Transmission technology today: Efficient, comfortable, automatic and fit for
electrification
9th International CTI Symposium “Innovative Automotive Transmissions, Hybrid
& Electric Drives” (29th November and 1st December 2010, Berlin)
“The level of complexity in modern transmissions has reached a stage that was
unimaginable a few years ago", stated Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ferit Küçükay (Technische
Universität Braunschweig) at the opening of the 9th International CTI Symposium
“Innovative Automotive Transmissions, Hybrid and Electric Drives”. Developments
such as an 8 or 9-speed automatic transmission show, according to Küçükay, the
enormous leaps being made in transmission technology. With over 900 participants and
90 presentations, he viewed this year’s CTI Symposium as reflecting the diversity of
modern transmission and drive technologies. Although electric mobility is occupying
the sector to an increasing extent, he believes that the money continues to be earned
from conventional transmissions and from their potential for improvement. “The future
of the automobile will be characterised in the not so distant future by a variety of
vehicles and diverse transmission technologies”, according to Küçükay.
Two-thirds of the improvements in efficiency at BMW are attributable to innovative
transmissions
“The use of energy is the major trend for the development of future transmission and
vehicle concepts” stated Dr. Manfred Klüting (BMW AG). The constantly increasing
figures for person kilometres travelled pull sustainable, environmental and socially
acceptable concepts with them, which also make sense economically according to
Klüting. The increasing level of urbanisation, as well as the developments in the BRIC
countries alter and differentiate customer requirements and technologies even further.
“There will not be one ideal solution", says Klüting. Global requirements and different
national framework conditions are too diverse for this to be possible. While the
classical status symbols “cylinders” and “horse power” have increasing lost relevance,
factors such as “efficiency” and “environment” have, in his view, become increasing
important. BMW already reacted to this new trend years ago with the packet of
measures “BMW Efficient Dynamics” and was able to realise reductions in CO2
emissions of 25 percent between 1995 and 2008. Around two thirds of this success has
been achieved through innovation in transmissions, according to Klüting.
Alongside downsizing and engine supercharging, Klüting believes that a stable trend in
the automobile industry has been the further development of the transmission. For
example, BMW have achieved an increase in efficiency of eight percent through the 8speed transmission, according to the BMW developer. He stated that the potential for
manual transmissions is not as great but has not yet been exhausted. It is true for all
types of transmission that their weight must be kept as low as possible. “Even if the
conventional transmission will continue to play a role for a long time, electric mobility
is coming in the future”, said Klüting. However, the success of electrification concepts
is dependent more on energy storage than on energy convertors. “Conventional
transmissions will continue to initially play an important role in the electrification of
the drive train”, explained Klüting. The cost of hybridisation must also not be
forgotten. He believes that this not only poses the question of how modular the
electrification process can be designed but also which type and how many
transmissions are required for the different concepts such as range extenders or hybrids.
In view of the huge costs involved in electrification, the aim of reducing expenditure
must not be forgotten, concluded Klüting.
Future viability of four-wheel drive transmissions
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The increased demand for SUVs has also seen the demand for all-wheel drive
technology picking up, declared Gerd Bofinger (Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG).
However, he believes that the high fuel consumption of all-wheel drive vehicles means
that the future viability of this technology must be examined. Porsche AG has a long
tradition in the development of all-wheel drive vehicles. In the financial year 2010, 67
percent of the vehicles sold by Porsche were fitted with a four-wheel drive system. This
demonstrates that customers continue to be convinced by the advantages of this
technology, according to Bofinger. He anticipates that the proportion of all-wheel drive
systems in vehicles sold by other automobile manufacturers is also set to rise.
Modern all-wheel drive systems must not only guarantee a balance between agility and
stability, and provide excellent manoeuvrability but also be efficient, explained
Bofinger. The hang-on coupling and weight savings in the drive train due to their
lightweight construction have enabled Porsche to already achieve significant increases
in efficiency. In comparison to other all-wheel drive vehicles, he believes that Porsche
is already currently the most efficient. In terms of environmental responsibility,
Porsche is still not satisfied with what has been achieved and further potential could
result from the optimised use of the axes and through the possibilities offered by hybrid
drives. “Porsche has already shown with the GT3 R Hybrid, how efficient and powerful
a hybrid can be”, emphasised the Head of Transmission Development at Porsche. By
integrating electric engines into the drive train and making further improvement in
energy recuperation, this electrification should, according to Bofinger, offer further
chances for achieving increased performance in all-wheel drive technology.
Transmissions in the Indian market
An overview of the special features of the Indian market was provided by Dr. Tim
Leverton (Tata Motors Ltd.). Since deregulation in 1991, the Indian automobile
industry has experienced a period of enormous growth. Alongside Indian players,
almost all of the international OEMs are represented today in India. Although India is
still a young market, its customers are already discerning, emphasised Leverton. In
order to be successful in the Indian market, he believes it is necessary to understand the
market conditions there. The enormous growth in population has created an increased
demand for mobility and economic growth has increased purchasing power. There has
been major investment in the transport infrastructure, while urbanisation and the
opening up of rural areas have changed the mobility demands in India. There continues
to be strong demand for small vehicles in the Indian market, yet young purchasers, in
particular, are prepared to pay a premium for comfort and image. Leverton split the
Indian buyer’s market into three customer groups. Alongside social climbers and firsttime buyers, he believes that the market for commercial vehicles and those for
commercial use (company cars, taxis etc.) is decisive. However, due to the high number
of large families, an increasing number of larger, inexpensive vehicles are also in
demand. A special feature of the Indian market is, according to Leverton, the high
concentration of inner city traffic. This not only makes increased safety requirements
necessary but he also views this as being very interesting for start-stop technologies in
the long term. In addition, fuel prices are also significant for the Indian market.
Leverton reminded visitors that when compared to purchasing power, India has the
highest petrol prices. In contrast, in the area of CO2 reduction, there is not yet a great
level of awareness in India and there are also no legal regulations. The proportion of
vehicles with manual transmissions is extremely high due to cost factors. However,
there is increasing demand for automatic transmissions in cars, particularly for DCT
and CVT, while in the area of commercial vehicles like buses there is a great interest in
alternative fuels and hybrid options for the Indian market, according to Leverton.
Optimised CVTs – fuel-efficient and comfortable
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Kazutoshi Noma (Jatco Ltd.) addressed the special aspects involved in CVT
developments. Traditionally, Japan has had the highest proportion of CVTs. However,
Jatco have also expanded in the last few years into the emerging markets. In particular,
Noma believes that the traffic conditions in large Asian cities have clearly shown the
advantages of CVTs and promise a greater level of market interest in future. Jatco
continues to work on optimising this technology and will achieve production quantities
of five million units in the next few years. At the moment, Jatco produces 2.8 million
CVTs. The company also expects further cost efficiencies in combination with an
increase in production. Noma also emphasised the existing potential of this technology
for further CO2 reductions. Due to the optimisations of the new CVTs from Jatco, the
fuel consumption footprint and handling can be increased further according to Noma.
The new CVTs are around ten percent smaller, 13 percent lighter and have 30 percent
less friction loss.
Conventional transmissions remain decisive
One conclusion from the podium discussion at the 9th CTI symposium “Innovative
Automotive Transmissions, Hybrid & Electric Drives” was that conventional
transmissions are still far from being replaced by electric motors. However,
transmission and drive technologies will differentiate themselves even further in terms
of the electrification of the drive train and the different requirements for global mobility
and driving comfort. The five participants in the discussion, Sebastian Feldmann
(PRTM Management Consultants), Dr. Manfred Klüting (BMW AG), Dr. Tim
Leverton (Tata Motors Ltd.), Kazutoshi Noma (Jatco Ltd.) and Ulrich Plewnia (GiF
Research Center China Co. Ltd.), were in agreement that the electric motor will only be
able to make a breakthrough when the cost differences in comparison to conventional
transmissions become smaller. Leverton and Plewnia are also not as optimistic about
the introduction of electric cars onto the Chinese and Indian markets as the plenum was
when surveyed via TED. Although electric mobility may gain a foothold more quickly
in the megacities, they believe that massive problems with electricity provision still
dominate the situation in China and India so that the additional consumption from
electric cars would only exacerbate the situation even further.
A further conclusion drawn by those involved in the discussion was that while
hybridisation and automation continue to forge ahead in Europe and North America,
the cost advantages will result in continued demand for manual transmissions in the
emerging markets. “It is necessary to differentiate between the old and new markets”,
emphasised Klüting. “Reductions in consumption are gaining ever more importance in
Europe and the USA, and for that reason multi-speed automatic transmissions will be in
demand”.
Energy providers drive the progress of electric mobility
Dr. Norbert Verweyen (RWE Effizienz GmbH) shed light on electric mobility from the
perspective of the energy provider RWE. The construction of a Germany-wide
infrastructure network for electric mobility and the marketing of mobility products are
important elements for achieving greater energy efficiency. He pointed out that by 2015
up to 300,000 electric vehicles are expected in EU metropolitan areas. In order for
electric mobility to make a breakthrough in the market, he thinks it will require
comprehensive cooperation between energy providers and automobile manufacturers to
be able to iron out the issues within the entire system encompassing electric cars and
intelligent charging infrastructure. To enable electric cars to also be offered on a
Europe-wide basis, Dr. Verweyen sees common standards for plug connections
between vehicles and charging stations as being indispensible. Energy providers are
also working here on roaming services and on guaranteeing cross-border, uniform
payment systems. Automobile manufacturers face the challenge, according to Dr.
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Verweyen, that customers will only accept electric cars that provide comparable levels
of comfort to combustion engines and allow for quick charging. RWE has already
gained important infrastructure partners such as APCOA, the ADAC or service station
operators and car rental companies to enable them to begin the roll-out of the charging
infrastructure in Europe.
Electric cars change the world of transmissions
Electric and hybrid drive systems, as well as the challenges posed by electric mobility
were also topics this year in four of the ten specialist forums and determined the nature
of the plenary session on the second day. Although the market for electric cars is
anticipated to remain small up to 2025, the supplier industry must react to the trend for
electrification, emphasised Dr. Wolf-Ekkehard Krieg (ZF Sachs AG). Electrification
will make other business models necessary. ZF Sachse is already reacting to this trend
with the production of hybrid and electric drive systems. “A reduction in CO2
emissions of 90 percent must be achieved in the next 40 years”, according to Masanori
Ueda (Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.). He believes that this can only be achieved with electric
and fuel-cell vehicles. Batteries are here the key for the success of electric cars. Energy
provision, energy storage and the optimisation of mobility through intelligent traffic
projects are, according to Ueda, decisive for electric mobility. The new concepts for liion batteries are already able to save twice as much power and energy as conventional
li-ion batteries, while at the same time, the coated li-ion batteries are only half as big,
reported Ueda. In his opinion, the battery industry must succeed in reducing costs
across all areas.
“In the last ten years, we have delivered more innovations than in the previous 50
years”, according to Bernd Eckl (GETRAG Corporate Group), who pointed to the huge
leaps in efficiency in dual clutch transmissions. The cost of this technology remains a
challenge even when the efficiency and handling of DCTs is far superior. As the central
control system for parallel and serial hybrids, as well as for range extenders and electric
vehicles, transmissions will affirm their importance even with an increasing level of
electrification, emphasised Eckl.
In general, this year’s CTI Symposium reflected the positive atmosphere in the
automobile industry. The participants and exhibitors praised the event as “the most
important meeting place for transmission and drive specialists”. The Symposium will
be celebrating its 10 year anniversary next year with an especially attractive programme
from the 5th to 8th December 2011 (Main symposium, 6th to 7th December 2011), to
be held once again in Berlin.
The results from this year’s TED survey can be found here:
http://www.konferenz.de/presse/ted_getriebe2010
Additional information and images are available on the internet at:
http://www.getriebe-symposium.de
http://www.konferenz.de/fotos-drivetrains2010
Contact:
Dr. Nadja Thomas
Senior Press officer
Car Training Institute – A Division of EUROFORUM Deutschland SE
Prinzenallee 3
40549 Düsseldorf, Germany
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E-Mail: nadja.thomas@car-training-institute.com
Internet site: www.car-training-institute.com und www.getriebe-symposium.de
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