24 – 25 May 2023, Novi, MI, USA

CTI SYMPOSIUM USA – Patrick Lindemann becomes new chairman

Posted on 20th September 2022

After 7 years, Dr Hamid Vahabzadeh, Strategy Advisory, AVL List GmbH, is stepping down as chair of CTI SYMPOSIUM USA. Hamid joined CTI USA at the very start in 2007. In 2010 he joined the advisory board, where he made his mark as a strong and proactive supporter of the event. In 2016, the year of the 10^th anniversary, Hamid became chair of CTI SYMPOSIUM USA and the advisory board.

In this role, Hamid continued to successfully develop CTI USA as a leading industry forum for the automotive drivetrain community in NA. Drawing on his extensive expertise, he regularly brought the most interesting professionals, industry leaders and topics together. CTI wishes to thank Hamid for his dedication, and for many years of successful cooperation.

CTI SYMPOSIUM USA will continue to be chaired by an acknowledged expert in automotive drivetrain engineering. We are very glad that advisory board member Patrick Lindemann, President, E-mobility & Chassis Mechatronics, Americas, Schaeffler, will take over the role effective immediately. Patrick has been committed to CTI USA from the very beginning. In 2007, he was part of the “starting line-up” at our first event in the US. He then joined the advisory board in 2013 and as such, is a great advocate for our event.

Patrick brings decades of industry expertise and understands the challenges that lie ahead. Patrick, CTI and the advisory board members are looking forward to further enhancing the event and content covered, in line with the needs of the industry, and positioning CTI SYMPOSIUM USA as the place to be for automotive experts.

“Together, we can create a sustainable future for mobility.” says Patrick Lindemann.
“At CTI SYMPOSIUM USA, we drive progress in passenger cars and commercial automotive transportation. Manufacturers and suppliers are actively demonstrating how to keep pace and staying ahead of customer needs, environmental, institutional and economic demands.”

CTI SYMPOSIUM USA
THE EXPERT SUMMIT FOR SUSTAINABLE FUTURE MOBILITY

For more than 20 years, CTI SYMPOSIA have earned the respect of the industry for their competent coverage of topical challenges, strategies and technologies. Today, we continue to drive progress in individual and commercial automotive transportation.

Our events are specially designed to help manufacturers and suppliers keep pace with customers, authorities and environmental requirements.

To reflect the latest technological and strategic changes in mobility, CTI has now updated its logo to express our new focus: Carbon Neutral Automotive Drivetrains and Infrastructure. Both go hand-in-hand, and will define the way we travel and transport goods in future.

From 2023, the event focus will be Carbon Neutral Automotive Drivetrains & Infrastructure.

“We don’t want to make what we call half a vehicle”

Posted on 6th September 2022

General Motors has been a pioneer in the area of range extender technology, but today it is focusing on all-electric vehicles. We spoke with Michael Maten, Director EV Policy and Regulatory Affairs at GM, about the company’s electrification path, and future development challenges in fields such as the production, transport, and storage of energy.

Mr. Maten, electrification is transforming the industry rapidly. At GM, which manufacturing and engineering fields are becoming less significant, and which more so?

I think both engineering and manufacturing competencies are becoming even more important. They are both necessary as we continue to electrify things. Electrical engineering and software engineering in particular are becoming more important. Mechanical engineering still plays an important role, but maybe a little less so. On the manufacturing side, it’s a really exciting time – to be right at the beginning of a new industry. Instead of just working around the margins to optimize things like the combustion engine, you truly get this ground floor, you’re building the foundations for the next hundred years of the auto industry. Many engineers who worked on ICE programs are now bringing that expertise to EV programs. And there’s another new aspect: In the past, manufacturing and engineering stopped at the factory doors, once that vehicle left the factory. Now our involvement doesn’t stop at the factory door, because we have over-the-air updates. We are constantly trying to optimize the vehicle, to add features to the vehicle.

What advantages does GM have in this transition, compared to newcomers in the market?

It starts with our size and scale and know-how. The fact that we can quickly bring things to an enormous scale, brings the cost down, to improve the technology, I think that’s a huge advantage. Our modular Ultium platform, which I was involved in planning back in 2017, can be used for a wide range of vehicles. It can adapt to different battery formats and chemistries. It can really be the foundational element for several generations of General Motors vehicles. We are actually building the vehicle around the platform, around the battery, instead of trying to shove a battery into an existing vehicle architecture. I would add that we think we’re the best in the business at generating efficiency throughout the supply chain. Taking what we’ve done in optimizing the supply chain over the last hundred years of ICE development, bringing that level of knowledge, that level of rigor, the level of process to the lithium-ion battery space. It’s still very much what I call a cost-plus industry and not optimized. But we have the experience to handle that.

Your Silverado is a genuine e-truck. How do you ensure sufficient range for a vehicle that’s often used for towing trailers or transporting heavy loads?

Well, we’re designing it not only for 300 miles, but with a 400 miles range in mind to address some of those concerns. We know there are some challenges when you’re towing, and some challenges with temperature variation. We are trying to address all of those with the technology we are putting in the truck. We’re still figuring out, especially for the American consumer, what their kind of crossover point is. I think everyone feels that 300 miles will get most people into an electric vehicle. But there are certain people, in Wyoming or Montana or elsewhere, who say man, I really need 400. But we are committed to the transformation, we think the battery cost curve is coming down. We think the battery technology is getting to a place where we can effectively offer those types of products. I should also say it’s not just about battery chemistry. We are taking an overall vehicle approach. How can we efficiently heat and cool the cabin, things like this. There are many important factors in the overall equation of the range capabilities of the vehicle.

In North America, temperature extremes are much greater than in Central Europe. What are the solutions for reducing negative impacts on range – e.g. through air conditioning and heating?

Certainly, heating is almost a bit of a forgotten area. But we’re focusing on it from a research perspective, whether it’s conductive surfaces like conductive door panels, armrests, or dashboards. I’m not saying this is technology that’s coming out tomorrow in vehicles. But you just have to look at it as a whole system. And how are we doing this? In an internal combustion engine, you’re generating a lot of waste heat that can be used. So now we’re just beginning to explore the capabilities of BEVs and how those all work. Preconditioning is going to play a large part. You know, you’re plugged into an energy source. And when you’re charging, that can be used to precondition the cabin and the battery, you can program when you leave in the morning. I think it’s going to be a key technology, particularly in colder climates. We see in Norway that people in colder climates can adapt to EVs. So you just have to figure out what it is for the American consumer that will cause them to do that. Extreme temperatures are something that a lot of research is going into how to handle that.

What opportunities do you see for hydrogen and e-fuels in the area of passenger cars and light trucks?

I think there are going to be applications in the future that will be the last to adopt electrification. E-fuels could potentially play a role in some of those. Quite frankly, we don’t see hydrogen playing a large role in passenger cars and trucks. But it will play an important role in the overall decarbonized economy, for stationary storage, potentially for medium and heavy-duty vehicles. At GM we have our Hydrotec fuel cell. We have a commercial agreement with Navistar to provide those. But green hydrogen, I always have to preface that, is another area where we need technical and cost improvement. However, in a decarbonized economy, in the passenger car and truck case, we see a potential role for stationary energy storage to support infrastructure. In other words, for somewhere where you can’t quite get all of the energy for 350 kW charging, you may put a hydrogen fuel cell storage unit there, or maybe a large stationary storage battery. This is one of the most important questions: How do we store and transport energy? In America, the middle of the country is rich in renewable energy, wind and solar energy. You can generate a lot there. But unfortunately, the use for most of that energy is on the coast. I think batteries can play a massive role in the stationary storage of energy. Some people don’t quite understand the amount of energy in it. You know, the Hummer EV can power a home for a week.

GM has been a PHEV pioneer, even if the Volt was originally intended as an E-REV. What future do you still see for PHEVs?

We made the decision that we want to accelerate the EV transition, and we felt even hybrids – PHEVs but especially hybrids – are transition technology. If we had $1 billion to spend, we didn’t want to spend it on a technology that might be going out after one generation. Yes, we were a leader in plug-in hybrids or E-REVs, but for a couple of reasons it was a difficult value proposition for customers to understand. Engineers understand the operation, but the customer now had to manage two energy sources and we never quite got the demand that we thought was there. Another aspect is the regulatory angle. We never quite got the regulatory treatment we felt we deserved for PHEVs, especially the E-REV, as 90% of its operation was in electric mode. Again, everything is regulations in the EU and the US, as you know. But primarily it was just a 100% focus on electric vehicles and what we would take to get there.

To what extent will small, affordable vehicles still be available as electrification moves forward?

We plan an offering of a wide range of vehicles. But we do not plan an offering of lower-range vehicles that have less utility, just to hit a certain price point. These vehicles are not going to have as much utility to a customer. We believe these longer-range BEVs are the way to go, and yes, it is a challenging price point to hit. We’ve committed to an Equinox starting at $30,000 next year. And we have the Bolt EV out there, the 2023 range starting from just $26,595. So we think we’re covering most price points. I think we’ve also made allusions to future developments of more affordable vehicles. We are a full-line manufacturer, and we plan to continue that into the BEV space. And that includes being committed to that lower end of the market. What we don’t want to do is make what we call half a vehicle.

Interview: Gernot Goppelt

 

The trick is what the regulator is looking for

Posted on 22nd August 2022

Besides battery electric solutions, Hyundai is also committed to fuel cell vehicles, especially for commercial applications. The company has established truck and bus fleets in South Korea and Switzerland and is currently setting up fleets and services in California. What are the prospects? An interview with Jerome Gregeois, Director Commercial Vehicles Development at Hyundai Kia Technical Center America.

Mr. Gregeois, how is your business with series fuel cell applications developing in global markets?

Korea is our most involved market, with the largest number of vehicle types deployed. We have a light-duty SUV, the Nexo, as well as buses and trucks. In Europe, We are introducing 1,600 trucks by 2025. It was the first project by an OEM for fuel cell class 8 trucks in Europe and started in 2020. For the US, we are currently in a development phase. Next year, in 2023, we will have a deployment at the Port of Oakland in Northern California, with 30 fuel cell trucks as a first step.

How does the cost of developing fuel cell vehicles compare with BEVs?

Fuel cell vehicles are basically electric vehicles. The only difference is the energy storage system. The costs are identical on the motor side, and power electronics are broadly similar. The unique aspect with hydrogen fuel cell is the on-demand, on-board power generation, using stacks. Fuel cell systems require a few more components to handle: the air intake, the hydrogen fuel management, and the thermal management. These are components leveraging mature technologies, which keeps their cost low. The vision we have at Hyundai is cost parity for battery-electric and fuel cell vehicles in the same segment by 2030. By then the Total Cost of Ownership is likely to be lower for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles than battery electric vehicles because electricity prices are likely to go up, and prices for hydrogen are likely to go down from today’s baseline.

In commercial applications, where do you prefer FCEV and where do BEVs make sense?

Fuel cell makes sense for vehicles with a high duty cycle – for example three-shift operation, or very long drives without infrastructure en route. That’s the first kind of application for heavy-duty commercial vehicles – or any commercial vehicle really, anything from 10,000 pounds upwards. Fuel cells also make sense at locations where installing a battery charging infrastructure is difficult – for example in a location that doesn’t have an electrical infrastructure capable of providing the required peak supply, which would require significant and costly upgrades. Another example is a fleet operator who does not own the yard where the trucks are parked, with a landlord not interested in building a charging infrastructure. The bottom line is that if it’s hard to install an infrastructure and you have a high-duty cycle, you will be in a much better position to implement fuel cell trucks.

Would the next stage of chemical processing – e-fuels – also make sense for commercial vehicle applications?

Many things can make sense and work well from a technical point of view. The trick is what the regulator is looking for. And if you’re really looking for absolutely zero-emission vehicles, with nothing at the tailpipe, then your options are battery or fuel cell electric powertrains. With e-fuels there might be no CO₂, but there might be other pollutants to consider. If the regulator says zero-emission everywhere and anywhere, that would rule out e-fuel solutions.

What is your opinion on hydrogen for passenger vehicles?

For passenger vehicles, I think the question again is: what’s the usage? In the US, pickup trucks can be heavy vehicles. They can be class 2 or class 3 and still be used as personal vehicles, with occasional medium duty purpose, like camping. In those segments, I see challenges for battery-electric vehicles because the amount of energy needed on board is difficult to achieve with a battery. Battery-electric makes sense in applications like compact or midsize that are mostly used for short commutes, rather than road trips, and if the vehicles can be charged at home. The hydrogen passenger SUV we have at Hyundai right now is the Nexo, a midsize SUV. It gives you about 350 to 380 miles of range, and we get great feedback from consumers about vehicle performance. Generally, the key question is whether the respective paces of infrastructure providers, regulators, and OEMs can be aligned. If there are gaps, it will be challenging.

Interview: Gernot Goppelt

Industrialization of the value stream is part of the solution

Posted on 21st July 2022

Ford is offering many ‘flavors’ on its path from ICE to BEV, as Dave Filipe, Vice President Vehicle Hardware Modules Ford, explained in his presentation at the 2022 CTI Symposium in Novi. In this interview, Filipe gives insights into Ford’s electrification path until 2030 and outlines the challenges and solutions in a demanding international market.

Mr. Filipe, Ford has recently invested a billion dollars in the Electrification Center Cologne. Why there?

Cologne is one of our most important sites for product development, manufacturing and supply base support, and it’s one of our innovation hubs. We want to leverage that as we transition from ICE to BEV. In the case of Europe, we’ve already announced that by the end of the decade, all our passenger cars will be BEVs. Our team in Cologne is best suited with all their skills, their talent, and the vision they bring to the Ford Motor Company. So our obvious move was to establish Cologne as our first electrification center for the European market. We have further activities in China and USA, as we have some different applications there.

Speaking of the US: Electric trucks like the F-150 are a particular challenge in terms of range, due to high load and towing demands. What are you doing to ensure they maintain their full utility value?

I’ve been driving a Mustang Mach-E for the past one-and-a-half years, and it’s an amazing product. You learn how to get the most out of the product from a range perspective, depending on the weather and other range factors. For us at Ford, it’s important to help customers with any of those concerns – to maximize range for the customer. In the case of trucks, our customers use their vehicles quite a lot for work. We need to establish a relationship with these customers through our ‘always on’ process and mindset. For all the use cases they go face, we need to try to understand, plan, and help them. In the case of the F-150 Lightning, for example, we put ‘scales’ on board. So when the customer puts a heavy box, or dirt or sand or whatever, on the back of their pickup truck, the scales say they’re now carrying five hundred or a thousand kilos. And we use that data to help show the customer how best to drive when moving that load; we help to inform them. Another thing we do is, if the customer plans a route and punches it into our Sync 4 system, we understand the routes, all the charges, the gradients, and hills for example … we calculate the energy usage. We may even offer alternative routes that are longer but less hilly, to improve their use of energy.

Opinions vary as to who should be responsible for charging infrastructures. What is Ford doing – not just in North America, but in Europe as well?

One thing I would say, and that we probably all agree on, is that it shouldn’t be the customers’ problem. We as an industry – the OEMs and the people working on infrastructure – need to provide the solutions to the customer. In the case of Ford, for example, we’ve created a division called ‘Ford Pro’ that is looking at commercial vehicle customers in the US and in Europe. One objective is to help fleet customers on their journey to electrification, obviously with our Ford products like the Transit all-electric. But we also want to be a one-stop solution for our fleet customers. We have several work streams in place. Customers can tell us their charging requirements; how many vehicles, what routes and duty cycles … and then we help by recommending the optimal charging system solution, optimal delivery routes, and so on. So that’s a start. I think what you’re seeing from Ford, especially now with the model E, is that we’ll expand that. We’ll expand that for our fleet and commercial customers, and we’ll expand that for our retail customers as well.

 

Ford has been broadly positioned with hybrid powertrain solutions (parallel, power split, mild, full, plug-in…) How important will HEVs and PHEVs be in the future?

We’ve actually provided customers with these incredible hybrid products. They’re being very well received. I think the journey will lead to full electrification, but that will take some time. As we go on that journey, we are going to be able to offer customers what I call the ‘power of choice’. They can get a BEV F-150, or they can buy an incredibly purposeful hybrid F-150. And if we look across our lineup, that’s what we want to ensure because we are committed to the Paris agreement. We want to ensure that on the ICE side, and also on the BEV side. That’s what Ford model E and Ford Blue is about, it’s about winning in both spaces in the marketplace. As for PHEVs, I think that’s dictated by this BEV acceleration, coupled with customer acceptance. I think BEVs will work in many, many segments. We are still going to have this transition period where customers may not be sure, and we are going to help them on that journey. And our plug-in hybrid in Europe, our Kuga PHEV, has really resonated well with our customers. I think this is an interesting time because we are obviously in this transition period. The customers still want both at this time. We’ve got great products in both spaces. So we’re very excited about that path.

What chance do you still give the internal combustion engine?

Well we’re on our way to BEVs, and it’s supercritical, but we are continuing to optimize those ICE engines. Euro 7 is coming, and that’s going to be a big challenge. We’re supporting that, we’ll deliver that for the remaining ICEs, because that’s important in the latter half of the decade. I think we need to simplify the ICE lineup to deliver that work. But we still have to consider the entire globe, because we have products like the Ranger that are very global. And we have to make sure we continue to help those other markets in their journey to reducing CO₂. They may not share the same pace of electrification as Europe and North America or China. So we have to consider that because again, we are committed to the two-degree goal of the Paris report.

How do you think Ford’s powertrain portfolio will have changed by 2030?

First of all, I’m excited as an engineer, because you always want to be working on new technology. We will always have an innovative solution, I think that’s what the story of 2030 is about. And part of the solutions we need to come up with is what I call the industrialization of the value stream: making sure we get that optimized. Making batteries is a very complicated manufacturing process, but the value stream will support it. So there’s a lot of work we have to do to scale up electrification in the next 2-to-3-to-5 years. And by 2030 I think we are going to have even newer advances in battery chemistry, driveline technology, and software that will make BEVs even better as a total system. But also, hybrid battery cells are going to benefit from the technology progression of BEV battery cells. So the two will go hand-in-hand. That will help the hybrid side of things, and provide more value and more benefits for the customers as well. So these are exciting times.

Interview: Gernot Goppelt