Bosch Says It Plans to Invest $500 Million Annually in Hybrid and EV Technology

Bosch Says It Plans to Invest $500 Million Annually in Hybrid and EV Technology

By Scott Doggett July 8, 2010

By Scott Doggett, Contributing Editor

Despite asserting that only 3 percent of vehicles produced worldwide in 2020 will be electric-drive, Robert Bosch GmbH - the world's largest supplier of automobile components - today announced that it will invest $400 million euros ($506 million today) in the development of powertrain technologies for all-electric vehicles.

One of the benefits of Bosch's decision to make this annual investment is that will take some of the pressure off automakers to develop the technology themselves. That in turn should increase their ability to bring electric-drive vehicles to market while simultaneously reducing their costs.

"In the future, the choice of powertrain will depend on the individual driver's mobility requirements. The electric car will play an increasingly prominent role here," Dr. Rolf Bulander, president of the Gasoline Systems division at Bosch, said in a statement today.

The potential of electric vehicles can be exploited above all in the megacities, which are growing rapidly worldwide, said the 124-year-old German technology-based corporation, which has business relationships with virtually every automobile company in the world.

Bosch executives believe that for driving medium-to-long distances, economical diesel and gasoline engines, which are being continuously improved, come into their own. Hybrid vehicles are an option for short-, medium- and long-distance driving, while fuel-cell vehicles are especially suitable for long distances, they said.

"This is why we are not limiting our efforts to just one powertrain," Bulander said. "We are working to develop diesel and gasoline engines further, while at the same time making a concerted effort to electrify the powertrain."

The statement was consistent with comments made two months ago by Dr. Johannes-Joerg Rueger, Bosch's senior vice president of diesel engineering, who insisted that in the near-term, electric vehicles make no sense. Diesels, however, do.

Bosch executives view hybrid drives, which combine a combustion engine and an electric motor, as an interim technology en route to the all-electric drive. They pointed out today that this year has seen the launch of full-hybrid versions of the Porsche Cayenne S and Volkswagen Touareg, which feature Bosch's innovative parallel-hybrid technology.

In addition, PSA Peugeot Citroen and Bosch have formed an engineering alliance to develop diesel hybrids with electric four-wheel drive, which is slated to go into series production next year.

For these vehicles, Bosch is developing and manufacturing the power electronics and electric motors. And in the Hybrid and Electric Vehicle business unit, which Bosch established in 2009, the company disclosed that further projects are in the pipeline.

In 2004, what was then known as Bosch's "hybrid technology project unit" began its operation with roughly 100 associates. Today, some 800 Bosch associates worldwide develop technologies for hybrids and EVs.

In addition, there are the roughly 650 associates in the SB LiMotive joint venture, who are further developing lithium-ion battery technology for use in the automobile.

BMW is the first customer of the joint venture, which was set up in 2008. The Bavarian automaker will purchase the battery cells for the purely electrically driven Megacity Vehicle from SB LiMotive.

Bosch has already established a complete product portfolio for hybrid and electric powertrains. It includes core components such as the power electronics which control the energy flows in hybrid and electric vehicles, as well as high-torque electric motors. Work is underway to prepare series production of power electronics components in Reutlingen and of electric motors in Hildesheim.

Beyond that are the chargers that will allow plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles to recharge from the power socket.

"Going forward, the objective now is to reduce the weight and installation space of these components and increase their efficiency, so as to achieve as great a range as possible on the basis of the battery capacity available," Dr. Matthias Küsell, who is responsible for engineering and customer projects for electric vehicle and hybrid systems at Bosch, said.

With all of these products, plus the lithium-ion batteries that are developed in the SB LiMotive joint venture set up with Samsung, Bosch executives say the company is now in a position to supply the entire electric powertrain - from the energy storage medium to the electric motor.

Using hybrid and electrical powertrains has an impact on many other automotive components and systems. Bosch executives said the company is also investing in these areas, which include: efficient auxiliary units, such as electric power steering; braking and steering systems tailored to hybrid and electric vehicles; and, thermal management for the heating and cooling systems.

Out of 100 million newly produced vehicles in 2020, Bosch executives said they expect to see some 3 million electric cars and plug-in hybrids, as well as 6 million hybrid vehicles.

Those figures, they noted, may vary depending on future legal requirements, rising fuel prices, and progress in battery technology. But "in the long run, the future will belong to the electric vehicle," they said, adding that these figures also "clearly illustrate that the combustion engine will remain the dominant powertrain for the next 20 years."

Scott Doggett:  is an AutoObserver.com Associate Editor.