ZF and CONTINENTAL Agree upon Hybrid Drive Cooperation
2010-05-21 Source：www.chinabuses.org
Summarize：ZF Friedrichshafen AG, the automotive supplier, and Continental have concluded an agreement on the cooperation in the fields of the development and production of commercial vehicle hybrid drives. To this end, ZF, as the systems supplier, is in charge of the system integration for the hybrid system; the latter is made up by a parallel hybrid transmission by ZF, a lithium-ion battery accumulator, and system electronics by Continental. Moreover, ZF is - in addition to pure hybrid technology, i.e. transmission, electric motor, and power electronics - responsible for system integration and controlling.
www.chinabuses.org: ZF Friedrichshafen AG, the automotive supplier, and Continental have concluded an agreement on the cooperation in the fields of the development and production of commercial vehicle hybrid drives. To this end, ZF, as the systems supplier, is in charge of the system integration for the hybrid system; the latter is made up by a parallel hybrid transmission by ZF, a lithium-ion battery accumulator, and system electronics by Continental. Moreover, ZF is - in addition to pure hybrid technology, i.e. transmission, electric motor, and power electronics - responsible for system integration and controlling.
ZF Hytronic
The parallel hybrid concept can be implemented in a particularly profitable manner thanks to the utilization of existing vehicle resources in the driveline, explained Rolf Lutz, Group Executive of the Commercial Vehicle and Special Driveline Technology division, ZF Friedrichshafen AG. "With the latest generation of powerful Li-ion batteries, we create the very prerequisites for electrically assisted driving of hybrid buses and trucks." adds Jörg Grotendorst, head of the Business Unit Hybrid Electric Vehicles Continental Division Powertrain. Thus, it is in particular the sensitive inner city areas that, in the near future, can be relieved from pollutant and CO2 emissions.
The cooperation stipulates that Continental - already using Li-ion batteries for passenger car volume production applications- further develops the battery technology with ZF; volume production is scheduled for 2011. The energy-accumulating systems are developed by Continental in Berlin and by ZF in Friedrichshafen. Plans include an energy-accumulating system that can be flexibly integrated in different vehicle concepts. Here, an energy accumulating component provides an output of 60 kilowatts and consequently, is more powerful than the current energy accumulators used in the passenger car sector. The hybrid system has been set up in such a way that the combustion engine is primarily supported during setting off and in the lower speed range (boosting). Two energy accumulating components are currently planned for city bus applications; they will dispose over 120 kilowatts total since these vehicles will also benefit from setting off in the pure electrical driving mode. All in all, plans envisage a five-digit number of hybrid systems.
The system is flexibly designed and can be used to realize both mild hybrids and full hybrids, which use the entire range of hybrid functions: the start-stop function, regeneration of braking energy (recuperation), support during acceleration (boosting), and electric starting. This way, vehicles equipped with full hybrid systems manage to get by with up to 30 percent less fuel in inner city traffic.
In the future, these advantages might become even more important, for example when legal regulations further restrict the use of combustion engines in inner city areas. One advantage for vehicle manufacturers who already use ZF transmissions is the following: All hybrid variants by ZF, based on the parallel hybrid concept, can be integrated into the existing driveline like manual or automatic transmission systems. The additional system weight due to wiring, battery, and cooling system is moderate and is almost counterbalanced by savings of similar scale (by downsizing the combustion engine, omission of 24 V battery, and starter. The powerful generator and the hybrid battery allow for the use of electric PTOs which consume fuel only while being operated (power-on-demand).
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