ENPlus Promotes Development of Autonomous Electric Yard Tractor for Ports

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] ENPlus, a graphene-based secondary battery and special vehicle company, announced on the 8th that it will carry out the project "Development and Demonstration of Autonomous Cooperative Driving-Based Cargo Transport System," supported by the Korea Institute of Marine Science and Technology Promotion.

They will develop an electric autonomous driving "Yard Tractor." In a project worth a total of 34.9 billion KRW aimed at establishing automated ports in Korea, ENPlus will receive approximately 10.1 billion KRW in research and development funding from the government. They plan to develop an eco-friendly autonomous yard tractor equipped with a self-developed graphene-based supercapacitor (storage battery).

The yard tractor is a large vehicle necessary for moving and transporting containers at ports or harbors. ENPlus is responsible for the overall business related to the development of autonomous cooperative driving cargo transport equipment, including ▲design and development of electric-driven port yard tractors ▲development of 80kW-class power supply units ▲design and development of electric-driven battery packs ▲design of WAVE communication-based V2X communication modems.

The project is led by Total Softbank, a company specializing in automation, logistics, and information technology (IT). A consortium of eight universities and companies, including ENPlus, Incheon Port Authority, SM Shipping Gyeongin Terminal, Seoul National University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation, SUM, Global NC, and the Korea Automotive Technology Institute, has been formed.

Total Softbank, the lead research and development institution, is a software development specialist with over 30 years of experience in solution development and implementation in the shipping, port, and logistics sectors. It possesses top-tier technology and development capabilities for automated port operation systems in Korea. Based on its differentiated software development capabilities, Total Softbank will build control systems, advance terminal operation systems, and develop digital twin platforms.

The demonstration project aims to ultimately develop Korean-style port autonomous cooperative driving cargo transport equipment and infrastructure linkage technology. The goal is to achieve commercialization by 2024 after at least six months of demonstration through research and development. The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries plans to establish optimized operation scenarios under various environments and conditions and conduct demonstrations at SM Shipping Gyeongin Terminal.

An ENPlus official stated, "Since we have prior research and development experience related to port yard tractors, it will help us secure relevant technologies and know-how to carry out the project."

He added, "We will do our best to successfully proceed with the project and localize safe automated port technology by utilizing the manufacturing know-how accumulated over many years in the special vehicle field and graphene-based supercapacitor technology."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.