Bosch ignites the turbo for electromobility

Boxberg – Electromobility is attracting new manufacturers to the market worldwide. At Bosch, a separate unit takes care of these customers who all have one thing in common: They increasingly demand system solutions rather than individual components. Bosch wants to support these new entrants just as it supports traditional car manufacturers in bringing electric vehicles to the market faster than before.

From a pre-integrated module to a complete solution

As part of a development alliance with the chassis and automotive technology expert Benteler, Bosch is showing how its products for electric vehicles can be integrated and which innovative, cross-domain functions – for example between steering and brakes – can be realized. Benteler takes care of the mechanical integration by embedding corresponding components and subsystems in a so-called rolling chassis. The rolling chassis is a ready-to-drive modular platform on which car bodies of a wide variety of vehicle types can be flexibly assembled.

The scalable concept using pre-integrated modules enables new vehicle concepts to be implemented quickly and helps car manufacturers to further increase their development efficiency. Start-ups are given the expertise to build an electric car. Customers can choose between a complete solution and pre-integrated modules.

Step one: functional integration

For a pre-integrated module, Bosch combines individual components such as the e-axle, braking system, steering system and control unit – the so-called Advanced Driving Module. To do so, interfaces are simplified and communication between the components is optimized. This ensures optimum interaction in the electric vehicle, for example regarding vehicle stabilization or recuperation.

Step two: mechanical integration

In cooperation with Benteler, the Bosch components are also mechanically assembled to form an axle module for the front and rear axles. Such a module is optimized in terms of construction space, among other things it improves damping and driving dynamics and can be used flexibly in different variants.

Step three: the fully integrated rolling chassis

The rolling chassis is the highest expansion stage and shows what a maximum of integration is possible. It includes all the necessary Bosch e-components up to an ingenious thermal management.

Outlook

In the future, Bosch intends to integrate its module solutions into chassis in cooperation with partners and thus offer customers a complete rolling chassis. However, Bosch does not build vehicles and does not intend to do so in future. The aim is to support customers in driving forward e-mobility solutions more quickly. For pre-integrated modules and rolling chassis, Bosch sees a market potential in an amount of billions, mainly in China and North America, but also in Europe. The first customer projects have already been launched.