Originally, it was the needle roller bearings that produced less friction, which actually fit in perfectly with the topic of e-mobility, but 42 years ago, of course, they were not yet an issue when Schaeffler was founded. 90,000 employees, 14 billion euros in sales and 2,400 patents per year are the highlights of the company; sustainable, innovative and passionate would be suitable adjectives.

There are more fields, but in principle 'Automotive' and 'Industry'. The former are then divided into engine, transmission and chassis. At the turn of the millennium, a large proportion of Lamellen und Kupplung (Lamellae and Clutches) construction added, meanwhile completely taken over and renamed in 'Schaeffler'. FAG Kugelfischer was added and a large shareholding in Continental. The global presence is ensured by 74 plants and continental development centers. More than 12,000 of the employees work in China.

2018 will probably be a special year for Schaeffler in the field of e-mobility, coupled with 60 million in additional investment in the corresponding development center. Challenges: Reduction of pollutants or less CO₂, urbanization, globalization and digitization. In line with these, the two topics 'e-mobility' and 'autonomous driving' are addressed in the for the next few years or decades.

In addition to the already existing prototype of a Robo-Taxis with 90° steering and wheel hub motors, Schaeffler has made interesting decisions about the future that are sure to attract attention. These include the '30-40- 30 scenario', which predicts 30 percent pure electric vehicles, 40 percent hybrids and 30 percent pure combustion engines for 2030.

This means that the combustion engine will still be installed in 70 percent of all new vehicles, an impressive 117 million. It would therefore be significantly premature to say now to already freeze his further development. In the 'Industry' segment, Schaeffler will then hold capacities for topics such as charging infrastructure, storage capacity and the share of renewables in the electricity market consumed.

e-mobility will not only turn the drive upside down. The chassis will also be affected with a time lag. Examples of this could be the introduction of steer-by-wire without much mechanics and brake-by-wire. without hydraulics. All this also applies to the self-propelled Level 5 car, which Schaeffler will have in 2035 with a single-digit percentage.

Conversely, the 30-40-30 concept of course also shows that we will have to massively increase our e-share from approx. 4 percent to 70 percent over the next 12 years. The reason is the European legislation for 2021, which prescribes 95 g/km with fines of 95 euros for every gram over that. A revolution in internal combustion engines is no longer to be expected, especially as nor the gasoline engine just trumps the Diesel.

So 2021 is not only about more e-participation, but partly it doesn't even take advantage of the possibility, so great for hybrids, to drive the test with an unaccounted full battery. So much battery capacity does not have a 'normal' hybrid, there will probably be more plug-in hybrids. Because with the given range and charging infrastructure, it might be naive to have a particularly a high proportion of pure electric cars can be expected.

Incidentally, the fines are calculated in such a way that almost every technical effort or electrical solution is worthwhile to improve CO₂ emissions. For 2025 one should already 81 g/km, although this has not yet been legally established. Most users still do not consider the range and prices of pure electric cars to be acceptable, the percentage of plug-ins is still rising. Even 48V systems on internal combustion engines are no longer sufficient.

And where does the prediction of a still 70 percent share of combustion engines come from? Well, because the whole thing is a mix. You can easily calculate based on the CO₂ emissions, how many electric cars a manufacturer has to sell for a pure combustion engine or a hybrid without plug-in. As usual, the Smart enables the S-Class.

It is interesting that under President Trump, the USA is tending to weaken its legislation. China, on the other hand, is more likely to promote pure e- than hybrid technology. Perhaps also the reason that Toyota is a has made the switch to the hydrogen car. Nevertheless, those who have assigned only one type of bridge technology to the hybrid will probably have to learn a little better.

After the facts dictated by the legislator, a look at the areas in which Schaeffler sees an opportunity for commitment is now interesting. As a look back into the past, the VW swinging-masses-automatic of 1981, a predominantly mechanical solution, where instead of losing kinetic energy as heat during braking, this energy is transferred to a flywheel in form of and is then called up again during acceleration.

The CVT transmission 'Multitronic', which was developed together with Audi in 1999, was actually a milestone, but in principle it could rather be placed in Asia. The European motorist was able to may wean the gear change partially, but not the step with a swelling engine noise for each gear.

Which Schaeffler e-modules are currently available? The company is very proud of the hybrid module that will soon go into series production in Wooster (USA), which combines an electric motor. with the torque converter and lock-up clutch typical for the USA, allegedly even in the available installation space. The transmissions, e.g. for the Audi e-tron, also have a 230 Nm transmittable torque converter and lock-up clutch. Torque per kilogram pretty much above average.

One is already in series production in China with single-stage and two-stage gearboxes for pure electric drives. The technology for electric motors comes from Compact Dynamics, which has also been integrated into the drive of the above the winner racing car of 2017.