Michael Hoffmann, Head of Portfolio Management BMW for Electrified Powertrains, explains why hybrid transmissions could be Net Zero’s secret weapon
If you glanced at September’s ACEA registrations across Europe, you couldn’t have failed to notice that hybrid vehicles surpassed traditional ICE vehicles in EU new-car registrations for the first time. Whether driven by lingering doubts around the practical limitations of current charging infrastructure or the higher cost of EVs, hybrids are firmly back in the product mix.
The EU has stipulated 15 per cent CO₂ reduction across the car fleet by 2025, rising to 55 per cent by 2030, underlining time is of the essence. That means passenger cars are expected to achieve lower than 93.6 g/km of CO₂ by 2025 and under 49.5 g/km by 2030. As a quicker solution to reach the targets rather than waiting and hoping for everyone to make the switch to electrification, hybrids make sense. And while many OEMs are fully committed to electrification, it’s unsurprising that some are extending the life of ICE platforms or in some corners, rowing back and looking at ways to introduce electrification or range extenders. Future decisions can have huge ramifications for programme planners, engineers and designers, so any flexibility is highly attractive.
There are several factors that make hybrids being a more compelling option. Battery efficiency and capacity improvements have increased the overall performance and range. While on the ICE side, Brake Thermal Efficiency (BTE), direct injection, lightweighting, variable valve timing, cylinder deactivation, thermal management, turbocharging, friction reduction and advanced combustion strategies underline the many opportunities to find improvements.
A few key Tier Ones are facilitating emissions reductions in existing architectures, with few body in white (BiW) changes. That’s the case for ZF’s 8HP transmission. Its latest configuration is proving to be a safe and effective way to bring electrification to multiple OEMs. From the outset in 2009, this gearbox was built with efficiency and emissions in mind, making it both a proven and effective solution today. Now in its fourth generation, whether three or eight cylinders, mild, full, or plug-in hybrid, there is a variant capable of being slotted in. As an agnostic platform, it means that multiple OEMs can share the benefits and the costs.
With so much investment committed to the EV platforms, OEMs want plug and play installs with ideally few or no BiW changes to power their hybrid strategies. Key to worthwhile reductions in emissions is ensuring PHEVs operate almost entirely in electric mode for everyday driving. A PHEV equipped model can achieve up to a 70 per cent reduction in CO₂ emissions under the Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP) with certain hybridised transmissions. Depending on battery size, these vehicles can achieve pure electric ranges exceeding 100 kilometres – comfortably enough to cover most daily driving needs in markets such as Germany. Suddenly, we have a practical pathway to getting a grip on lower emissions from passenger cars and quickly.
Such transmissions can be smart too. Better energy management ensures that hybrids are now more efficient and can run in zero emission zones when needed. Several OEMs already offer hybrids that switch to zero emission mode in ultra-low emissions zones (ULEZ in London and France’s Crit’Air stickers).
In a world where charging infrastructure and consumer adoption of EVs are still developing, trusted transmission technologies offer a compelling solution for today’s challenges while laying the groundwork for a cleaner, more electrified future.
