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Volkswagen | Restructuring of Development Functions
Volkswagen Passenger Cars is restructuring its management board and is merging central functions in Technical Development. Until now, new software development processes for electric vehicles have been tested and established in the New Mobility department. In the future, technical project management for the model series will be managed exclusively by Technical Development, headed by Kai Grünitz. This will help to improve software development for electric vehicles based on the MEB architecture in Wolfsburg and will reduce development time. Thomas Ulbrich, who has been a Member of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen Brand for New Mobility since 2022, will take over as Chief Technology Officer for the Volkswagen Group in China.
Autoneum | Commercial Vehicles Business Unit Established
Autoneum has established a new Commercial Vehicles Business Unit to expand its existing truck business and to increase revenue and profitability in this vehicle segment. Initially, the Business Unit will focus on the commercial vehicles business in Europe and South America, as these two regions have a comparable customer base. “Autoneum's components for commercial vehicles are currently available in Europe and South America. At the same time, Autoneum will be investigating business opportunities in Asia and North America,” explained Valéry Beulné, Head of the new Business Unit.
Schaeffler | Contracts of Zink and Schüler Renewed
The Supervisory Board of Schaeffler AG has renewed the contracts of Executive Board members Matthias Zink and Jens Schüler for a further five years each, effective January 1, 2025. Zink has been a member of the Executive Board and CEO of Schaeffler's Automotive Technologies division since 2017. Schüler was appointed to the Executive Board in 2022 and now serves as CEO of the global Automotive Aftermarket division, which was renamed Vehicle Lifetime Solutions in March 2024. Zink began his career in 1994 as a test engineer with the LuK Group. Schüler joined Schaeffler in 2003 after graduating with a degree in economics from the University of Mainz (Germany).
Materi'act | PCR Recycling | Joint Venture Agreed
The Forvia subsidiary Materi'act has announced the establishment of a joint venture with PCR Recycling. The agreement will focus on accelerating the development and delivery of recycled polymer raw materials for sustainable automotive products. Applications include door panels, center consoles, instrument panels, and any other automotive products where plastic is commonly used. “We are on a mission to redefine the way the automotive industry sources the materials used in vehicles,” said Jean-Paul Michel, Executive Vice President Interiors at Forvia.
RWTH Aachen University | Expansion of Battery Research
The Chair of Production Engineering of E-Mobility Components (PEM) of RWTH Aachen University has started the fourth subproject for the establishment and expansion of the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Battery Cell Production in Münster. As part of the FoFeBat4 project, a consortium of numerous research institutions is working on the integration of key technologies for sustainable and efficient battery cell factories of the future. The emphasis is on solid-state batteries, which have increasingly become the focus of industrial research in the recent past. “So far, none of the three solid electrolyte systems - oxide, thiophosphate, and polymer - has been able to clearly establish itself as the most promising solution,” said PEM Director Prof. Achim Kampker. The aim of the project is therefore to answer the fundamental questions regarding the production of solid-state batteries and at the same time to create the necessary infrastructure.
Edag | Bosch | Project-based Cooperation
Edag and Bosch have signed a memorandum of understanding regarding project-based collaboration in complete vehicle engineering. With this agreement, the companies intend to offer their competencies jointly to the market in the future in order to complement each other's expertise. “Ever stricter environmental and sustainability requirements and trends such as the software-defined vehicle are leading to increasing complexity in vehicle engineering. By using our mutual synergies, we can work with our customers to bring new vehicles to the road even faster and more cost-effectively in the future,” said Johannes-Jörg Rüger, president of Bosch Engineering. Cosimo De Carlo, CEO of the Edag Group, explained: “The collective competencies of Edag and Bosch Engineering will act as accelerators of technological innovations.”
Farasis Energy | JMEV | Electric Car with Sodium-ion Batteries
The Chinese carmaker JMEV, which is majority owned by Renault, has presented the JMEV EV3 Youth Edition, which it says is the world's first electric vehicle to be powered by sodium-ion batteries. The compact car has a range of 251 km and the battery has an energy density of 140 to 160 Wh/kg. The battery is a combination of layered oxides and hard carbon has a discharge capacity retention of more than 91 % even at temperatures as low as -20 °C. Farasis Energy is already planning to launch its second-generation sodium-ion batteries in 2024. These are projected to have an energy density of 160 to 180 Wh/kg, with plans to increase this to 180 to 200 Wh/kg in 2026 in order to cover a broader spectrum of applications.
Vitesco | Series Application of High Voltage Box
Vitesco Technologies is preparing the series application of its High Voltage Box. According to the company, the modular system will make charging, converting, and distributing electricity in electric vehicles cheaper by integrating several functions into one unit, depending on the design: the on-board charger for AC charging on the grid with up to 22 kW of charging power, a DC current converter that provides power for the vehicle's 12-V electrical system, and power electronics that distribute high-voltage power in the vehicle and facilitate fast DC charging at up to 800 V. Chips with Silicon Carbide (SiC) semiconductors enable charging with an efficiency of more than 95 %.
Joynext | Black Box for Automated Driving
Joynext has developed a black box called the Data Storage System for Automated Driving (DSSAD) for automated driving functions from SAE Level 3. The driving data storage system enables the continuous recording of complex and extensive vehicle data structures such as CAN, GNSS, and a variety of sensor data such as camera, V2X, lidar, and radar data, the company reports. There will be both a hardware-only and a software- only solution available on the market. The Europe-wide DSSAD regulation is currently being developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).
McLaren | Convertible Version of the Artura
McLaren is now offering a convertible version of its Artura super sports car. The system output of the PHEV powertrain is 515 kW, made up of 445 kW from the 3-l V6 gasoline engine and 70 kW from the axial flux electric motor. Power is transferred through an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission. The Artura Spider sprints from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.0 s and its top speed is electronically limited at 330 km/h. The battery consists of five lithium- ion modules and has a capacity of 7.4 kWh, providing an electric range of 33 km.
University of Stuttgart | Assistance System for Driver Takeover
Researchers at the University of Stuttgart have developed an assistance system for automated vehicles that ensures that human drivers can reliably and safely take back manual control of the vehicle from the automated driving function. The function of the Situation Awareness Manager is both to support the driver in taking over control of the vehicle and to verifiably document the takeover process for drivers, carmakers, and authorities. Before the takeover process, the assistance system transmits all the information that is necessary for correctly assessing the situation. The amount of time required, for example to change the driving position, is also calculated. The assistance function will only hand over responsibility for the vehicle when the human driver can answer the recognition requests sufficiently correctly.
Dräxlmaier | Lighting Under Surfaces
The automotive supplier Dräxlmaier has developed a technology that enables lights and touch controls to become visible under hard and soft surfaces. In an armrest, for example, a semi-transparent sensor film is attached below the surface. Behind the film there are LEDs and light guides which provide the desired lighting scenario. A functional PET film with conductor tracks printed on it is attached to the back of the carrier in a clean room. All control elements are displayed only by the LEDs, thus eliminating the need for physical buttons or similar controls. The surface can be made of a variety of soft materials, such as fabrics, leather, artificial leather, or a foamed material. For implementation behind hard surfaces, a semi-transparent film is also attached to a plastic carrier. The electronics can be programmed in such a way that the controls only appear when approached and visually display a swipe or tap gesture when touched.
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Companies + Products. ATZ Worldw 126, 32–35 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s38311-024-1931-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s38311-024-1931-6
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