Mack Trucks, one of North America’s largest producers of heavy-duty trucks, has selected the Allison 4500 Rugged Duty Series (RDS) as the exclusive transmission currently offered for its new compressed natural gas (CNG)-powered Mack Granite model. The 4500 RDS fully automatic transmission has been offered in the Mack Granite diesel... Read more →

AISIN Corporation, the fifth-largest Tier 1 auto supplier in the world, announced today that it will launch two new production lines with a total anticipated investment of more than $200 million at its AISIN North Carolina Corporation (ANC) facility in Durham, North Carolina. The new lines will incorporate a high... Read more →

Nissan unveiled its new approach to electrified powertrain development, which it calls “X-in-1”. Under the approach, core EV and e-POWER powertrain components will be shared and modularized, resulting in a 30% reduction, compared to 2019, in development and manufacturing costs by 2026. Through the X-in-1 approach, Nissan aims to increase... Read more →

Stellantis will invest a total of $155 million in three Kokomo, Indiana, plants to produce new electric drive modules (EDM) that will help power future electric vehicles assembled in North America and to support the goal of 50% battery-electric sales in the US by 2030. With more than 25 battery-electric... Read more →

Inmotive has signed a joint development agreement with Suzuki to develop an Ingear 2-speed EV transmission (earlier post) for a future Suzuki electric vehicle. The Ingear is an efficient 2-speed transmission designed specifically for EVs. Many EV powertrains in the market are single-speed; typically, there are two helical reduction gears... Read more →

Toyota Motor Europe (TME) has started production of its 5th-generation hybrid powertrains for the new Corolla. The latest Toyota hybrid electric low-emission powertrains will be made at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Poland (TMMP) and Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK (TMUK) for the new Corollas manufactured at TMUK and Toyota Motor Manufacturing Turkey... Read more →

ZF is presenting new electric drives for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles. This latest generation of e-drives advances power density and energy efficiency due to numerous innovations at both the component and system level. These include the compact design of the drives, power electronics, and a resource-saving use of... Read more →

Allison Transmission introduced the eGen Force electric hybrid propulsion system for tracked combat vehicles. Designed for 50-ton tracked vehicles, the eGen Force meets the requirements for the US Army’s Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV) program. The eGen Force is also scalable to 70-ton tracked vehicles, making it capable of meeting... Read more →

General Motors will invest $760 million at its Toledo, Ohio propulsion manufacturing operations to prepare the facility for production of drive units that will be used in future Ultium-based battery electric trucks, including the Chevrolet Silverado EV, GMC Sierra EV and GMC HUMMER EVs. Toledo Propulsion Systems will be GM’s... Read more →

Volvo Trucks unveiled a completely new, fully electric rear axle at the IAA Transport show in Hannover, Germany. The new e-axle integrates the electric motors and the transmission into the rear axle, thereby freeing up space for more batteries. More batteries mean longer range, which creates opportunities for long distance... Read more →

Allison Transmission, a leading designer and manufacturer of conventional and electrified vehicle propulsion solutions for tactical wheeled and tracked defense vehicles, and medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles, has been awarded a $6.55-million contract by the US Army’s Ground Vehicle Systems Center to design, develop and test an electric hybrid sub-system... Read more →

Drive systems supplier GKN Automotive has reached a major milestone with more than two million electrified vehicles using its eDrive technology on the road globally. Rising demand for electric vehicles has enabled GKN Automotive to increase the range and volume of its products to its existing customers, which make up... Read more →

Voith will present two products at IAA Transportation 2022 in September that promote an economical and sustainable mobility shift for heavy-duty trucks and buses: the latest Voith Electrical Drive System (VEDS) and the Plug & Drive H2 storage system. VEDS. Since introducing it in 2019, Voith has continued to develop... Read more →

Through investments in two key joint ventures at Trémery-Metz, Stellantis has deployed a vertical integration strategy designed to increase control of the global electrification value chain. Emotors, a 50/50 joint venture between Stellantis and Nidec Leroy-Somer Holding (a Nidec Group company), will start production this year of its range of... Read more →

From 2025 onwards, the next generation of BMW e-drives will be manufactured in its engine plant in Steyr, Austria—with both production and development on site—with eventual annual production capacity of more than 600,000 units. The BMW Group will be investing around €1 billion in competence development in this area between... Read more →

Allison Transmission is introducing its new electric axle, Allison eGen Power, for fire and rescue vehicles at Interschutz 2022 (20 – 25 June) in Hanover. Emergency One, a British manufacturer of fire and rescue vehicles, has integrated the eGen Power 100D into the new E1 EV0 platform on a MAN... Read more →

Rheinmetall, together with its Chinese joint venture KPSNC, has won a major order for transmission housings from a world-leading maker of electric vehicles. Set to run for six years, the order package encompasses millions of transmission housings. Consisting of an aluminum alloy and produced using the pressure casting method, the... Read more →

Proterra has selected Eaton’s eMobility business to supply a 4-speed medium-duty electrified vehicle (EV) transmission for the company’s ProDrive drivetrain used in Proterra ZX5 electric transit buses. The medium-duty 4-speed transmission, to be used in city buses in North America, addresses the primary issue related to single-speed drives that have... Read more →

Volvo Trucks has increased the shifting speed of its intelligent and automated I-Shift gearbox by up to 30%. The quicker response provides improved driveability and smoothness to the driving of both diesel and electric heavy-duty trucks. The significant driveability improvement, which has been added to drivelines at all emission levels,... Read more →

Vitesco Technologies has landed a €2-billion contract to supply its new generation axle drive EMR4 (Electronics Motor Reducer) to Hyundai Motor Group. The order was already mentioned in March at Vitesco Technologies’ annual press conference without naming the customer. The highly integrated 400 V/160 kW 3-in-1 unit will be used... Read more →

Magna continues its transformation toward electric mobility with the start of production of its mild hybrid transmission for BMW Group. Magna’s new 7-speed, mild hybrid dual-clutch transmission is the latest to be featured exclusively on BMW Group’s compact class, which underpins all its front-transverse vehicles. The contract between Magna and... Read more →

Volvo Trucks North America is introducing the Volvo I-Torque. Now available as an option with the latest D13 Turbo Compound engine, the Volvo I-Torque is a unique powertrain solution enabling the truck to operate optimally with up to a 31% increase in fuel efficient speed range, achieving up to 8.5... Read more →

Ford announced that it intends to invest up to £230 million (US$316 million) at its Halewood vehicle transmission facility to transform it to build electric power units for future Ford all-electric passenger and commercial vehicles sold in Europe. Halewood will be Ford’s first electric vehicle component in-house assembly site in... Read more →

Stellantis will invest a total of $229 million in three of its Kokomo, Indiana, plants to help the company reach its goal of achieving 40% low-emission vehicle sales in the US by 2030. This announcement, which will retain 662 jobs, comes three months after the company laid out its long-term... Read more →

Allison Transmission, a leading designer and manufacturer of conventional and electrified vehicle propulsion solutions for tactical wheeled and tracked defense vehicles and medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles is accelerating the development of electrification technology for integration into the US Army’s ground combat vehicle fleet including tracked Infantry Fighting Vehicles and... Read more →

Certain applications can pose challenges for an electrical powertrain, when towing trailers, tackling steep ascents with a heavy load on board, or driving longer freeway stretches at high speed, the battery charge drops rapidly. Almost all electric cars have only one forward gear, but in such situations a multi-stage transmission... Read more →

Volvo Cars and its parent company Geely Holding will create a joint venture under the name Aurobay for its powertrain operations, as the companies proceed with their earlier announced plans to merge these into a new, stand-alone business. The new company will be a global supplier of complete powertrain solutions... Read more →

Allison Transmission and Emergency One (UK) Ltd, the market leader in the United Kingdom in the manufacture, service and support of fire and rescue vehicles, announced a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The two companies will integrate the Allison eGen Power 100D electric axle into Emergency One’s fire rescue and... Read more →

Cummins Inc. and Cummins Westport Inc. announced that the ISX12N+Endurant HD N powertrain from its Integrated power portfolio is now available for heavy-duty customers, delivering a fully integrated natural gas powertrain. The combination of the ISX12N near zero natural gas engine and the Endurant HD N 12-speed automated transmission from... Read more →

Power management company Eaton’s Vehicle Group is developing gearing solutions for electrified vehicles (EVs). Leveraging its expertise in producing transmissions and contract manufactured gear-sets for passenger and commercial vehicles, the Vehicle Group aims to be a leader in the global design, development and supply of EV reduction gearing. The new... Read more →

ZF Group has received several large-scale orders worth several billion euros from North American vehicle manufacturers for its automatic 8-speed PowerLine transmission—including the largest individual commercial-vehicle-related order in company history. In 2023, production will start in Gray Court, South Carolina. ZF consequently is expanding its transmission plant, investing more than... Read more →

Following the recent release of its HPD E crate motors and associated kit to electrify the classic Mini, Swindon Powertrain is now extending its electrification range with its standalone E-Transmission for EVs. The single-speed gearbox is a plug-and-play and affordable solution to purchase a transmission to work with existing electric... Read more →

Bosch is introducing a continuously variable transmission (CVT) with Bosch push belt, specially designed for electric vehicles: the CVT4EV. CVT4EV is a compact variable ratio transmission that supports the performance demands of electric vehicles for a wider audience. The system improves the economy and performance of the electric powertrain, while... Read more →

In Brazil, Gerdau and Braskem signed a partnership with the Technological Institute of Aeronautics (ITA) and Alkimat Tecnologia to develop innovative solutions for the electromobility segment using additive manufacturing (3D printing). The project will target components for vehicle transmission systems, with the potential to leverage the expansion of Brazil’s electric... Read more →

UK-based electrified powertrain engineering consultancy Drive System Design (DSD) announced a strategic expansion of its test facilities, adding two further test cells for high-performance hybrid axles and e-machines. The move reflects a growing demand for outsourced test capacity suitable for electrified powertrains, as the industry prioritizes its development in response... Read more →

Allison Transmission, the largest global manufacturer of medium- and heavy-duty fully automatic transmissions and a supplier of commercial vehicle propulsion solutions, including electric hybrid and fully electric propulsion systems, launched eGen Power, Allison’s new series of fully integrated electric axles. The eGen Power product family, previously referred to as AXE... Read more →

Inmotive, a Canadian-based automotive supplier, has launched its patented Ingear two-speed transmission. Invented and designed for the next generation of electric vehicles, the Ingear features a simple and durable design that enables a more efficient powertrain, with extended range, at lower cost. Inmotive recently completed its extensive pre-production testing of... Read more →

General Motors announced that it will design, develop and manufacture a family of five interchangeable electric drive units and three motors, known collectively as “Ultium Drive.” GM said that Ultium Drive and its modular architecture will help it transition to a fully electric lineup, and provide significant advantages over GM’s... Read more →

A Tier-2 supplier headquartered in Belgium, BMT Drive Solutions—acting under the brand name of VCST—is involved in the mass-production of gears & shafts (from 20,000 up to 2 million parts/year.pgm) for major OEMs (such as VW, Ford, Porsche, DAF or Cummins) & Tier 1s. Although the main applications covered by... Read more →

Lucid Motors provided some details about it proprietary, in-house developed electric drivetrain that will power the forthcoming pure-electric luxury Lucid Air. With up to 1,080 horsepower available in a dual-motor, all-wheel-drive architecture, the Lucid Air is able to achieve quarter-mile times as low as 9.9 seconds on a consistent, repeatable... Read more →

Vitesco Technologies, formerly (until September 2019) the Continental Powertrain Division, has started the market launch of its fully integrated electric axle drives (EMR3) for Dongfeng Passenger Car Corporation. For Vitesco Technologies this launch is yet another market success and milestone, following the start of production of the EMR3 electric drive... Read more →

BorgWarner is building an Integrated Drive Module (iDM) for Ford’s new all-electric Mustang Mach-E SUV. The iDM comes complete with a BorgWarner thermal-management system and gearbox integrated with a motor and power electronics from other suppliers, and showcases the company’s system integration expertise. The iDM comes complete with a BorgWarner... Read more →

BluE Nexus Corporation (earlier post) and Toyota Motor Corporation will collaborate to prepare for the accelerated adoption of electrified vehicles by working together to increase their competitiveness in products related to electrification as well as to fortify their sales structure, including their technical support and services, among others, rendered to... Read more →

Mercedes-Benz AG is grouping all drive system competencies across the group in the new unit “Mercedes-Benz Drive Systems” within the company. The transformation of Mercedes-Benz AG and its products in line with CO2-free mobility for the future brings with it significant changes for the drive system in particular. Therefore, the... Read more →

The BMW Group has opened the Competence Center for E-Drive Production at its largest European manufacturing location in Dingolfing. Having produced electric powertrain components in Dingolfing since 2013, the BMW Group is now expanding its capacity significantly. Production of the highly integrated BMW e-drive—final assembly Bavarian Minister-President Markus Söder and... Read more →

After more than two years of preparation, Toyota Motor Manufacturing West Virginia (TMMWV) produced Toyota’s first hybrid transaxle in North America this previous week. An initial $113-million investment was announced in late 2017 for TMMWV to yearly produce 120,000 hybrid transaxles, which replaces the conventional transmission in hybrid vehicles. The... Read more →

Groupe PSA and Punch Powertrain have signed an agreement to establish a second Joint Venture and to expand their strategic partnership in the field of electrification. Punch Powertrain holds majority control in the new Joint 61/39 Venture, which will design, manufacture, and supply Punch Powertrain’s DT2 dual clutch transmission for... Read more →

The latest 2020.1 release of powertrain design and optimization software from Ricardo encompasses a new approach to the design and optimization of transmission systems for all types of vehicle—including the latest hybrid and pure battery electric concepts, along with a wealth of new features and capabilities. The 2020.1 Ricardo Software... Read more →

Eaton Cummins Automated Transmission Technologies is expanding its Endurant automated transmission lineup with the introduction of the all-new Endurant XD series. The Eaton Cummins Endurant XD series are purpose-built, high-performance automated transmissions designed for on-highway applications with high gross combined weight ratings, such as double and triple trailer trucks, and... Read more →

Volkswagen’s ID.3 EV uses the APP310 e-drive unit to transmit power to the driven wheels using an extremely compact 1-speed gearbox. The mechanism used has only a small number of cogs. This 1-speed gearbox is part of the electric drive system for the modular electric drive matrix (MEB) and is... Read more →