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ZF increases zero emissions focus through emobility product expansion

ZF is looking to forge new ground. Alongside its popular, high-quality products, the global technology company wants to increase its e-mobility offerings for the industry’s future.

When it came to taking the next step, ZF followed the wave. The zero-emission transition is engulfing the local region’s bus and coach industry. ZF’s Australian arm is now continuing to grow by bolstering its e-mobility sector.

ZF has been focusing on increasing its e-mobility capabilities recently. The direction received a massive boost when ZF acquired electronic system provider WABCO in May 2020. Blair Rundle was one of the WABCO employees who joined the ZF team to increase the manufacturer’s zero-emissions capabilities and is now ZF’s head of commercial vehicle aftermarket in Oceania.

“The integration from WABCO to ZF has been smooth,” Rundle told ABC.

“We feel like we’re part of it all now, as with the acquisition it makes ZF a bumper-to-bumper supplier for buses and coaches.

“From a ZF point of view we have axles and transmissions, and now it has been joined by WABCO’s control, braking and safety products for vehicles.”

Rundle says the acquisition of WABCO by ZF couldn’t have been a better decision to link two safety-minded companies together. He says the two businesses bring different parts of e-mobility manufacturing to the table, with only the telematics systems needing to be consolidated into one solution.

In a way of combining to strengthen each other, Rundle says ZF now offers a more comprehensive package to Australian and other Oceania-based customers.

Heritage played a key role in the two companies merging seamlessly. Both WABCO and ZF are German, meaning there was nothing lost in translation when WABCO workers began transitioning to ZF’s model.

Rundle says the process has excited many from both of the merging parties, as ZF can now become a major force in the local industry.

“The acquisition was a harmonisation of the two companies that strengthened our overall offering to the market,” Rundle says.


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“What we offer now is a more comprehensive solution. We have telematics alongside braking and control systems as well as electric axles [AxTrax] and electric centre drives [CeTrax] that allows us to offer a one-stop shop for the bus and coach sector.”

The acquisition wasn’t the only transition occurring at ZF. The Australian branch of the global ZF Group has been busy working on e-mobility options to cater for the zero-emissions minded local market.

Rundle says ZF’s years of research and development has helped it remain ahead of the e-mobility competition as it unveils a wider range of high-quality solutions to cover the growing needs of the industry.

 

For the public transport sector, the AxTrax AVE portal axle offers the next step in e-mobility. Rundle says the axle has already been installed in several thousand electric buses globally and has travelled more than 150 million kilometres with zero emissions.

The portal axle can be utilised in different configurations such as in pure electric or hybrid buses with energy provided from a range of sources. ZF designed the AxTrax AVE axle with an eye on keeping the weight low to save space and suit low-floor zero-emissions vehicles. The system also utilises regenerative braking to conserve as much power as possible.

ZF didn’t stop there, as the ZF CeTrax is another recent addition to its range that suits electric buses. The CeTrax can be used in both low-entry and high-floor buses, as well as low-floor buses in combination with ZF’s AV 133 portal axle. ZF modelled the CeTrax off components from the ZF EcoLife 2 city bus transmission and made the drive lighter and more compact to suit zero-emissions vehicles.

Rundle says ZF and the incorporated WABCO have been working hard to transition its products from diesel buses to electric vehicles.

“Both Australia and New Zealand seem to be playing a lot in the electric bus sphere, so we’ve fast tracked our development in that market,” Rundle says.

“When we turned to e-mobility and you lose diesel engines and pneumatic systems as that source of air, we ultimately had to come up with an electric compressor that can generate that air to work the brakes and raise and lower the bus.

“We started the development nearly eight years ago at WABCO before joining with ZF, while the e-compressor has been around for five years. We then had to integrate this into the brakes system as well as the hardware and software that comes with it.”

ZF’s e-mobility push ventures further than just new axle products. In January this year, ZF launched its new Commercial Vehicle Solutions division. The division combined ZF’s former Commercial Vehicle Technology and Commercial Vehicle Control Systems (formerly WABCO) divisions in a bid to maximise its commercial vehicle solutions position in the market.

The new division is supported by around 25,000 employees based in 28 countries, and combines ZF’s expertise with WABCO’s experience to advance solutions for safe, sustainable and digitised transport.

Rundle’s role at ZF is to lead the after-market commercial vehicle solutions division in Australia. He says ZF’s previous e-mobility work in passenger vehicles had to be quickly translated to the bus and coach market.

“It was a very smart decision to separate and create a division that focuses on bringing these e-mobility products to fleets,” Rundle says.

“It’s allowed us to focus on the specific heavy vehicle part of the market.”

Now the acquisition of WABCO by ZF has gone smoothly, Rundle says ZF is aiming to maximise the partnership. Rundle says WABCO has always been self-
sufficient in the e-mobility space. But, now, ZF can provide more resources to make the e-mobility process smoother for customers.

For the next year, Rundle says he’s excited to see what ZF can do in the e-mobility sphere as it continues to bring new electric products to the market.

He says there are a number of products and systems in development stages that will come to market in future years. Rundle says it certainly is a watch this space activity for ZF.

“We’ll continue solidifying the two companies and bringing them closer together to capitalise on what we can offer and how we do it,” Rundle says.

“This will help us hasten our offerings to our local customers and to manufacturers.

“It’ll mean we can firm our package and make sure we create happy and smooth experiences with customers we deal with.”

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