Sustainability
The Race to E-Mobility
Conventional combustion engines still dominate the global transportation sector. But the transition to alternative drive systems has already begun. And technologies from Voith help ensure that efficiency doesn’t take a back seat when switching to environmentally friendly mobility on the road, on the rails, and in maritime applications.
“The future of the automotive industry is electric.” Maybe one day, historians will look back on this statement by Joe Biden, which the US president uttered in May 2021 while visiting a Ford factory, as a milestone in the evolution of e-mobility. The US government plans to invest around $174 billion in the development of this segment in the coming years. The aim of the initiative is to position the United States alongside China as a driver of the mobility revolution. This is because 80 percent of the production capacity for the batteries used in electric cars is currently located in the East Asian country. In addition, China is increasingly focusing on fuel cells and has officially included the promotion of hydrogen in its national development plans with the adoption of the country’s latest five-year plan in 2021.
You don’t need a crystal ball to understand the implications of this statement – in the coming years, the world’s two strongest economic powers will be locked in a race for supremacy in the field of e-mobility.
Equally clear is the fact that in our globalized economy, companies based in the US or China will not be the only ones to benefit from this competition. Any company that has already done its homework in this segment and offers technologies that transform electricity into emission-free or at least low-emission mobility will enjoy growing demand in the years ahead.
With the barrage of product innovations it has initiated in recent years, Voith Turbo, a global player in various areas of drive technology and in the development of new mobility concepts, is playing a key role in shaping this transformation process. The technology company is already in a position to offer its customers e-mobility solutions today, and in all the sectors in which Voith Turbo has been at home for decades – on the road, on the rails, and in maritime applications.
Emission-Free on the Road
VEDS
Excellent power availability and long ranges are increasing the demand for Voith’s e-motor system.
One of the focal points of such discussions is the field of public transportation, where an increasing number of municipalities are converting their bus operations to e-mobility. For example, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in Los Angeles plans to exclusively operate its routes with e-buses by 2030. In Shenzhen, China, this is already a reality. Here, more than 16,000 electric buses ferry the residents of the city with its 13 million inhabitants from one place to another every day. Alexander Denk, Vice President PM E-Mobility at Voith Turbo, can easily continue this series: “In the Netherlands, new government RFPs call exclusively for buses with electric drive systems. Conventional combustion engines are no longer even considered.” Similarly, barely any other RFPs are issued in Scandinavian countries. Likewise, Chile aims to have completely converted its urban mass transit system to electric buses by 2040.
This is why Denk sees great potential for the Voith Electrical Drive System (VEDS), the new high-performance electric motor concept for individual and articulated buses or double-deckers. “We took a holistic approach with VEDS,” Denk explains. All of the components are designed to be perfectly compatible with each other – starting with the hardware, such as the electric motor, traction converter, and high-voltage power distribution unit, through to the drive control system and energy management system. This ensures that the system is extremely reliable and also makes it possible to achieve a particularly compact design, which in turn facilitates integration of the system into a vehicle. This is even the case when the VEDS is used in continuously lowfloor accessible buses, making it the perfect drive system for the mobility revolution. “There are only a few major bus manufacturers who equip their vehicles with their own systems. Thanks to our systems approach, VEDS is therefore helping the many smaller manufacturers make the switch to e-mobility. The large manufacturers that have developed their own power management system including accessory load concept can also purchase only the electric motor and converter from Voith. This flexible approach means we have the right solution for everyone,” Denk emphasizes. This philosophy allows the system to use power from battery systems from a wide range of manufacturers. “Connecting it to a fuel cell is also not a problem,” adds Denk.
The first customers are already in the process of converting their fleets to Voith’s VEDS. For example, Northern Irish bus manufacturer Wrightbus has selected Voith as its exclusive partner to supply the electric drive system for its new generation of battery electric and fuel cell buses in Europe. Translink, the operator of the buses, plans for its entire fleet to be emission-free by 2040. Scottish bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis Limited (ADL) has also announced that it will have its first hydrogen-powered double-decker bus with VEDS on the road this year.
“We don’t want to stand in the way of manufacturers’ inhouse developments,” Denk notes. “That’s why we can also just supply them with individual system components, if they so desire. We offer our customers maximum flexibility. Only the motor and converter form a fixed unit for us.” This is because these two components play a decisive role in the outstanding efficiency of the VEDS, which ensures the vehicle always has plenty of power available and a long range, even during challenging driving cycles. And not just in urban traffic. This is because Voith also offers the system in a more powerful version featuring optimized efficiency for intercity bus operation.
As Denk sees it, this is far from the end of the list of potential applications: “A garbage truck places very similar demands on a drivetrain as a city bus, namely relatively short travel distances with frequent stops and ever-changing load conditions.” This is why Denk can also imagine the use of an appropriately adapted VEDS in many other commercial vehicles. “It’s certainly a challenge, but we’re already working on appropriate solutions.”
Commercial vehicle operators around the world are already facing the problem that their fleets will be permitted to emit less and less carbon in the coming years. Beginning in 2025, for example, the fleet-wide target in Germany will have to be 15 percent lower than in 2021. And this figure is even set to rise to 37.5 percent from 2030 onwards.
It is true that the law is, in principle, technology-agnostic. Looking at how commercial vehicle fuel efficiency has developed over the past two decades reveals, however, that development departments are slowly reaching the limits of what is technologically feasible in the realm of conventional internal combustion engines. In the near future, alternative drive systems such as the VEDS will therefore play an increasingly important role in commercial vehicle fleets.
Eco-Friendly on the High Seas
eVSP
The eVSP is much more than just the evolution of a proven principle.
The shift toward electrified propulsion systems is also clearly evident on the water as well, with Norway leading the way. The very first electric-powered ferry began operating here back in 2015. Norway’s government plans to only have zero-emission ships operating off the coast and in the fjords of the Scandinavian country by the year 2050. As a result, demand for propulsion concepts that meet these requirements is growing – and Voith is along for the ride. On behalf of the Østensjø shipping company, Voith is currently building four new service operation ships for the offshore wind industry in Spain. Each of the 80-meter-long vessels will be powered by two eVSPs, the latest generation of the renowned Voith Schneider Propeller, which, for the first time, is operated using electricity.
“The eVSP is the systematic advancement of an operating principle that has proven itself many times over,” says Dr. Dirk Jürgens, Vice President Research and Development at Voith, and continues, “low exhaust emissions will also play an increasingly important role in the shipping industry. We’re focusing on systems that make completely zero-emission propulsion possible. Since the eVSP also has the permanent-magnet synchronous motor built directly into the propeller, the system is much more efficient than conventional power transmission using gears.” This is because this design principle allows the electric propulsive power to be transmitted with a very high degree of efficiency. The performance advantage is remarkable – comparative model tests have shown that the eVSP requires around 15 percent less energy than a conventional ducted propeller during operation.
eVSP – Quieter, Greater Comfort, and Suitable for Use with a Fuel Cell
In addition, the eVSP is significantly quieter than conventional propulsion systems and therefore makes the time spent on board more comfortable. This was achieved through a variety of measures, including completely eliminating the gearbox. In other words, there is no transmission or gears that could cause vibrations to occur. Incidentally, this also frees up installation space, which benefits the overall cost of building a ship.
The Voith Turbo Marine development team was also able to further increase the famously fast response to control commands in the eVSP. “This allows us to achieve much better dynamic positioning,” says Jürgens. This feature is particularly important for offshore service operations, making the eVSP an ideal propulsion system for the vessels that Østensjø is currently having built at shipyards in Spain. When it comes to propulsion, the shipping company is initially relying on the conventional technology of a diesel-electric propulsion system. But all of the systems are already equipped for a conversion to fuel cells – and the eVSP can also easily handle power sources of all kinds.
The fact that Voith has struck a chord with shipbuilders with its eVSP concept is also reflected in the impressive list of inquiries that Dirk Jürgens has already received for the system: “All over the world, shipbuilders are seeing the need to use alternative propulsion systems in maritime applications as well. The eVSP offers an attractive and efficient solution in this respect, as it makes zero-emission shipping possible on the basis of a tried-and-tested technology.” And last but not least, there’s also the FernSAMS project, in which Voith is leading the development of remote-controlled tugboat technology (see page 34). In this case as well, the focus is naturally on the eVSP as the propulsion concept.
With our core competence in drive systems and technologies, we pursue the same goal worldwide: maximum efficiency. For over 150 years of excellence, we have been pursuing the system concept, the perfect interaction of all components. This includes our customers, whom we support with personal service around the world – because being successful together is and has always been our driving force.
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