ZF unveils hybrid transmission

Acknowledging that demand for full-electric vehicles is stagnat­ing in both European and North American markets, German au­tomotive system giant ZF will reveal a new hybrid version of its TraXon 2 automated trans­mission for heavy trucks at this autumn’s IAA Transportation.

Previewing the product ahead of launch Professor Dr Peter Lai­er, commercial vehicles director of ZF Friedrichshafen AG, said ZF was prepared to support di­verse incremental steps and regional variations in demand for technical solutions during the transition to zero-emissions transport.

“Thanks to our technolo­gy-open approach, the resulting broad product portfolio and the flexibility of our production fa­cilities, we can react quickly to market changes. This enables us to combine technologies and offer our customers the optimal solution in a timely manner at every step of the transforma­tion.”

In other words, he sees op­portunities for providing a solu­tion that allows trucks to oper­ate in a zero-emissions mode for some of the time: in urban areas, for instance, while run­ning on diesel power for the ma­jority of a journey, or simply us­ing an electric motor working in concert with a diesel to reduce emissions overall.

Hybrid drivelines have been displayed by heavy truck manu­facturers and tier one suppliers in the past but have not made it into mainstream production. They have appeared in city­buses but have generally per­formed well below expectations, with the highest profile example in the British market, the New Routemaster, now being widely judged a commercial and oper­ational failure.

This solution might well be welcomed by operators who feel that the charging infrastructure is not expanding fast enough to keep pace with the demand from the heavy truck sector. Non-hybrid TraXon transmis­sions are currently supplied to DAF and MAN.

ZF is also transferring technol­ogy developed in the car market to heavy trucks. Its cubiX vehicle motion control software is now available for commercial vehi­cles. Increasing automation, is making electrified and con­nected technologies for vehicle motion control increasingly im­portant. Vehicle manufacturers are looking for unique selling points, especially in the chassis area, in terms of functionality, streamlined development and standardized interfaces

The ZF cubiX vehicle motion control software optimizes driv­ing behaviour in regard to stabil­ity, safety, precision and perfor­mance. It interfaces with virtual driver systems and the vehicle actuators – whether or not they come from ZF – to ensure opti­mum vehicle motion.

ZF also showed a truck fit­ted with a system to undertake lane-changes automatically, or to provide assistance for the driver when this is done manu­ally.

Supported by radar and cam­eras, the system monitors the traffic situation in automated driving mode while continuous­ly monitoring the driver. Using acoustic and visual warnings, the system warns of potential­ly dangerous lane changes or carries them out automatically in non-critical situations. Again, this uses camera and radar systems first developed for the passenger car market.