Construction trucks should also become emission-free in the future. However, they need special solutions for their power take-offs. Auto suppliers want that in the future ZF provide.
Cranes, cement mixers, tipper semitrailers and other special vehicles mostly use auxiliary drives (Power Take-off, PTO) for their special superstructures that dock on the drive train. In one pure electric commercial vehicle future New technical solutions for the operation of emission-free power take-offs (ePTOs) are in demand. The future e-trucks will lack the usual interfaces. Auto supplier ZF wants to provide this under the product name eWorx and thus support the industry on the path to electrification as a system supplier.
The power take-offs from the eCubE
The heart of the system is called eCubE. It primarily establishes the connection between the vehicle battery and the electric power take-off, which in turn drives a crane or a tipping bridge. Power electronics and control unit are combined in the eCubE. By connecting to the vehicle's CAN bus, the eWorX solutions can be integrated into the battery and energy management system of an e-truck, according to ZF. The new technology should, among other things, allow new safety and assistance functions as well as control of the machines via smartphone or tablet from the outside.
ZF shows what this looks like in practice using a tipping trailer that was set up as a test vehicle. This variant is currently being tested. Further ePTOs are currently being set up in cooperation with various body builders, which will also be used for practical testing in the future.