Dana Inc. said it has started production on the Spicer Electrified eS9000r e-Axle for Classes 4-5 commercial fleet applications.
During a press conference at the Technology & Maintenance Council's annual meeting, Dana officials said the first of its kind e-Axle for the medium-duty truck and bus segment will be available to equipment manufacturers in the third quarter of this year.
“The eS9000r e-Axle is built on our distinguished single drive axle and e-Powertrain platform, offering a streamlined electronic propulsion system for increased reliability and efficiency,” said Mark Wallace, president of Dana Commercial Vehicle Drive and Motion Systems. “With an extensive level of electrification activity in Class 4 and 5 vehicles, we anticipate this truck class to be the first for widespread deployment and are ready to support our customers with industry-leading electrodynamic solutions.”
Based of the Spicer S110, S111, and S130 rear drive axle platforms, the fully integrated e-axle includes the gearbox and motor. The helical gears are manufactured at a Dana Graziano plant in Italy, a high performance transmission maker acquired last March. Dana has made $300 million in acquisitions to further its electrification ambitions.
“We want to position ourselves as leaders in this propulsion area, and so we're going all in on it,” said Tim Farney, Dana’s vice president of global vehicles
The es9000r was designed to drop right into the chassis for existing suspensions. Along with the disc brakes, motor and inverter, the e-axle weighs 815 lbs. Farney said this replaces the current axle, drive shaft, transmission, engine and after treatment system, “so it's a pretty significant improvement.”
The 237 kW of peak performance equates to around 317 hp, and has a grade startability of 20 percent.
Dana also improved the efficiency of the medium-duty SPL series drive shafts, increasing the maximum torque rating by 15 percent for the SPL170, and 7 percent for the SPL140 model.
