ZF and ISE Plan to Collaborate to Supply Electric Hybrid Drive Systems and Components to North American Vehicle Market

23 June 2009

ZF Friedrichshafen (ZF), a leading manufacturer of vehicle driveline and chassis technology, and ISE Corporation (ISE ), a leading designer and manufacture of series hybrid propulsion systems and components for heavy duty vehicles, plan to collaborate on the development and supply of a complete line of parallel-electric hybrid drive systems and components for the North American vehicle markets.

ZF and ISE have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that outlines plans for an intended Strategic Collaboration and Development Partnership. The combined expertise of the two companies will result in a product portfolio of series and parallel hybrid-electric drive systems and components.

Collaboration details of the MOU include ZF’s intention to utilize ISE expertise for integration engineering, sales, subsystem assembly, and service support for ZF Hybrid systems and components into the North America commercial vehicle market. Respectively, ISE intends to develop and market an ISE-branded parallel hybrid drive system for the North America commercial vehicle market that incorporates ZF Hybrid Systems & Components.

ZF has developed several parallel-hybrid configurations for various applications for the transit bus and truck industries, and as a result of this agreement, North American sales of ZF Hybrid Systems and Components will be sold through ISE and jointly marketed by both companies.

ZF is one of the world’s leading automotive industry suppliers specializing in driveline and chassis technologies. ISE is a leader in the area of heavy-duty electric series hybrid drive systems, with offerings including gasoline hybrid, fuel cell hybrid, diesel hybrid and battery-dominant drive systems.