Automatic Transmissions: Analysis and Prospects for Use in Hybrid and Battery Electric Vehicles. Part 1

• Main Author: Leonid G. Krasnevskiy
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, State Scientific Institution “The Joint Institute of Mechanical Engineering" 2020-06-01
• Series: Механика машин, механизмов и материалов
• Subjects: automatic transmissions; hybrid electric vehicles; battery electric vehicles
• Online Access: http://mmmm.by/en/readers-en/archive-room-en?layout=edit&id=1571
• ISSN: 1995-0470; 2518-1475

An assessment of the prospects for using automatic transmissions (AT) on hybrid and battery electric vehicles is given, which is based on an analysis of their current state and strategies of leading manufacturers. The article gives the analysis of production volumes of this equipment with various types of ATs and its application in the countries of North America and Europe predicted until 2030, as well as published data on their technical characteristics and technical and economic indicators. A significant increase in the production of the main types of hybrid electric vehicles (HEV), and therefore the ATs used in them, is predicted. It is shown that the use of ATs makes it possible to increase the energy efficiency of electric vehicles. For HEVs, this is confirmed by the experience of mass operation of passenger cars and commercial vehicles. The paper shows the data on the creation by ZF Friedrichshafen AG of a new generation of eight-speed ATs for medium, full and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) in the power range of 24–160 kW using the modular technology created by ZF Friedrichshafen AG. The company estimates that by 2030, at least 70 % of all new cars will have an internal combustion engine (ICE). And here are the prospects for the use of PHEVs. It is shown that commercial battery electric vehicles (BEV) are becoming one of the main directions of electrification of road transport. The next possible step in their development is the use of multi-stage systems to improve energy efficiency, which is being worked on by more and more vehicle and transmission manufacturers. The article considers new technologies for selecting the architecture and topology of a hybrid power unit (HPU) with combinatorial generation of sets of options, their complete search and rejection, which actually perform the synthesis of circuits, and at subsequent stages — complex optimization, which includes the selection of component dimensions, minimizing fuel and energy consumption. They make it possible to automate the optimal design of the HPU. The article consists of two parts.