The new design, which features the company’s proprietary gear-shifting system, is claimed to downsize the EVs’ electric motors ensuring longer runs at the medium loads and speeds where peak efficiency exceeds 95%.
Zeroshift’s new clutchless design avoids torque interruptions during ratio changes, enabling EVs to be fitted with multi-speed gearboxes. The design, which claims to improve the motor efficiency of the EVs, requires less energy to be extracted from a battery for a given journey, thereby extending the EVs in-service battery life.
The gearbox features interlocking rings that change ratios without interrupting the torque. The electronic control of the motor match the shafts speed and the damper system within the drive hub isolates any vibrations, thereby providing shift refinement.
Zeroshift is collaborating with consultancy firms to integrate its technology into layshaft automatic transmissions for hybrid vehicles.
Bill Martin, managing director of Zeroshift, said: “Our studies suggest that by using a compact, multi-speed transmission and a smaller electric motor, manufacturers can gain an operating efficiency of up to 10%. You can use that 10% to improve EVs’ range or reduce the size, weight and cost of battery packs.”
