Benevelli and its full-electric soul
At Key Energy in Rimini, at the beginning of November, we had the opportunity to get to know Benevelli Group, an innovative company from Emilia, in the heart of Italian Motor Valley. There, we had a chat with Alberto Benevelli, CEO of Benevelli Group, a company with a turnover of about 7 million euro and […]
At Key Energy in Rimini, at the beginning of November, we had the opportunity to get to know Benevelli Group, an innovative company from Emilia, in the heart of Italian Motor Valley. There, we had a chat with Alberto Benevelli, CEO of Benevelli Group, a company with a turnover of about 7 million euro and strongly devoted to electrical applications, which exports its products all over the world. In addition, except thermal treatments, the company has strictly kept its production within its own walls.
Benevelli’s electric breakthrough
Gearboxes for combustion engines have been the starting point of the Italian company since the beginning of its activity, in 1962. Something, however, changed radically a few decades later, in 1996, «when– as stated by Alberto Benevelli – one of our customers could not find on the market a suitable powertrain for an electric vehicle he was manufacturing. So, driven also by the passion I have always had for ecology, I designed my first electric powertrain. We were obviously pioneers and already in the year 2000 we were able to handle power up to 20 kilowatts. Today we mainly address to special machines: from AGVs (mobile robots for intralogistics) to small tractors, up to machines for the vineyards or for harvesting fruit. Electric motors combine the efficiency of a mechanical system with the flexibility and versatility of hydrostatic technology. The electrification of this type of applications, among other things, no longer requires a fixed machine layout».
Growth opportunities and synergies
Thanks to a product range that includes electric transaxles, electric wheel drives with output torque from 300 to 1,000 Nm, as well as AMAC and SMAC electric motors capable of delivering from 20 to 500 kilowatts, Benevelli’s turnover has been growing steadily since 2010, when it struggled to exceed one million euro.
According to the CEO, however, «further growth is likeable, as we truly believe that the electric technology has great potential. It is no coincidence that we are expanding our plant to increase production capacity and we are also planning, not far away, an actual test track for vehicles».
This is the background to the agreement for the distribution of modular electric motors with Rama Motori, a company that is highly specialized in the widespread distribution of traditional engines to many OEMs. Among the synergies that could arise from this agreement is indeed the electrification of traditional engines. «This is where our expertise, accumulated over years of work in turning petrol or diesel engines into full electric, comes in. We are able to customize solutions based on customer requirements».
