Business news

Experts forecast increase in the use of plastics for manufacturing commercial vehicles in the next 3 – 5 years

.

According to the analytical session Comtrans-Arena, organized within the Moscow Comtrans exhibition on September 7 – 11 the main drivers of growth on the market of commercial transport within the next 3 – 5 years shall be vehicle fleet renovation and focus on decarbonizing. Experts believe that this in turn may lead to a more widespread use of plastic parts in freight and LCV segments.   

Today, 54.4% of motor trucks in Russia are over 20 years old.  These vehicles are not only outdated but also worn out. Their owners will be looking for new models in the nearest future. Increase in production of commercial vehicles by 2025 can be forecasted on the level of +10-15% - these are the numbers announced at the analytical session.

“Currently there are a number of trends in the manufacture of commercial vehicles: active implementation of telematics systems, green agenda and use of high-tech materials allowing to create a functional, ecological and comfortable driver space. For instance, applying polymer compounds with ‘soft touch’ effect for large interior parts. One of the top Russian producers of freight vehicles – KAMAZ, uses such materials already produced by R&P POLYPLASTIC. Supplies are demonstrating a steady increase”, noted Ekaterina Smirnova, Deputy Sales Director of Trade House “Polyplastic”.

The expert forecasts that in the coming 3 – 5 years demand for high-quality plastics in the segment of commercial auto industry will be growing faster than the production of new vehicles. Main reasons for that include not only the substitution of outdated car fleet but also a radical shift to green technologies: according to the objectives of the Russian Government, by 2030 217 thousand electric cars will be produced in Russia. Total vehicle weight is crucial for such automobiles. The lighter it is, the less electric energy it consumes. And this is yet another reason for an increase in demand for engineering plastics as plastic parts while preserving all required physical-mechanical properties are 25 - 30% lighter than metal components.

Director General of R&P POLYPLASTIC, leading Russian compounder, Aleksandr Pavlov is confident that “demand for high-tech plastics will be constantly rising. Leading country’s auto manufacturers are working on creating electric cars, electric and hydrogen buses – interesting advanced models were presented at Comtrans by GAZ and KAMAZ. At the same time R&P POLYPLASTIC at Tier 2 supplier is actively developing polymer compounding materials for ‘green’ commercial vehicles”.

Specialists of R&P POLYPLASTIC have developed the first Russian nanocompound enabling painting of automobiles by method of electrophoresis. Before that painting of  plastic parts required a separate line. The Gorky Automobile Plant was the first to take advantage of the new material – in May 2021 the plant started production of new Gazelle NN with splashers made of Armamid PA GF 15-1 ETM-AS-901 based on polyamide 6 with carbon nanomaterials. By the way, it was Gazelle NN, which received the Gran Prix Award of the “In the driver’s seat” magazine as the best LCV vehicle.