Zf heavy truck 12 files AMT
People who care about the truck industry at the Shanghai Auto Show are not hard to find that major companies have launched AMT products for trucks. Although only the HOWO-A7 of China National Heavy Duty Truck is equipped with AMT gearbox on the market, everyone is aware of this potential. The market's prospects are very promising, and there are plenty of eager hopes to occupy a favorable position. The Central Plains deer, who fights. Driven by the market demand, the Chinese truck transmission market seems to have to start a new round of reshuffling. Why do all industries in the industry love AMT?
Five major advantages highlight the potential of AMT
It is understood that at present, the main types of vehicle transmission systems are: mechanical manual shift transmission MT, electro-hydraulic automatic transmission AT, continuously variable transmission CVT, electronically controlled mechanical automatic transmission AMT, sequential shift automatic transmission SMG and dual clutch transmission DCT and so on. Among them, AMT is based on the traditional MT, through the installation of computer-controlled variable speed control system and intelligent software modular automatic speed function. Holzner, general manager of ZF Transmission Technology (Hangzhou) Co., Ltd., told reporters that, overall, AMT has five major advantages:
1. First of all, on fuel consumption, AMT products can save 3% to 5% of fuel compared with manual gearbox, and more than 10% can be achieved with AT. Holzner points out, “Even if the best driver is driving for a long time, he will be slow to grasp the gear, so the fuel consumption will increase. But the AMT can automatically shift gears without any manual control during the shift. Therefore, the effect of fuel economy can be achieved.†Indeed, today, with the relative shortage of oil resources in the world, the fuel economy of automobiles has become an important factor for people’s attention when selecting vehicles because of the country’s emphasis on energy conservation and emission reduction policies. .
2, AMT is conducive to improve the life of the clutch. According to investigations, in Europe, even if the driver with the best driving skills is driving a vehicle that is not equipped with an AMT gearbox, it is generally necessary to replace the clutch between 300,000 km and 500,000 km. However, Holzner told reporters that the long-haul tractors equipped with ZF AMT gearboxes in Europe have a warranty period of 800,000 kilometers for their gearboxes and clutches. “But we found through investigation that our AMT does not need to change the clutch during the entire life cycle of the truck. According to the data returned by the user, we can see that after using the AMT product, the clutch wears when the truck is driven to 800,000 km. The level is only 20% of the normal value, I believe that this advantage will be more prominent in China, the clutch of the domestic truck wears faster due to overload, roads, etc., and the clutch may need to be replaced in the first half of the year. It will be stretched."
3, the driver's technical sensitivity is low. This is especially useful for large fleets, where drivers have many drivers and are replaced more quickly, while new drivers have 20%-30% more fuel consumption than experienced drivers. Because the technical requirements for the driver are not high, AMT can effectively alleviate this problem. Holzner told reporters that in order to prove this, they have done experiments in Europe. The test results show that if a manual gearbox is used, good drivers and bad drivers can consume between 80% and 120% of the average fuel consumption. After using AMT, good driver and bad driver fuel consumption ranged from 90% to 100% of average fuel consumption. It can be seen that AMT is very effective in controlling the cost of fuel consumption for large fleets. At the same time, the investment cost for training new drivers can also be reduced.
4. AMT is controlled by computer. It can automatically find a suitable shift timing by matching the engine, thus avoiding the impact of the driver's wrong operation on the engine and the driver, which is beneficial to the improvement of the life of the engine and the driver. .
5, with AMT, the driver can save a lot of shift operations, so you can focus more on driving, to avoid the occurrence of some traffic accidents, but also can reduce the driver's work intensity, so that the driver really achieve to enjoy driving .
AMT is the future trend of truck development
Even with such a large number of advantages, for Chinese consumers who are accustomed to the use of cheap things, their high prices will have to be weighed again and again. Before the market has matured, whether the timing of introducing AMT is ripe? Mr. Holzner dismissed this. He said that although China's AMT market is currently in its infancy, it is possible to promote AMT on long-haul tractors and in eastern container shipping. As a result, “AMT brings many benefits to users. Especially for some domestic large logistics companies, their management is more standardized, especially high reliability, high speed and efficient products. In addition, their focus is also from the The purchase cost will change from the use cost, and the AMT product may be purchased at a price 1,000-2,000 Euros more expensive than an ordinary gearbox, but its use cost is very low. In Europe, it generally takes only one to two years to recover all the investment. In the future, AMT will be able to enjoy the cost savings, so in the long run, AMT will benefit even more."
In addition, the promotion experience of AMT in Europe also shows that AMT is indeed the future trend of truck development. Since the introduction of AMT in Europe in 1998, the market share of AMT has reached 20% in the heavy truck market in 2003. By 2008, AMT products accounted for 50% of the ZF transmission output, and in 2009, the share of AMT continues to increase. . In general, the promotion of AMT products is related to the degree of local logistics development. If it is easier for large teams to promote them, if there are many individual users, the time required for promotion will be longer. “In China, the average number of trucks owned by each team is 2, so I think it will take a long time to promote AMT. But the trend of AMT will certainly not change,†Holzner told reporters.
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It is because of the huge potential of AMT products that ZF has begun to introduce its high-quality AMT products to China a few years ago. At the 2008 Beijing Auto Show, Dongfeng exhibited a truck with ZF AMT products. Nowadays, ZF has introduced a full range of AMT products into the Chinese market. Gears include 16-speed, 12-speed, and 6-speed transmissions, covering a wide range of models from heavy trucks to medium-sized cards to light-duty trucks, and even to some special vehicles.
However, companies that want to enter the AMT market in China are not the ZF family. Eaton and other domestic transmission suppliers and WABCO are eager to try. What does ZF have to rely on to attract users? High reliability, which is the answer given by Holzner to reporters . AMT requires very high reliability. Unlike MT, manual transmission drivers can carry out general maintenance. However, if there is a problem with AMT, professional personnel and specialized diagnostic instruments must be used to repair it. It is very troublesome. Therefore, the reliability requirements of AMT products are very high. In order to obtain highly reliable products, ZF will spend hundreds of millions of euros to develop all relevant components including hardware and software.
“We will work very hard with the automaker in hardware, hoping to perfect the matching of gearbox and engine, and we will also choose our suppliers with great care. The products they provide for us must Through our certification," Holzner told reporters. Similarly, ZF's requirements on the software are also very strict. It took six years for ZF to do software calibration in Europe, and the test mileage reached millions of kilometers. In China, ZF will make adaptive calibrations for each model on the Chinese market based on its engine characteristics, rear axle ratio, vehicle market positioning, loading conditions and target road conditions. For example, if the customer needs the car Finer, then ZF will do the most fuel-efficient calibration; if the customer needs this car's power and acceleration performance, ZF's calibration will put the shift point in the place with the highest torque. “And these calibrations have to be tested in practice rather than in the laboratory. We want to ensure the quality of our products to avoid damaging the credibility of ZF.†Holzner stressed to reporters in particular.
In this era of “wine is also afraid of a deep alleyâ€, even if no good products are promoted, the performance of the market will be unsatisfactory. It is understood that ZF has already begun to carry out marketing work for AMT products. Holzner told reporters, “We will organize some test rides with the auto factory, or give the car to the user, and let them compare with the manual transmission. We will The fuel consumption monitor is installed on the car so that they can better identify the benefits of AMT." It seems that both the product and the promotion of ZF are well prepared, and the ZF battle for this AMT market is very important.
Related Links: ZF Group AMT Product Profile
ZF started researching and developing mechanical transmission upgrades as early as the beginning of the 20th century, and in 1921 it introduced a mechanical transmission with pre-shift gears for use on passenger vehicles. By 1987, the ZF Group had introduced a transmission with an automatic pre-shift system (AVS) and already had the initial prototype of AMT. In 1997, ZF Group introduced the AS-Tronic1, the first-generation mechanical automatic transmission (AMT). Removing the clutch pedal was the biggest change, and it was applied to large vehicles such as heavy-duty trucks and tourist buses. In 2000, ZF Group upgraded AMT and launched its second generation of AS-Tronic. The reliability has been greatly improved. The application range has also expanded from the initial heavy-duty trucks and tourist buses to car cranes and railway locomotives. In 2005, on the basis of AS-Tronic, ZF Group also launched AS-Tronic mid and AS-Tronic lite, covering the range of mid-sized and light commercial vehicles. At present, ZF Group's main product in China is the 12-speed AS-Tronic, which is mainly used in heavy trucks and city buses.