Full speed ahead for e-mobility
DEPRAG supplies new assembly line for power controllers
A million electric cars on Germany’s roads by 2020. This is the ambitious target set by the Federal Government in its bid to continue the battle against climate-destroying CO2 emissions. It believes that e-mobility is a significant key technology to create a sustainable transport system for the future, especially where the power is produced from renewable energy sources. Yet e-mobility is still in its infancy: it is estimated that there are only around 1500 electrically powered vehicles on our roads today. That is why all those involved - policy-makers, industrialists and scientists - are working flat out to resolve all the outstanding issues. A great deal more research and development work is required before electric cars are fully ready for the market and before consumers will accept them.
Lithium ion batteries replace the fuel tank in an electric car. Intensive research is under way to improve these. In a statement, industry policy-makers said: “Our aim is to reduce the cost of the batteries since it is the battery that continues to be the most expensive component inside an electric car.” The Ministry of Transport requires that the energy density of batteries - i.e. the charging capacity measured against the volume - be increased even further. At present a battery stores much less energy than is produced by a full tank of petrol or diesel. This means that an electric car has a much shorter range than a car with a combustion engine.
The automotive industry and its suppliers are in a catch 22 situation. The government requires them to get e-mobility on the road as fast as possible, but they have to keep an eye on the competition as they do so. Due to the current low numbers of electric cars, assembling them on the customary fully-automated assembly lines would seem unprofitable. Jürgen Hierold, Sales Manager at engineering company DEPRAG SCHULZ GMBH u. CO. based in Amberg, Germany, explains the problems: “This industrial sector of the future is faced with a dichotomy in planning its assembly systems. Any technology selected today needs to be adaptable and flexible, so that as numbers grow it can be turned into a fully automated plant. Moreover, assembly work carried out now in small numbers has to be to the utmost precision since - as is the case with all automotive assembly - an assembly fault can prove to be fatal.
