Modular Drivetrain Concept for Electrical Commercial Vehicles

摘要

Higher standards and stricter regulations regarding emissions, especially for traffic in Inner city areas, will lead to an increasing demand for commercial distribution vehicles with an electric drivetrain. Electric motors often exhibit higher engine speeds than internal combustion engines. As a result, new drivetrains with higher transmission ratios have to be developed for electric vehicles. At the beginning of the period of transition from conventional to electric drivetrains the number of electric vehicles is expected to be rather small. This makes cost-efficiency during the development process particularly Important. Therefore MAN, in cooperation with ZG GmbH, has developed a modular concept for the electrification of the drivetrain. The new concept presented in this paper allows an upgrade of existing axles with an additional planetary gear stage in order to meet the requirement of increased transmission ratios. The use of an existing, already tested and homologated axle as basis also enables a very short development process with significantly lower costs. By reducing the speeds of the electric motor, the planetary gear stage also helps preventing increased noise of the axle caused by the bevel gear set. Due to its modularity, this concept can in principle be applied to all types of driven axles regardless of the designated application. This paper shows the specification of the modular concept In detail. Furthermore investigations and test results regarding the NVH behavior will be presented.