Future mobility will be diverse and remain split into different powertrain concepts for even longer. Industry experts in Frankfurt/Main will discuss the opportunities presented by this diversification.
Manfred Homm, Senior Vice President R&D E-Mobility, Schaeffler Group
Christiane Köllner | Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH
Climate change is forcing a rethink of conventional mobility. But how much powertrain diversity is feasible? With these words, Dr. Johannes Liebl, Editor-in-Charge of ATZ, MTZ and ATZelektronik, opened the international MTZ symposium "The Powertrain of Tomorrow 2019". Tomorrow's powertrains are becoming more electrified, with increasingly complex intertwining factors having to be taken into account, says Liebl at the conference, which takes place in collaboration with Volkswagen and Schaeffler for the 13th time.
Schaeffler's 30:40:30 scenario
Sustainable solutions are only possible if the complexity of the overall problem is considered, says Manfred Homm, Senior Vice President R&D E-Mobility at Schaeffler, in his keynote speech. He advocates a "cradle to grave" approach that covers the entire vehicle life cycle from production and use of the car through to disposal. Homm's presentation showed that, for example, a hasty switch to electric mobility would not be beneficial in terms of CO2 emissions since – for one reason – the consumption of fossil energy for the production and operation of electric vehicles is still excessive. Therefore, a strategy that paves the way for a broad range of powertrain technologies must now be pursued.
In order to achieve a more reliable strategy for drive technology development for this complex problem, Schaeffler has developed a scenario tool that can estimate the effects of different powertrain scenarios. As a result, Schaeffler is using the 30:40:30 scenario, which assumes that 30 percent combustion engines, 40 percent hybrid powertrains and 30 percent purely electric drives are installed in new vehicles in 2030.
Drivability and charging with 800 volts
Besides the costs, the most important factors in achieving a breakthrough in electric mobility are range and having enough available infrastructure. 800-volt technology offers great potential here, as Dr. Klaus Rechberger, Head of HV Integration and Energy Management at Porsche, explains in his keynote speech. Today's DC fast-charging stations for electric cars usually operate at a voltage of around 400 volts. Depending on the charging capacity in kilowatts, the charging time for a range of 400 kilometres is currently 40 to 80 minutes. According to Rechberger, raising the voltage level to 800 volts would greatly reduce the charging time to under 20 minutes for the same range.
In his keynote speech, which deals with the design of driving characteristics with virtual methods, Dr. Peter Schöggl, Skill Area Manager Attributes, Virtual Vehicle, ADAS/AD and Racing, AVL List GmbH, emphasises that in addition to fast and convenient charging, drivability also plays a key role for customers.
About the MTZ symposium "The Powertrain of Tomorrow"
Other topics on the first day of the conference include the electric drivetrain in the new Audi e-tron, Mahle's urban demonstrator MEET under real driving conditions, and the hybrid model of the new hydrogen internal combustion engine from Keyou.
The 13th MTZ "Powertrain of Tomorrow" conference points out the many opportunities presented by the recent diversification in powertrains. This international conference focuses on the combination of powertrains, based on components and vehicle integration. The MTZ symposium takes place in Frankfurt from 23 to 24 January 2019. More information will follow in the coming days.