The world’s demand for GKN Automotive’s expanding eDrive portfolio, which encompasses a range of driveline technologies for electrified vehicles, has increased markedly over recent years. The company currently has five major eDrive mass production projects in progress in China and Europe.
GKN Automotive has pioneered advanced eDrive technologies since 2002, developing experience of systems integration and production and beginning with transmissions, then eMotor and transmission systems, through to fully integrated motor, gearbox and inverter systems. The company has supported numerous OEMs with their evolving line-ups of electrified vehicles, including BMW, Mitsubishi, Porsche and Volvo.
“It is always a proud moment when GKN Automotive reaches a significant production milestone, and this one is particularly significant as it underlines our leadership in the fast-growing eDrive segment” said Hannes Prenn, COO of GKN Automotive ePowertrain. “The strength and breadth of our current eDrive order book is a testament to our heritage of eDrive innovation, development and integration, as well as our ability to meet the exacting quality and production targets set by our customers.”
GKN now offers semi-integrated two-in-one eMotor and transmission systems, such as the Electric Rear Axle Drive (eRad) in the Volvo XC60 and XC90, and two other eRad plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicle projects due to enter series production in the next 12 months. The company is currently supplying a volume OEM with a semi-integrated three-in-one (incorporating eMotor, transmission, and inverter) eRad project for vehicles destined for China and Europe. And later this year, GKN Automotive will supply a global premium OEM with a semi-integrated three-in-one eDrive system.
Common across the portfolio of products is low weight, compact packaging, exceptional efficiency and high power and torque, with scalability enabling designs to be integrated across a wide range of vehicle platforms and packaging requirements.
GKN Automotive is also collaborating with Drive System Design and the University of Nottingham on an £8 million project to design and develop the world’s lightest and most efficient electric vehicle powertrain suitable for the volume market. The initiative is match-funded by the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC). The APC is an organization created by the UK Government’s Automotive Council to fund UK-based research and development projects, aimed at developing low-carbon emission powertrain technologies.
ACeDrive (Advanced Cooling and Control of High Speed e-Drive) aims to achieve the level of technology and performance outlined in the Automotive Council’s roadmap for 2030. The core targets for the resulting eDrive technology are a 25 percent reduction in both packaging size and cost, a 20 percent drop in weight, and a 10 percent increase in efficiency compared to current equivalents, and production readiness by 2023.
GKN Automotive’s global production and supply capability has seen significant investment to increase capacity in recent years, enabling the company to localise manufacture and supply to best meet customer requirements.
A state-of-the-art 18,000sqm facility in Bruneck, Italy employs over 600 people, and is dedicated predominantly to eDrive production. In China, GKN Automotive’s joint venture – Shanghai GKN HUAYU Driveline Systems (SDS) – is significantly increasing its annual eDrive production from its Shanghai plant and a newly-constructed state-of-the-art facility in Pinghu, Zhejiang Province.
Further supporting increased vehicle electrification requirements in Asia are world-class manufacturing facilities in Japan; one in Tokoname City, and the other in Nagoya, which supplies Mitsubishi with significant volumes of Multimode eTransmission system for its Outlander PHEV, one of the world’s most popular plug-in vehicles.
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