Even without autonomous solutions, our machines run almost 24 hours, says Deepak Shetty, MD & CEO, JCB India – Express Mobility News

What are your views on alternative energies such as H-CNG, hydrogen and electricity in the off-road construction equipment industry?

JCB is way ahead of most of its competition when it comes to hydrogen technology and is absolutely focused on it. About 3 years ago, we launched the CNG backhoe, and a year and a half later, we launched the Indiathe first mini-electric excavator JCB is fully committed to alternative energies. We are continuously investing in R&D.

Are you also looking to improve localization levels to improve capacity utilization and debottlenecking?

We are already doing a lot, in fact for our IoT (Internet of Things) platform we work very closely with Wipro and Pricol. We have developed the complete solution in India. And now we’re putting it on our export machines and shipping it all over the world. The whole ecosystem is being developed and JCB is working closely with our partners.

What is your view on autonomous capabilities in the off-road construction equipment segment as this could offer near 24×7 operations?

Even without autonomous solutions, we have machines running 23-24 hours, which is called ‘hot seat transfer’. Our machines are really flogged by customers. But I think autonomous technology in India is still far, there is still a lot of opportunity in traditional applications. Autonomous is also an investment in drone technology, but whenever the demand comes we will be ready.

What about training women operators to work with heavy machinery?

The overall participation of women operators is lower, but JCB India is one of the first companies to connect with ITI to form the female batch of workers. We are working on how we can improve the participation of women in the handling of the machines.

What is the average life of the vehicles and the replacement cycle?

Whenever we think that the average service life is 10-15 years, we meet customers who have been using our machines for a long time, for example 1984. Our customers have been using the machines for much longer than passenger vehicles, for many of them it is not. only about the machine but the emotion. Usually the industry average it’s 10-15 years before they make the switch.

Finally, when do you see the commercial acceptance and maturity of hydrogen energy in India?

I hope it starts in the next 5 years. The government is also quite aggressive about the potential of hydrogen as a fuel, we also saw the same during the recently held G20 Summit. Compared to anywhere else in the world, I’m very optimistic about the hydrogen economy taking shape in India.