Global technology company ZF has presented its latest generation of electric drives for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles. The systems were presented to international media in Friedrichshafen on November 21st.
With 2 million e-motors produced, the high-voltage vehicle electric system with 800-volt technology will go into series production this year, the German technology group said. The new generation of e-drives will be available on the market as a complete system starting in 2025.
With their modular concept, the new ZF e-drives support automotive manufacturers in customizing the further electrification of their entire model range, it said. For end customers, the new technologies offer higher efficiency, more power, and shorter charging time. The new generation of e-drives is based on a modular overall concept with electric motor, inverter, transmission, and software.
“We are focusing on three basic systems that meet our customers' main requirements, namely efficiency, performance and cost, even in the standard version,” said Markus Schwabe, Product Line Manager Electrified Powertrain Systems at ZF. “On this basis, we can optimally implement further individual customer requirements in e-vehicles of all segments.”
The company said it has received great interest from manufacturers in both the passenger car and commercial vehicle sectors, reflected in its high order backlog in the high-voltage business. ZF claims to have the industry’s highest order backlog for e-drives with a volume of €25 billion.
With the new generation of e-drives, ZF provides fully integrated electric drive systems, the company said.
“Thanks to sophisticated internal interfaces, the new, extremely compact design allows system or component adaptations to be made with little effort. In addition, the design has very high structural rigidity, which enables superior noise behavior,” said Dr. Otmar Scharrer, Head of Development for Electric Drive Technologies at ZF.
The company said it will bring individual components into series production earlier. Innovations, such as power electronics, e-motor, gearbox and high-voltage converters at component level make their contribution to the advanced overall system.