First-Hand News?
Obtain news and background information about sealing technology, get in touch with innovative products – subscribe to the free e-mail newsletter.
- Home
- News & Stories
- Magazine
-
Back to
E-Mobility
- Thinking-Ahead-and-Shaping-the-Future
Thinking Ahead and Shaping the Future
Ten or twenty years from now, our modes of locomotion are not likely to have fundamentally changed. Yet autonomous driving, networked and especially emission-free vehicles will play a greater role. The automotive developer IAV in Berlin is guiding and driving this process.
The company, in which Freudenberg Sealing Technologies holds a ten percent stake, has been around for 34 years. One objective that has motivated IAV to date is the development of environmentally friendly and safe vehicle concepts for cities. IAV works closely with the auto industry to achieve its goals. That’s why most of IAV’s 7,000 employees work near major manufacturers and collaborate with them on the development of features or even entire vehicles.
Vehicle batteries on a special IAV test stand.
Digitization and Electric Mobility
But where will the road actually take them? Even today, digitization is certainly playing a growing role. Large IT companies are aggressively moving into a technically alien industry, which is why IAV seeks partnerships with them. “That is how we develop know-how for ourselves and for our customers that will be needed in the future to build automated, emission-free and networked cars,” said Kurt Blumenröder, IAV’s Chief Executive. The engineering firm itself has abundant expertise on another important range of themes: electric mobility. Wolfgang Reimann is responsible for the development of electric and hybrid powertrains. Back in the 1990s, he took part in the development of the “City Stromer,” a Volkswagen Golf II with electric drive produced in a run of 120 units.
600 Experts on Electric Powertrains
Today the task is to get electric cars in shape for competition with conventional vehicles. Here IAV can draw on 600 experts in its own ranks. Improvements in battery systems and the vehicles’ range – which can still decline appreciably in cold weather – are still a challenge. Whenever a manufacturer runs into problems, IAV’s specialists are not far away. But they don’t just deal with today’s challenges. As Reimann sees it, “We already did the actual pioneering work four or five years ago.” So he and his team are directing their attention into the future – not least of all because electric powertrains are likely to be significantly more desirable in ten years due to legal requirements.
“We already did the actual pioneering work four or five years ago."
With its own research, IAV is improving the technology of electric vehicles.
A Look into the Future
Reimann believes additional fundamental developments are to be expected in the years after this period. “It is likely that new vehicle concepts and alternative battery technologies will be ready for the market.” One example: “people movers” that travel autonomously and in which passengers can stand up or even sit with their backs to the driving direction. If the powertrain and chassis are located under the floor of the passenger compartment, there would be completely new opportunities for the design of the structure. “This would present completely new development tasks, since vehicles of this kind should naturally be perfectly safe,” Reimann said. The powertrain would thus have to be controlled more proactively – and with greater sensitivity.
A Fruitful Partnership
Weinheim-based Freudenberg Sealing Technologies (FST) regularly shares information with IAV on what these scenarios mean for it and for other suppliers. The urgent issues include what electrically conductive plastics must do. Or how seal rings for electric motors with a high rotational speed must be procured. It’s no wonder that FST has already been able to position itself as a partner to the auto industry with numerous solutions for electric powertrains – a partner that anticipates the looming problems and helps to solve them.
More Stories About E-Mobility
Back to Top