The Powertrain of the Future – In Context of New Vehicle Concepts and Regulatory Requirements

Authors

Dr. Stefan Sommer, Chief Executive Officer, ZF Friedrichshafen AG, Friedrichshafen

Year

2017

Print Info

Fortschritt-Berichte VDI, Series 12, No 802

Summary

The automotive industry is currently undergoing a massive transformation. New mobility concepts are emerging from a new understanding of mobility. Driverless and connected vehicles are penetrating the market. These vehicles will no longer serve only traditional vehicle concepts and architecture. New concepts will emerge that rely primarily on electric drives. Electrification will continue to advance due to regulatory requirements regarding pollutant emissions. With the goal of drastically reducing both accidents and emissions to what we call double Vision Zero, ZF is facing the challenge of using its system expertise in driveline, chassis and safety technology to create future driveline solutions. Decisive is the question of how fast e-mobility will develop and what shape will it take. Is it more of an evolution, meaning a gradual transition with mainly hybrid drives? Or more of a revolution, meaning a rapid change that moves increasingly to all-electric drives? It is too soon to try to accurately determine the respective market shares of various drive solutions within a certain framework. Future driveline solutions must therefore have a modular design that is flexible enough to be integrated into existing systems. This is the only way to produce the corresponding volumes that can be modified. Conventional, mild hybrid and plug-in hybrid configurations are all possible with the basic transmission design of the ZF 8-speed automatic transmission. The all-electric drive is based on an axle drive that can be integrated into an axle assembly. Different configurations can be developed based on this modular design. ZF can thus also apply its unique chassis and safety expertise in developing driveline solutions.