Featured ZF's Improved Modular Electric Drivetrain Arrives in 2025

read the article, but who is zf, and who do they supply to?

 

You'd think if ZF had product in something thay most people have heard of, that they would be touting that fact.
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Zahnrad Frabrik AG of Friedrichshaven, Germany was founded by the Zeppelin Company in 1915 to provide gearing and drive trains for the Zeppelin Airships.

 

hmm... seems like their expertise in electric drivetrains has yet to be proven?

 

ZF improvement claims are against their current offering. The make drivetrains looking for a vehicle body. Not enough technical details to understand their value added engineering.

Bob Wilson

 

They are a major car and truck parts supplier. They also have a marine division. I think to the German and European companies mostly. Though their transmissions have appeared in Ford trucks and Corvettes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZF_Friedrichshafen

I think they are one of the main suppliers for 48V mild hybrid systems; Continental is another. They do supply the parallel hybrid transmission for the Jeep PHEVs. Likely more users of their technology. Car companies generally aren't keen on announcing when something comes from a third party.

 

Zahnrad Frabrk is one of the worldwide premiere transmission manufacturers in the automotive field.

They were one of the first to develop electronic solenoid controlled switching valves as opposed to mechanical vacuum controlled valve bodies when automatic transmissions became widely available in the 1950's.

They supply BMW, Chrysler and GM as well as other manufacturers. They have a plant here in Fountain Inn, South Carolina, just a few miles south of the BMW, USA plant.

 

if their improved version debuts in 25, who is using the current version?

 

They've made 2 million motors, starting in 2008 with mild hybrids.
ZF Produces Two Million Electric Motors - CleanTechnica
"ZF electric motors cover a broad range of applications from mild hybrids and plug-in hybrids to purely electric drive systems for passenger cars and commercial vehicles. The performance range is 50 kW to 550 kW, with torques of 75 Nm to 1,500 Nm."

I spotted headlines about ZF working with Polestar, Vinfast, and a Chinese start up. Honda's upcoming EVs are using GM parts. I don't think Honda will be bragging about that. GM probably wasn't bragging about using a ZF transmission in a Vette. ZF is big enough that they don't need to name drop for advertising. Didn't come across any mention of who there customers were on their site.

Ah, found an article saying ZF designed the two speed transmission in the Taycan. Why the Porsche Taycan's Two-Speed Gearbox Is Such a Big Deal | WIRED Other articles, and Porsche's on press kit, didn't do so, neither did they say it was designed in house.

So finding out who ZF supplies means digging into parts catalogues for specific models. Do you know who supplied all the parts to your PiP?

 

I am familiar with ZF on account that they were founded by Dr, Hugo Eckener of the Zeppelin. My did has done an extensive study of the Zeppelin airships. He has shown me an ashtray from the Hindenburg that even the so called experts claim no longer to exist. They find it hard to believe that it survived. A photo that my dad showed me from a photo from that era shows a cigar sitting on one next to a liquor bottle.

The ashtray bears the distinctive engraving, "Zeppelinmetall, Handarbeit" and a symbol of a Zeppelin airship. This particular engraving was only used on Zeppelinware used on the Hindenburg designed by the famous German architect Fritz August Breuhaus de Groot.

 

i always assumed the hybrid system was designed and built by toyota, but i could be wrong.

to say that they have an 'improved modular electric drivetrain' coming just seems like marketing hype.

 

Aisin was a big supplier of transaxles in the early hybrid days. The big car companies mostly moved production and design in house over the years. Again, they try not to talk about who supplies what in the press releases.

The degree of improvement might be hype. It isn't like groups and companies aren't working to improve upon the current EV systems, though. We've seen it happen with the Prius through the years.

 

i think the hype has gotten worse with toyota more recently. maybe they felt left out

 

Naw, they always under promise and over deliver.