Electrification
The way we get around is changing. For many years, the United States has been slow to adopt electric vehicle technology, but this is beginning to change. While only around 6% of vehicles on the road are electric, the registration of electric vehicles rose 60% in the first quarter of 2022. From electric and hybrid cars to e-trucks and buses, OEMs are doubling down on their commitment to more sustainable mobility models that will support carbon emission targets set by the government.
Electrified vehicles introduce a host of new challenges for automakers and their suppliers including reducing vehicle weight, minimizing noise, lowering temperatures, ensuring electrical reliability, and extending driving range, amongst others. New manufacturing methods and materials, including lubricants, are often required to achieve these goals. FUCHS works directly with our customers to understand their ever-changing requirements and develop lubrication solutions for everything from the machinery that forms car doors to the dials on your dashboard.
With a comprehensive portfolio of lubricants for the most diverse range of applications, FUCHS is a leading lubricant partner to the automotive industry with the ability to meet the standards of the latest e-mobility designs. Our lubricants can help address challenges surrounding cooling, material compatibility, conductivity, and more.
Reducing vehicle weight is essential in extending driving range. This is leading many manufacturers to shift towards aluminum, advance high strength steel (AHSS), and other new alloys for battery housings, body, chassis and other components to achieve their light weighting goals. These new materials are often more difficult to form as they operate at higher loads and tensile strength, and see more friction which increases temperatures. Our lubrication solutions are formulated with carefully designed additive packages to improve performance under these conditions without compatibility issues. FUCHS is one of the world's most renowned lubricant manufacturers for all areas of metalworking, including machining, forming and hardening processes and stays on top of industry and regulatory trends on top of in-plant visits to ensure we are providing the optimal solution for your operations.
Electric vehicle battery costs can account for almost a third of the total cost of an electric vehicle. Protecting these batteries, therefore, remains paramount to automakers seeking to reduce their cost and ensure the longevity of their design. ANTICORIT coatings applied to the battery housing can help prevent corrosion and improve overall reliability. Our corrosion inhibitors also provide long term vehicle frame and undercarriage protection from road salt and debris. FUCHS also offers RENOCLEAN cleaners for the battery production process which provide optimum removal of lubricants and contaminants and allow for efficient post processing and coating of the cans.
Grease is often the recommended solution for a variety of mechanical and electrical components in electric vehicles that require advanced protection against friction, corrosion, fretting, moisture, and BSR (buzz, squeak, and rattle). Connectors, interior components, steering components, and e-motors are four areas of note in electric vehicles that can benefit from the addition of specialty grease.
Electric vehicles feature several hundred connector assemblies that support thousands of individual connections. These connectors can send signals for everything from your infotainment dashboard to critical safety features like lane departure warning, automatic emergency braking, and blind spot detection. Connector grease helps protect against short circuits, increased resistance, and short circuits by preventing corrosion, fretting, moisture intrusion, and dielectric breakdown.
The absence of an internal combustion engine makes other noises in a vehicle much more noticeable. Lubricants for interior components like dials, switches, ventilators, and hinges can dampen noise with the added benefit of controlling motion for a smoother, quality feel for consumers.
Electric steering systems will require the upmost reliability to ensure driver safety. FUCHS offers a range of lubricants for electric powered steering systems to assist in this area.
Our grease products for electric motors are designed especially for e-mobility and feature suitable conductivity in the system to promote maximum bearing protection and improved EMC behavior, optimized noise levels, and the best possible efficiency even at high temperatures and circumferential speeds.
Several OEMs have had to issue recalls due to thermal problems. High temperatures can also negatively impact driving range, a huge hurdle to electric vehicle adoption. Reducing temperatures wherever possible is critical. FUCHS offers several fluids for electric vehicles within our FUCHS BluEV product line. Different variants of our dielectric heat transfer media for automotive applications in electric motors and immersion cooling systems of batteries and electronics components ensure extremely efficient temperature management of energized components. These fluids exhibit excellent aging resistance and optimized behavior with regard to water absorption ensure consistent insulation properties and low maintenance requirements.
Our series of transmission oils possess properties tailored precisely for e-drives and hybrids. Be it products featuring distinct protection against foaming in applications with high rotational speeds or special friction behavior for hybrid transmissions with dual clutches - the optimization goal is always to achieve optimum compatibility with the materials used and the greatest possible efficiency in terms of costs and operation.
In addition to the FUCHS BluEV product line, we have also introduced BluEV Technology. BluEV Technology builds the bridge between existing and new products and their application. With BluEV Technology, we identify existing products that are also suitable for use in electric and hybrid vehicles.
