Whole new demands
“As the future entails more completely electric vehicles, the development of engine oil must continue. This is good news for specialists like FUCHS, who can quickly adapt to new requirements,” Markus Garb emphasises.
When the development of completely electric vehicles intensifies, other product groups will also be affected. Whole new demands will be placed on gear oils, coolants and greases, partly because they will be in contact with electric modules, sensors and circuits, and will be affected by electrical current and electromagnetic fields.
“The lubricants must be compatible with everything from copper wires and electric modules to special plastics and insulation materials. This means they will have to be more specialized to cope with lubrication in these environments,” Garb continues.
Moreover, motors in electric cars also emit a lot of heat, which will need to be led away from the electric module. Here, effective cooling concepts will be increasingly important. It is also likely that the electric motors will be driven at higher and higher speeds in order to increase efficiency. Already brand new motors are being designed, and different lubrication and cooling concepts are being discussed. With high-speed electric motors, the RPM in the drivetrain will need to decrease. New reduction gears with less gear steps are therefore being implemented, with potentially higher input speeds
Since the reduction gears can be combined with electric modules, their gear oils too must work well with the chosen module materials. This transition is a major challenge for developers of lubricants, since it entails a considerable change in lubricant specifications.
“Changes are always challenging, but at FUCHS we’re used to quickly adapting to new demands,” says Markus Garb in summing up. “We are now adapting our development strategies and concrete working methods to meet the demands for lubricants that come in contact with components in electric drivetrains. This gives us a chance to broaden our horizons and ensure that we remain at the forefront of technology also moving forward.”