ELECTRIP: DEUTZ demonstrated electric drive systems

DEUTZ AG invited customers, investors, the media and representatives from politics to an exclusive ELECTRIP week in Cologne from 15 to 21 September.

Special guests were Henriette Reker, the mayor of Cologne, and Jining Chen, the mayor of Beijing and a high-ranking delegation from the People’s Republic of China.

Michael Wellenzohn, member of the DEUTZ AG Board of Management, was delighted to welcome such prestigious visitors: “It was a very special honour for us that the mayors of two such important cities visited our company in order to see for themselves the latest technology in drive systems. For me, the discussion around the megatrends of emissions reduction and energy efficiency was particularly interesting. Their knowledge about the technical possibilities was impressive. We look forward to being able to discuss electric drives and alternative fuels in more detail when we take up the invitations extended by Ms Reker and Mr Chen.”

DEUTZ demonstrated the hybrid and full-electric drives from its new E-DEUTZ portfolio under real-life operating conditions on land and on water at the new DEUTZ Innovation Centre and the Rheinauhafen harbour in Cologne.

E-DEUTZ is based on a modular electrification system, allowing customers to choose whatever is the optimum combination of conventional and electric drive components for their application. In terms of power output and capacity, every single E-DEUTZ component is scalable. The aim is to achieve a significant increase in efficiency which will reduce overall running costs, fuel consumption and emissions in equal measure.

So as to provide a real-life illustration of how its e-drives perform in practice, DEUTZ has now taken upon itself to produce two demonstrator vehicles. Two Liebherr TL 432-7 telescopic handlers which are normally powered by a 74 kW DEUTZ TCD 3.6 diesel engine were converted, one to a hybrid drive and the other to a full-electric drive, at the DEUTZ Development Plant in Cologne.

To produce the battery-electric hybrid, the E-DEUTZ team first ‘downsized’ the combustion engine to a 56 kW DEUTZ TCD 2.2, supplementing it with a 48 volt 20 kW electric motor, thus giving the system a power output of 76 kW. The mechanical connection between the e-motor and the diesel engine is achieved by means of a transmission with integrated decoupler, which allows the diesel engine to be disconnected from the electrical system and provides the option of powering the vehicle purely by electricity. The energy required is generated by raising the diesel engine’s load point and storing the energy in a 10 kWh capacity battery. The potential savings are dependent on the load cycle and the operating period of the respective application. In this typical telescopic handler application, it was possible to achieve a fuel saving of up to 15 per cent, meaning that the investment will pay for itself within the first two years.

The full-electric demonstrator’s drive is powered by a 360 volt system voltage, its diesel engine being completely replaced by a 60 kW electric motor. To ensure that the drive is constantly supplied with sufficient energy, the E-DEUTZ experts have equipped the telescopic handler with a correspondingly powerful battery; with its 30.5 kWh capacity, even lengthy periods of use at high load present no problems. The full-electric E-DEUTZ drive operates with zero local emissions, making it particularly attractive in conurbations where air pollution is often a major issue. In addition to the complete elimination of exhaust gases, it also significantly reduces noise pollution.

Both the demonstrators being exhibited are fully-functional and, in terms of performance, are in no respect inferior to the original diesel-powered model. This means that DEUTZ, together with its new partner, Torqeedo, has very quickly and successfully transferred its e-technology know-how to its core off-highway business. Both telescopic handlers demonstrate perfectly the flexibility offered by the E-DEUTZ modular system.