Three Swedish companies have brought together their know-how in transmission design, materials and manufacturing to produce a transmission for electric vehicles. The transmission, which will be on display for the first time at the International CTI Symposium and Exhibition "Innovative Automotive Transmissions and Hybrid and Electric Drives", held in Berlin from December 5-8, features powder metallurgy (PM) gears. The result is a transmission which offers lower manufacturing costs, lower weight and less noise, which are all in demand by manufacturers of electric vehicles. For the project Vicura AB has teamed up with Höganäs and specialist manufacturer SwePart Transmission AB.

"This transmission for electric vehicles is a big step forward," says Magnus Wall, sales director at Vicura. "The key criteria have been lower noise levels - because you don't have masking noise from a combustion engine - and low costs, because a low-volume product like electric cars require cost-efficient solutions. This transmission fulfils both criteria."

Anders Flodin, manager gear technology at Höganäs, says: "We have proved the PM gear concept on a more experimental scale and now we have one of the world's top gear design experts at one of the top design houses taking this forward to the market. Vicura and its customers will reap the benefits in terms of lower costs, lighter weight, less noise and improved fuel economy."

SwePart has contributed with its expertise of gear design and gear making. Engineering Manager Hans Hansson says: "Our three companies are the first to make PM gears for this application, and this will enable us to build up unique knowledge and therefore put us in a strong position for entering new markets."

Vicura, Höganäs and SwePart will showcase the new transmission on a joint stand at International CTI Symposium and Exhibition alongside a rally car featuring PM gears in its manual gearbox.