Stuttgart, Munich At the beginning of the electric era, automotive suppliers were very happy. They landed a lot of prestigious contracts. For example, ZF equipped the EQC, the first electric SUV from Mercedes-Benz, with a complete drive package. Valeo was involved as a system supplier for other electric cars from the brand.
But that will soon be over. The Stuttgart car manufacturer largely developed the “Electric Drive Unit” itself for its electric cars that will be released from 2025. “Our vertical integration is increasing massively,” says a Mercedes manager.
In the future, the Swabians will design the axles, the two-speed gearbox, the silicon carbide inverters, the control software, the cooling system as well as the rotor and stator of the motor themselves. Only subcomponents such as the drive coils or heat pumps are still purchased.
Many other car manufacturers are likely to follow Mercedes’ “in-house” example. This is a major setback for suppliers. But they don’t want to admit defeat yet and are fighting against the loss of importance – with some good arguments, as was shown at the IAA Mobility in Munich.
ZF is developing an electric motor ready for series production that does not require magnets. In contrast to the magnet-free concepts of so-called separately excited electric motors (FSM) that are already available today, in the new ZF motor the energy for the magnetic field is transmitted via an inductive exciter within the rotor shaft. This is intended to make the engine uniquely compact – with the highest power and torque density. ZF boss Holger Klein speaks of a “world premiere”.
“We currently don’t see any competitor who has mastered this technology as compactly as ZF,” says Klein. Compared to common FSM systems, the inductive exciter can reduce losses during energy transfer to the rotor by 15 percent.
“We currently don’t see any competitor who has mastered this technology as compactly as ZF.”
(Photo: dpa)
In addition, the carbon footprint can be reduced by up to 50 percent. And no one else uses induction technology in the rotor. In the end, this saves nine centimeters of axial installation space. It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a lot in automobile manufacturing and creates space.
The goal is clear: To date, the automotive industry has primarily used synchronous machines in which a permanent magnet provides the “excitation” (PSM). The essence of the technical term: The PSM motors are based on magnets, the production of which requires rare earths.
The new ZF engine would make car manufacturers independent of this raw material and therefore more independent of China. An argument that could become very important in the future. In comparison to PSM, there are no drag losses caused by permanent magnets. This enables better efficiency, for example on long highway journeys at high speeds.
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However, its smaller competitor Mahle also announced a motor without magnets and therefore rare earths months ago and presented it again in Munich. Mahle boss Arnd Franz speaks of a wear-free, “perfect engine” that can be adapted to the respective vehicle class using a modular principle.
Economical engine allows for smaller batteries
Increasing efficiency in the drive train is currently the hard currency for major automotive suppliers. Because the less energy a motor needs and the more efficiently the battery is controlled with chips, preferably made of silicon carbide, the greater the range of an electric vehicle. Or alternatively: a smaller battery can be installed for the same range. This reduces costs because batteries are the most expensive component in an electric car.
German auto suppliers have left the important field of battery cells to the Asians and Americans. Suppliers are now trying to increase their importance on the market again with more efficient engines.
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Bosch is a little more reserved when it comes to rare earths. “If customers ask us for engines without rare earths, we will be able to develop and supply them,” says the head of the mobility division, Markus Heyn. But that doesn’t seem to be the case so far. In fact, production of conventional electric motors at Bosch has doubled this year.
Heyn makes it clear that customers are currently focusing on low engine costs rather than technology. “The bottom line is that we need electric mobility to be affordable,” says the manager. He doesn’t mention absolute numbers, just like ZF and Mahle. Nobody wants to be completely looked at.
Schaeffler has chosen another alternative strategy to reduce its dependence on China for rare earths. The company has secured supply contracts for rare earths with the Norwegian manufacturer Reetec for its engines. Schaeffler will invest more than 500 million euros in expanding and expanding production capacities for electric motors by 2026.
The supplier also develops magnet-free electric motors. “This year alone, a total of seven electric motor projects are starting in our plants for our customers,” says Matthias Zink, Schaeffler’s Automotive Board Member for the Automotive Technologies division.
Mercedes announces one-liter electric mobility car
However, with the production of electric motors, automotive suppliers have penetrated the original territory of their customers in the automotive industry. The aim is to use the engine to also use other components of the drive train. “It makes a difference whether I deliver just a part for 25 euros, 200 euros or the entire system for 600 euros,” said a developer at the stand of a large supplier in Munich as he explained the new technology.
Many manufacturers like Mercedes are putting a stop to the ambitions of their suppliers. In an electric car, the engine alone will never carry the image of a brand as it once did. But Mercedes has announced nothing more and nothing less than the one-liter electric mobility car.
The company wants to build the necessary next-generation drive train itself, with a range of more than 750 kilometers and a consumption of around 12 kWh/100 km, while reducing the use of rare earths by 90 percent.
ZF also supplies the complete drive train for the SUV. In future models, Mercedes wants to largely contribute this central component itself.
(Photo: Bloomberg)
Mercedes and other manufacturers also do not want to give up engine production in view of employment. Thousands of jobs are at risk for car manufacturers because an electric motor only requires a tenth of the working hours compared to a diesel engine.
In order to cushion the threat of job cuts in-house, many car manufacturers want to build at least the electric motors in combination with the entire drive train themselves, even if the aggregates from the car suppliers are cheaper due to the large quantities or – as the test by ZF and Mahle shows – technical advantages on the subject as well bring sustainability. In fact, despite demonstrative optimism at the IAA, neither Mahle nor ZF were able to name a launch customer for their engines. But there is great interest, say the bosses of both companies.
In the end, the price will probably decide. Bosch, ZF and Mahle are planning their engines in cost-effective locations in Eastern European countries, with cost structures that are not achievable for Mercedes in the engine plants in the Neckar Valley at home.
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