With the transition of vehicles to electric drivetrains comes also the need to find solutions for fun-to-drive high performance vehicle variants. These will require dedicated performance-oriented electric drive units. TREMEC is developing a first generation of such EDU. Key attributes for this 600 kW EDU are: two motors in the space of an OEM single motor unit, excellent efficiency in WLTP and performance drive cycles, thermal robustness. Extensive analysis has been performed to find the right technological ingredients to fit the design brief. Rather than claiming a one fits-all solution, a customer project optimized solution is proposed making use of a set of key ingredients: planetary and layshaft gear sets, IPM and SPM motors, SiC inverter and integrated disconnect clutch. Full system simulations are key in the design and development process at TREMEC. Efficiency models have shown that both IPM and SPM technology can offer excellent efficiency, around 90 % in the WLTP and 95 % peak system efficiency. For an AWD vehicle, the integrated disconnect option enables up to 2 kWh/100 km gain in WLTP driving range by disconnecting the rear drive units. Thermal simulations show that the EDU with its advanced cooling concepts is capable of sustained high performance driving. Prototype testing to confirm all simulations is ongoing in Q4 2022.
