authority (FEWA) launched a free charging incentive on their public EV charging network within the northern Emir- ates until the end of 2020. The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has exempted electric vehicles registered in Dubai from public parking fees for two years starting from July 2020. Electric vehicles in Abu Dhabi were exempted from road tolls until the end of 2020. The convenience of EV charging, too, is improving. DEWA’s website and smart app provides the locations of all DEWA charging stations and enables EV Green Charger cus- tomers to charge vehicles at DEWA charging stations either by scanning a QR code or using Green Charger cards issued by DEWA. According to data published by the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy, the number of EVs registered in Dubai increased from 71 in 2015 to 2,312 in 2020. With a faster rate of EV adop- tion projected for the next fi ve years, public chargers will not be suffi cient to fulfi ll the demand for charging as consumers will want the added fl exibility of charging their vehicles at home, at work, or at any facility with spare capacity. This has gained the interest of prop- erty developers and managers seeking new ways to attract and retain customers. Although private companies are not allowed to monetize EV charging, off ering it as a value-added ser- vice is an opportunity too good to ignore. Number of electric and hybrid vehicles registered in Dubai (Source: Dubai Supreme Council of Energy). COVER STORY 23 PLANT / MACHINERY / VEHICLESwww.plantmachineryvehicles.comMAY 2021UAE-based Powertech Services (Pow- ertech) has seen inquiries for EV chargers increase signifi cantly from building own- ers during the last four years. A leading supplier of low voltage (LV) switchgear systems for over 30 years, Powertech has emerged as a major player in electromo- bility, driven by its extended partnership with Switzerland-based global technology company ABB. Powertech entered the electric vehicle charging market in 2017 with the installation of a 50kW DC charger – the ABB Terra 53 – at Premier Motors’ showroom in Al Ain. Since then, the company has installed close to 100 EV charging stations in the UAE for both public and private sectors clients. Arthi Srinivasan, director-operations and marketing, Powertech Services, says: “The timing of our market entry in electric mobility coincided with the early stage of the market itself, when several EV car manufac- turers were planning to debut their electric models in the region. By 2019, ABB, which is COVER STORY 24 PLANT / MACHINERY / VEHICLESwww.plantmachineryvehicles.comMAY 2021our partner for LV switchgears, streamlined its product range for AC and DC charging solutions, which provided us with more resources to scale up our operations and introduce the new products. Extending our partnership with ABB from LV switchgears to EV chargers was a natural progression for our business because of the common technical competencies required in both the fi elds.” ABB chargers installed by Powertech in the UAE can be found in prominent loca- tions such as the guest parking lots and VIP terminals of the Presidential Flight airport in Abu Dhabi; parking lots of the govern- ment facility in Al Dhafra Abu Dhabi and the Ajman Free Zone headquarters; and the tenant parking space of the Limestone House in Dubai International Financial Centre. Recently, Powertech installed DC and AC charging stations at Al Tayer Motors’ show- rooms in Dubai and Abu Dhabi for the new Jaguar I-Pace all-electric SUVs. This year, the company has been busy with EV charger installations at three Amazon data centres in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and retrofi tting of parking facilities at residential and mixed- use buildings in Abu Dhabi. Private sector customers of EV chargers include hotels, malls, offi ce and residential buildings that want to install EV chargers in their parking lots to provide value-added services to tenants and visitors. Increase in demand from such customers has made Pow- ertech the go-to supplier for retrofi t projects. “We are revisiting old buildings that need EV charging stations but many not have spare capacity available. This is true for most buildings ranging from 15 to 25 years. So, they need to either apply for additional electrical load and increase their capacity or optimise their energy consumption before we can install EV chargers. To speed up this process, we off er turnkey solutions that include the civil works, modifi cation and upgrading of switchgear and building electrical systems, and cable pulling up to the locations of the chargers. In some cases, we modify the systems that we installed several years ago,” says Arthi. For building owners who don’t want to apply for additional load or upgrade their infrastructure immediately, Powertech opti- mises the building’s spare capacity through load balancing. “The cost of additional load is borne by the building owner, and therefore, the capacity increase must be considered a long-term in- vestment. ABB off ers DC chargers that can be scaled up with increase in capacity. In such cases, we select cables and panels compatible with higher power ratings. When the build- ing owner is ready to upgrade, all we need to do is install additional power modules to upgrade the power, for example, from 20kW to 50kW. This helps building owners to plan their capital expenditures with increase in demand,” says Arthi. The time required for installation of EV chargers in existing parking facilities depends on the availability of spare capacity in buildings. If spare power is available, Pow- ertech requires about 10 working days for AC charger installations and up to 12 weeks for DC charger installations. “We usually maintain stock of AC chargers due to which we can deliver and install them in a few days. The lead time for DC chargers is 10–12 weeks because they are delivered from ABB’s factories in Europe. During the lead time, we do site preparation work, power splitting and cable pulling so that when the DC chargers are delivered, they can be installed easily like plug-and-play devices,” says Arthi. According to Arthi, electrifi cation of park- ing facilities in the UAE will happen primar- ily through retrofi tting: 60–70% of the EV installation jobs will be retrofi t projects. The remaining share of about 30% will comprise new build projects. Arthi Srinivasan, director-operations and marketing, Powertech Services. COVER STORY 25 PLANT / MACHINERY / VEHICLESwww.plantmachineryvehicles.comMAY 2021EARLY ADOPTERS FIND SUCCESS O ne of the early adopters of EV charging in a residential complex in Dubai was the Limestone House situated in Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and managed by Waseela Management and Supervision Service for Owners Associations (Waseela). The potential of EV chargers sparked the interest of James Spencer, general manager of Waseela, while he worked on a thesis about EV chargers in the US. Following a market study, Waseela contracted Powertech to in- stall an ABB DC fast charger at the Limestone House’s parking lot in 2019. “We like to keep abreast of the latest tech- nology and market trends rather than miss- ing out on opportunities, and we’ve always been early adopters of the latest technology to improve energy effi ciency in our buildings. Our research indicated that our customers, a lot of whom work in DIFC, are passionate about technology and the environment and are very likely to switch to electric vehicles. It was obvious to our investors that we need a long-term commitment to electric vehicles. So, we opted for a DC fast charger for our fi rst installation,” says James. The ABB Terra 54 charger at Limestone House allows charging of two vehicles simul- taneously, through 50kW DC and 22kW AC charge points. “We were able to get spare capacity for this charger without the need to apply for additional load. We managed this by chang- ing the lighting in the building to LED. With more effi cient MEP and HVAC systems, we were able to reduce the energy consumption by 30%,” says James. The Limestone House is the fi rst property managed by Waseela to have an EV charger, and one of the only buildings with a high- speed charger in DIFC. This has helped the building’s leasing department generate inter- est from prospective tenants. “We anticipate at least 30% of the cars in our building to be electric models within the next two years. Considering our target customer profi le, it is important for us to off er EV charging as a value-added service and actively market the availability of EV chargers to potential tenants,” says James. The ABB Terra 54 charger at Limestone House allows charging of two vehicles simultaneously, through 50kW DC and 22kW AC charge points. The User interface of the ABB Terra 54 charger. LIMESTONE HOUSE, DIFC COVER STORY 26 PLANT / MACHINERY / VEHICLESwww.plantmachineryvehicles.comMAY 2021BRIDGESTONE FIRST STOP TYRE SERVICE CENTRE, JAFZA R ecently, Bridgestone Middle East and Africa installed an ABB AC charger at its fl agship First Stop tyre service centre in Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA) to off er EV charging as a complimentary service. The ABB Terra AC charger installed by Powertech is compatible with all electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. The charger is equipped with a Type 2 connector and is compatible with 4G, Wifi , Bluetooth and Eth- ernet. The fi rmware can be integrated with a software interface to enable Bridgestone to manage the charger and generate reports on charging sessions, user behaviour, etc. The charger also has an authentication function- ality that enables access authorization or restriction. Stefano Sanchini, regional managing di- rector, Bridgestone Middle East & Africa, ex- plains the reason for off ering the free service and choice of location for the charger: “Our fl agship store in Jebel Ali serves as a reference point for all our partners across the MEA region to benchmark their stores in terms of customer journey and experience. We wanted to lead by example and inspire our partners. As a one-stop destination for tyres, batter- ies, lubes and auto care services, the store attracts customers regularly for tyre rotation, nitrogen top up and ozone sanitisation. An additional service will only add value to a growing customer segment. An EV customer waiting for a tyre or autocare service at the store can use the waiting time to also top up the vehicle’s battery for free. Furthermore, there’s demand for EV chargers in the JAFZA area. Currently, we understand that there are only three EV charging stations inside the Jebel Ali Free Zone; having more chargers will benefi t the EV vehicles entering the free zone every day. Our free service is becoming popu- lar among EV taxi and limousine drivers.” As a global tyre manufacturer that will need to engineer and manufacture tyres for all types of EVs in the future, a charg- ing service is also a strategic decision for Bridgestone. The booming EV market and ecosystems refl ect the transformation of the global automotive industry on the cusp of disruption. “Electromobility is at the top every vehicle manufacturer’s agenda. Looking at the trends in EV development and their impact on the tyre industry, we asked ourselves what our specifi c contribution would be in the EV era. We see ourselves evolving from a tyre manufacturer into a major player in the global mobility ecosystem. We cannot remain the leading tyre brand in the MEA region if we do not improve our off ering for EV users. Furthermore, the tyre is not only a physical element that maintains the control and safety of the vehicle on the ground, but also a critical source of data collection that can help understand road conditions and driver behavior. Tyre manufacturers that understand how to work with such data will have a competitive advantage in the future,” says Stefano. The ABB Terra AC charger installed at the First Stop tyre service centre. Stefano Sanchini, regional managing director, Bridgestone Middle East & Africa. COVER STORY 27 PLANT / MACHINERY / VEHICLESwww.plantmachineryvehicles.comMAY 2021AC VS DC: THE FUTURE OF EV CHARGING T he public charging network in the UAE mainly comprises 22–43kW Type 2 AC charge points, 50–150kW CCS Combo Type 2 DC and CHAdeMO DC charge points. Home chargers typically comprise 3.6–22kW Type 2 AC charge points. This meets the current requirement for overnight and on- the-go charging for all electric vehicle models available in the UAE. DEWA recently installed a 150kW EV char- ger at the ENOC station, located at Expo 2020 Dubai. ION, the UAE-based joint venture between Bee’ah and Crescent Enterprises, has installed a 350kW high-power charging station, on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. These type of ultrafast chargers can fully charge vehicles in less than 15 minutes on average and reduce user waiting time drastically. This is why on- the-go charging infrastructure in the future will be dominated by DC fast chargers. Before the pandemic started in 2020, Powertech had several retrofi t projects in the pipeline for installation of ABB’s fast DC chargers, but they were scaled down to AC chargers due to budget constraints. “We executed a lot of projects in 2020, and the number of AC chargers increased, which is clear indicator about the necessity of these systems, particularly in Abu Dhabi where demand has been rising steadily. It is quite a challenge to convince customers to opt for DC fast chargers, because they do not face an immediate demand for DC chargers and the investment is signifi cantly higher than that of AC chargers,” says Arthi. ABB’s Terra family of DC fast chargers in- cludes the Terra 24 to the Terra 184 (20 to 180 kW), designed for quick, convenient charging of all electric vehicle models, including those equipped with high voltage battery systems. ABB also off ers high-power, modular chargers that provide 175–350kW DC fast charging. With ABB Dynamic DC power sharing tech- nology, power cabinets can be connected to charge one vehicle at up to 350kW and 500A or two vehicles simultaneously at up to 175kW and 375A. The charging speed depends on the battery of the vehicle and the power capacity of the charging station. “EV chargers can deliver high power out- puts, but vehicles may not be able to handle them. Supporting high charging capacities in the future will depend on the vehicle manufacturers and charging infrastructure developers. Electric supercars can be charged in 5–10 min with a supply of 175–350kW, but mass-market electric cars have smaller batteries optimized for 50–70kW DC charg- ing. Therefore, 50kW DC fast chargers with optional AC charge points will be the most common charging confi guration in the fu- ture,” says Arthi. The ABB Terra 54 charger with Type 2 AC, CCS Combo Type 2 DC and CHAdeMO DC charge points. A Tesla vehicle charged with the ABB Terra AC. COVER STORY 28 PLANT / MACHINERY / VEHICLESwww.plantmachineryvehicles.comMAY 2021Anup Oommen Editor T: +971 4 444 3448 Email: anup.oommen@itp.com Anup Nagpurkar Group Sales Manager T: +971 4 444 3573 M: +971 52 895 0931 Email: anup.nagpurkar@itp.com Ebonie Platfoot Events Manager T: +971 4 444 3689 Email: ebonie.platfoot@itp.com FOR NOMINATION ENQUIRIES: FOR SPONSORSHIP ENQUIRIES: FOR EVENT ENQUIRIES: CROWNING ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE MEP SECTOR WEDNESDAY 3RD NOVEMBER 2021 DUBAI, UAE MEPMIDDLEEAST.COM/AWARDS SAVE THE DATE FOR THE 15TH ANNUAL MEP MIDDLE EAST AWARDS PLATINUM SPONSOR GOLD SPONSORSNext >