Quick, Efficient and Pragmatic: ZF’s Solutions for Electric Mobility

Authors

Dr. Dirk Walliser, on behalf of Wolf-Henning Scheider,
Senior Vice President Corporate R&D, Innovation and Technology,
ZF Friedrichshafen AG, Friedrichshafen

Year

2020

Print Info

Fortschritt-Berichte VDI, Reihe 12, Nr. 813

Summary

The automotive industry is facing technological challenges like never before which are unmatched by most other industries and across the global economy: by 2021, CO₂ emissions for passenger cars in the European Union must be reduced to 95 grams per kilometer, and by 2030 the limit value is to be reduced by a further 37.5 percent. If the industry does not meet these very ambitious climate targets, the EU could impose severe penalties.
As one of the world's largest automotive suppliers in the field of driveline technology, ZF Friedrichshafen AG is pursuing a pragmatic, technology-open approach and developing solutions to effectively support manufacturers in this immense task. This includes innovative concepts for the next plug-in hybrid generations as well as new driveline solutions for purely electric vehicles as the company believes that both systems will exist alongside one another in the coming decades.
ZF sees the greatest potential in the plug-in hybrid in the short and medium term, but at the same time as developing this technology further, the company is not losing sight of the optimization of the purely electric drive. As a system supplier with broad expertise in all areas, the company is well positioned to achieve significant efficiency increases across many areas. The latest development and a carryover directly from the purely electric Formula E racing series are semiconductors made of silicon carbide for power electronics. With them, ZF can almost halve the charging time. In two to three years, they are expected to be the real "industry first" and will be used in production passenger cars.
Read more about ZF's technology-open path to electromobility in the following article.