POWERTRAIN TECHNOLOGY
BAE Systems has signed a
20-year deal with Caterpillar for
the supply of CX transmissions
for its HybriDrive parallel hybrid
propulsion system. The hybrid
system is targeted toward Class
6, 7 and 8 truck applications such
as refuse collection, construction,
pickup and delivery, and utilities.
WORKING IN PARALLEL
20-year agreement between BAE Systems and Caterpillar over transmissions
for parallel hybrid system was result of long cooperation
BY DAWN M. GESKE
When BAE Systems an- nounced in late January that it had signed a 20-year
supply agreement with Caterpillar Inc.
covering parallel hybrid propulsion systems for heavy-duty trucks, it was the
result of more than two years of development work with the Peoria, Ill., company. But in truth, the roots of the parallel configuration of BAE’s HybriDrive
system go back even further than that.
Through its HybriDrive Solutions
business — part of the company’s
Electronic Systems segment — BAE
has long marketed a series version of
the HybriDrive technology, which has
been used in a broad range of applications such as transit buses and refuse
vehicles and has racked up more than
300 million operating miles, according
to the company.
“About four years ago we decided
to add another family of products in
the HybriDrive portfolio in relation to
the series product offering,” said Mike
Mekhiche, director of products and
technology at BAE Systems. “This
architecture is a parallel architecture
that targets the vocational truck mar-
ket for vehicles that have some level
of stop-and-go and somewhat lower
average speed. The parallel architec-
ture is really a technology that blends
the power and torque from the engine
and the electric system.”
More than two years ago, BAE
entered a development agreement
with Cat with the target being the cre-
ation of the series hybrid architecture.
In 2011, the companies took their
cooperation a step further by collabo-
rating on a parallel hybrid technology
integrating Caterpillar’s CX series on-
highway transmissions.
