Why hybrid when we have full electric?

Summary
Before all-electric vehicles make sense for all types of applications and markets, hybrids solutions will still act as stepping stones to reduce CO2 emissions and ramp-up the production of EV components like batteries, electric motors and power electronics.

While the production volumes of electric vehicle has increased tremendously during the last five years, we can nonetheless argue that this market is still in its infancy and that a few challenges will need to be overcome before we can expect to see pure electric vehicles overtake petrol-fueled ones.

Before all-electric vehicles make sense for all types of applications and markets, hybrids solutions will still act as stepping stones to reduce CO2 emissions and ramp-up the production of EV components like batteries, electric motors and power electronics.

Several applications relying on long range and low downtime are not yet suitable for complete battery-based operation without significant infrastructure or technological breakthrough, therefore offering a compact and efficient gen-set package for a range extender system is a valuable asset to encourage electrification of the drivetrain.

Our new motor/generator option

TM4 has introduced its SUMO line of powertrains five years ago to assist its customers with cost-effective vehicle electrification. TM4 has always innovated to serve market needs and is now introducing as part of its SUMO family of products a new motor/generator for the commercial heavy-duty class 7-8 market.

The SUMO HP was purposely developed for series and parallel-hybrid configurations; it can be coupled to diesel engines, multi-speed gearboxes or integrated into axles for ultra-low floor buses.  TM4 offers this new motor/generator with its well proven 3-phase CO150 inverter, used in thousands of vehicles worldwide.

The efficiency of the system (generator and inverter combined) reaches 95% and has been developed to match the efficiency of a diesel engine, which is instrumental to optimize fuel savings. In fact, in a series-hybrid, the combined use of the electric traction system, the optimized gen-set and electrified accessories can result in a  minimum 50% fuel economy compared to a conventional vehicle.

Contact-us for more information!