Mercedes-Benz has plugged its Formula One group into the engineering course of to construct vastly extra environment friendly mass-market electrical autos (EVs), slashing growth occasions by 1 / 4 or extra because it soar begins efforts to maintain tempo with Tesla.
F1 know-how has at all times finally bled over into mass-market autos. But Mercedes’ F1 collaboration to construct extra environment friendly EVs quicker is unprecedented as a result of it embeds that racing mindset and technological experience straight in product growth.
After many years of management in combustion-engine know-how, legacy carmakers like Mercedes have lagged Tesla in electrical autos. Mercedes’ F1 group may help it get again within the race, mentioned Steven Merkt, head of transportation options at TE Connectivity, a significant autos provider.
“Nobody feels the pressure more than Mercedes to be innovation leaders here,” Merkt mentioned. “They’ve got to push it out or they’re no longer Mercedes.”
Last 12 months, Mercedes unveiled its EQXX idea automotive, a super-efficient EV able to a spread of greater than 1,200 km (745 miles), which was collectively developed with the German premium carmaker’s F1 group in England.
The EQXX took simply 18 months to develop, leaning on the F1 group’s expertise of working quickly to squeeze effectivity from engines and electrical motors, aerodynamics and rolling resistance, the corporate mentioned.
“We have an edge here with Formula One that others don’t have,” Mercedes Chief Technology Officer Markus Schaefer mentioned. “Tesla doesn’t have it. Other teams don’t have it.”
Tesla didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Speed is ever extra necessary as a result of newer entrants, above all Tesla, can develop or tweak fashions much more rapidly than legacy carmakers. Fast-moving Chinese EV makers have lower growth time to a median of two.5 years and are launching modern, cheaper fashions in Europe.
The want for velocity is coupled with a push amongst carmakers to make EVs extra environment friendly and thereby cut back prices – by reducing weight, bettering vary, and utilizing much less battery supplies already in brief provide. Suppliers say effectivity is now baked into some EV contracts as carmakers search to make their autos extra reasonably priced.
“Efficiency is a key enabler to accelerate adoption of EVs globally,” Schaefer mentioned.
Parts of what Mercedes realized from the EQXX will characteristic in a brand new EV platform that may go into manufacturing in 2024, together with aerodynamic options, elements of the powertrain and the automobile’s software program system.
Schaefer mentioned making use of its F1 method, Mercedes has lower new automobile growth time from a median of 58 months to go from the drafting board to mass manufacturing to “the low 40s”. For spinoff fashions – comparable fashions constructed utilizing the identical platform – the goal is “the low 30s”.
The F1 engine group at Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains (HPP) in Brixworth in central England is now engaged on at the least half a dozen new tasks growing elements for mass-market Mercedes fashions – batteries, invertors and new generations of motors, Schaefer mentioned.
‘READY FOR THE NEXT RACE’
HPP superior know-how director Adam Allsopp mentioned he took the decision from Mercedes headquarters in Stuttgart that kickstarted the EQXX venture standing in a former cowshed whereas on vacation on the Isle of Wight in August 2020. It got here with a transparent, powerful problem – construct an EV able to driving 1,000 km on a single cost.
F1 gas limits imposed in 2014 pressured HPP to develop engines and automobiles that squeeze essentially the most out of each drop and to “chase every single watt of loss” from two electrical motors, Allsopp mentioned.
“A fundamental part of who we are is always getting ready for the next race,” Allsopp mentioned.
Applying that racing mindset, F1 engineers in Brixworth and close by Brackley labored with a group in Stuttgart to supply the EQXX – utilizing a versatile method that allowed the group to maneuver ahead with growth earlier than the EV’s batteries had been prepared after which adapt plans after they had been.
The EQXX featured a battery pack half the scale of Mercedes’ flagship EQS SUV, compact electronics {hardware} and new working system. Coupled with glossy aerodynamics, that allowed it to drive greater than 1,200 km from Stuttgart to Silverstone in England on a single cost, spending 8.3 kilowatt hours (kWh) of vitality per 100 km.
By comparability, Tesla says its long-range Model 3 spends 16 kWh per 100 km.
To keep velocity for bringing components of the EQXX to mass manufacturing in 2024 on its new compact Mercedes Modular Architecture (MMA) automobile platform, the German carmaker has developed a digital mannequin of its plant in Rastatt – the identical automotive may even be in-built Hungary and China – to “simulate the assembly process,” and thus speed up the bodily changeover of the plant to construct the brand new EVs, CTO Schaefer mentioned.
Traditionally, carmakers have performed “mid-life” upgrades on automobile fashions after three or 4 years, however Schaefer mentioned “updates to EVs will be way more frequent.”
‘NAME OF THE GAME’ IS EFFICIENCY
Others within the auto business are additionally ramping up the race for velocity and effectivity.
Ford Motor Co has introduced plans to observe Mercedes with a return to F1 racing in 2026, offering “an incredibly cost-effective platform to innovate, share ideas and technologies,” CEO Jim Farley mentioned in February.
And Volkswagen has mentioned it goals to chop its time to marketplace for new Chinese fashions from 4 years to nearer to the Chinese 2.5-year common, partly by localizing extra analysis and growth.
Carmakers are so targeted on effectivity some now embody penalties for suppliers who fail to satisfy effectivity targets, mentioned Liam Butterworth, CEO of provider Dowlais, whose sideshafts are utilized in 9 of the world’s prime ten promoting EVs.
OneD Battery Sciences provides silicon to EV battery anodes that lower weight, cut back value and cost batteries quicker. General Motors has invested within the Palo Alto, California-based firm and is researching utilizing the know-how within the U.S. carmaker’s Ultium batteries, each corporations mentioned.
OneD CEO Vincent Pluvinage mentioned that throughout the second quarter the corporate will announce extra agreements with carmakers in search of cheaper, extra environment friendly EVs. He declined to supply additional particulars of the offers.
“Increasing performance and reducing costs is the name of the game,” Pluvinage mentioned. “If you have a technology that works but you’re asking a premium, carmakers are no longer interested.”
So far, carmakers have added extra batteries to autos to extend EV vary, exacerbating a looming scarcity of uncooked supplies similar to lithium and cobalt. But HPP’s Allsopp mentioned making EVs extra environment friendly permits carmakers to make use of smaller batteries, making them each greener and cheaper.
“Just throwing batteries at something is not an intelligent solution,” Allsopp mentioned. “If you find clever ways to achieve the same range: it’s better for customers, carmakers and the planet.”
(Reporting By Nick Carey, modifying by Ben Klayman and Daniel Flynn)
