MAHLE introduces a new range extender engine and a rare earth-free electric motor

Automotive supplier MAHLE has developed a range extender system for heavy-duty trucks that packages a combustion engine and a generator into part of the space an electric truck’s battery would normally occupy. The system is designed to replace about one-third of the battery capacity of a typical electric truck with a compact diesel engine.

The assembly is a self-contained unit: the generator, engine, thermal and fluid management, fuel tank, AdBlue tank and exhaust treatment sit inside one box that drops into existing battery-electric platforms. The high-voltage generator, which features a newly developed oil cooling system, delivers 110 kW continuous and up to 130 kW peak power, and boasts a power density of more than 7 kW per kilogram.The unit’s thermal management system provides 48 kW of high-temperature and 15 kW of low-temperature cooling.

Swapping part of the battery for the range extender cuts the rear axle load by about 400 kg and the total vehicle weight by about 600 kg, MAHLE explains.

MAHLE has also developed a new Contactless Transmitter (MCT) electric motor for the drive axles of heavy commercial vehicles. It uses no permanent magnets and therefore no rare earth elements, which the company says saves up to 3 kg of rare earth magnets per vehicle compared with a benchmark permanent magnet synchronous motor.

The motor is 10% lighter and more efficient than a permanently excited design under real driving conditions, according to MAHLE. It delivers a peak output of 370 kW and torque of over 900 Nm at 3,900 rpm, and reaches about 95% efficiency in the EU’s VECTO simulation cycle.

“Our range extender is the key to disconnecting the market ramp-up of battery-electric trucks from the inadequate pace of infrastructure development,” said Marco Warth, MAHLE’s Vice President of Corporate Research and Advanced Engineering.