China OEMs Technology Trends: Experience and Challenges in Applications of Shell E-fluids

For better fuel economy and emission reduction, coupled with the government’s advantageous licensing policies and the unique driving experience of electric vehicles (EVs), more and more Chinese original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are turning their attention to pure electric vehicles. They are also designing, developing, and launching higher quality battery electric vehicles (BEVs) to the market. In parallel, from the aspects of cost optimization and efficiency improvement, OEMs tend to integrate the drive system into a whole, including drive motor, gearbox, electronic control system, etc. The motor and gearbox components, both simultaneously in direct contact with the lubricant, pose challenges to lubricant formulation development. 

Compared with the traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle, which has decades of design experience and technology accumulation, the design of electric vehicle drivetrain systems by major Chinese OEMs is still at the early stage of exploration, so are the design and requirements for E-fluids. This presentation is based on the problems that have occurred in the past five years of cooperation with different OEMs on hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and BEVs, such as gear and bearing protection, anti-corrosion performance of E-motor materials, guarantee of electrical properties, heat dissipation, anti-foam performance, noise, vibration & harshness (NVH), etc.