Montréal, September 17, 2014

TM4, a subsidiary of Hydro-Québec, makes a significant breakthrough in China

TM4, a subsidiary of Hydro-Québec, is pleased to announce that the joint venture it set up with its partner Prestolite Electric Beijing (PEBL) has made a significant breakthrough in China. Over the past few weeks, the company has received orders from major Chinese bus manufacturers for more than 350 SUMO electric motor systems.

“These orders demonstrate the commercial potential of the SUMO systems,” said TM4 president Claude Dumas. “It is a significant step forward that paves the way for other agreements on the Chinese market, where half of the world’s buses and heavy trucks are built, as well as on other markets.”

After two years of cooperation and exceptional performance and reliability test results, the joint venture created by TM4 and PEBL, Prestolite Electric Propulsion Systems (PEPS), received a firm order for 250 SUMO HD electric motor systems to power 12- and 18-metre buses for Foton, the largest manufacturer of buses in Beijing, China’s capital.

PEPS also received an order for 100 SUMO HD and MD systems for Bonluck Bus of Nanchang, capital of the Jiangxi province. The systems will equip buses of six and eight metres.

The SUMO systems are designed to propel buses from 6 to 18 metres, shuttles, tractors for semi-trailers and intermediary or heavy trucks. Direct-drive SUMO motor systems reduce the complexity and the cost of the propulsion chain as well as lowering electricity consumption by 10% or more, leading to additional battery autonomy.

“The success in China is a direct result of TM4’s excellent development work,” said Pierre-Luc Desgagné, Vice President – Public and Government Affairs at Hydro-Québec. “These results consolidate Québec’s leadership role in transportation electrification.”

About TM4
A wholly owned subsidiary of Hydro-Québec, TM4 was created in 1998 to market the electric propulsion technology developed by Hydro-Quebec’s research institute, IREQ. Today, it provides customers in the transportation sector in some twenty countries its expertise as well as electric and hybrid motor products with its patented technologies. TM4 supplies motors, generators, power electronics modules and vehicle controllers. TM4 is based in Boucherville, Québec. For more information, visit www.tm4.com.

About PEPS
Thanks to a manufacturing and marketing license if TM4 products, as well as PEBL’s sales and service network throughout the Chinese market, PEPS offers clean transportation solutions and sustainable mobility to manufacturers of trucks and buses.


For more information:

Marc-Antoine Pouliot
Hydro-Québec
pouliot.marc-antoine@hydro.qc.ca
514 289-3173