The AgiloDrive pilot project at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) aims at producing cost-efficiently electric motors in variable technology and quantities in the near future. The integration and combination of product kits and production modules within the project AgiloDrive will be beneficial for the future development of a regional "value chain" for electric motors in Baden-Wuerttemberg. The project is therefore being funded by the state's Ministry of Economics with a million euros. e-mobil BW is supporting this goal as an associated partner.
Gehring Technologies GmbH and Schaeffler Automotive Buehl GmbH & Co. KG have been attracted as project members. These companies not only contribute their know-how to the project, but also implement the researched approach in their own companies and validate the resulting "agile production system". The Cluster Electric Mobility South-West supports the dissemination of the project results and offers the project consortium an important exchange platform with its approximately 150 members from science and industry.
With the current transformation process of the mobility sector, it can be assumed that sales of partially or fully electrified vehicles will steadily increase in all market segments. This will result in profound structural changes in the automotive value chains. Regardless of the type of energy storage system used (battery or fuel cell), the electric motor plays a performance-determining role in vehicles with electrified powertrains. In addition to converting energy for the purpose of propulsion, it also enables braking energy to be recovered, thereby increasing range and resource efficiency.
The approach taken by the AgiloDrive pilot project can savecosts across different product series and manufacturing technologies and thus, integrate electromobility into the mobility transition economically.
The number of units, quality and volume density as well as power density of the electric motor differ significantly from the motors previously known from applications in mechanical and plant engineering, households oder electrical industries. In order to meet these requirements for the automotive industry and thus create the conditions for the widespread electrification of transport, it is necessary to develop novel product development methods and production technologies and enable them for industrial use.
The AgiloDrive project team is therefore working simultaneously on three subprojects: firstly, on an integrated product kit based on future-proof modular structures and flexible development and design methods. The second sub-project is concerned with the necessary structures and technologies of the flexible systems. The third sub-project aims at the application of the production system so that the findings of the research project can be implemented on an industrial scale during development.