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Perfect Interaction Siemens VDO Will Have a Hybrid Demonstration Vehicle on the Road by the End of 2006


May 2006
 Filed under: HYBRID TECHNOLOGY Car News | HYBRID TECHNOLOGY Headlines
Vienna, Austria (April 28, 2006): The demand for full hybrid vehicles continually is increasing, especially in the United States. To keep pace with customer demand, Siemens VDO is speeding up the development of this technically challenging hybrid powertrain option. "Our first full hybrid will be available in a demonstration vehicle as soon as the end of 2006," says Dr. Klaus Egger, member of the Siemens VDO Automotive Group Executive Management and head of the Powertrain business unit. The full, purely electric hybrid approach enables nearly emission-free driving.
The increasing popularity of hybrid vehicles is presenting the automobile industry with new challenges. This hybrid drive concept's engineering architecture is significantly different from conventional combustion engine vehicles structures. The need for perfect interaction of powertrain components extends far beyond the integration of the combustion engine and electric motor. Transmissions, motor controls, secondary equipment and energy accumulator, as well as the electrical consumers have to be adjusted to the complex energy flows of the combined drive. "We are speeding up the development at all system levels and are integrating more than 20 years of experience in numerous applications in electric and hybrid vehicles, such as the Ford Ranger and the Audi Duo," says Egger.

The challenges facing a hybrid system are significantly greater, as on-board electrical components are requiring higher voltages and current than previously seen in today's traditionally powered vehicles. When a full hybrid has the electric motor fully engaged, it must provide similar electrical energy output as a combustion engine, resulting in power increases of more than 100 Volts. At the same time, the electrical machines are becoming increasingly compact. In order to give vehicle manufacturers the greatest flexibility in electric motor design options, Siemens VDO is optimizing electric motors applications that already are available, such as the asynchronous and synchronous motor, and is developing new motor concepts. "We are combining the economic and reliable technology of asynchronous with the more compact, efficient permanent magnet synchronous motor design," explains Egger.

Through development, efficiency has to constantly increase across all powertrain components. There also is a need, among other things, for high performance energy accumulators and transmissions. Siemens VDO hybrid experts utilize their extensive engine and transmission controls background to integrate the vehicle electric drive. "In the future, we want to be able to offer customers all electric drive system components from a single supplier," explains Egger. With its sights firmly fixed on this goal, Egger says Siemens VDO already is working on a full electric system that transfers the drive to the wheels without using a conventional transmission.


Market potential

Siemens VDO believes the North American and Asian target markets have the greatest growth potential for hybrid drives, where the full hybrid approach is dominant. Nine out of 10 hybrid vehicles currently are sold in the USA. "Therefore, we are focusing our short-term development activities toward full hybrids and are developing specifically for different vehicle classes," says Egger. "We estimate the worldwide market potential for hybrids from 2012 forward to be approximately 1.5 million vehicles," he adds.

The picture is different in Europe where hybrid drives are still finding it difficult to compete for market share with the diesel or gasoline engine. The alternative powertrain is rather viewed as an additional technology with the potential to further reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions while simultaneously improving performance. "The gasoline engine still has a lot of development potential and the trend is toward ever-more efficient gasoline engines. Both the diesel and the gasoline engine are a long way from being exhausted," claims Egger. "For this reason, we are giving the mild hybrid solutions greater market chances over the medium to long term with regard to the costs/benefits ratio for vehicle engines in Europe."

Siemens VDO Automotive is a leading international automotive electronics and mechatronic supplier. The group is part of Siemens AG and generated sales of EUR 9.6 billion in the 2005 business year (30.9.).

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