GKN to Produce eDrives in China in Future

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GKN will produce its electric drives at its joint venture facility in Shanghai from 2018. The company forecasts that its Chinese joint venture, Shanghai GKN HUAYU Driveline Systems (SDS), will produce over one million eDrive units per year by 2025. The joint venture is currently preparing the production of the GKN Driveline Multimode eTransmission for a domestic car maker, which should be in operation in 2018.

SDS is also scheduled to start production of GKN Driveline’s first complete eDrive system from 2019. The unit comprises a motor, an inverter and an eAxle reduction gearbox within a single housing. It is planned to appear first in a European-produced small car that will be sold globally.

Continuous expansion of production

GKN plans to increase the scale of the eDrive component production hub over the next seven years. GKN forecasts that, by 2025, production of electric and hybrid vehicles in China alone will grow by more than 400% to just under four million vehicles per year. 

“We are seeing increased demand from automakers who want to work with GKN to develop the next generation of hybrid and electric vehicles, enabled by our state-of-the-art eDrive technologies. The growth of vehicle electrification is accelerating faster in China than anywhere else globally, so it is a logical step for GKN and SDS to establish China as a major hub for the development and production of eDrive systems”, says GKN’s CEO, Phil Walsh.

In addition to the increased investment in eDrive production capability, GKN and SDS want to expand local resources in the new technical centre in Shanghai. Xue Jinda, Managing Director at SDS in Shanghai, emphasizes, “We have unrivalled experience of bringing sophisticated driveline technologies to the Chinese market, working closely with GKN’s engineers. We are now targeting clear market leadership of eDrive systems in China. Our investment in new production and development facilities will enable us to take advantage of the rapid acceleration in demand for electrified drivelines.”