ALL SYST

Through a series of acquisitions and a constant focus on international drivetrain and e-Propulsion system excellence, Dana Australia has established itself as a worthy proponent in the global field of electromobility.

While Dana International can boast having 115 years of innovation and technological evolution under its belt, the last few years of operations within Australia and partnering countries has seen the company further advance on its electrically powered journey. A dedicated electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing facility opened in Pune, India, in December 2021, which is now responsible for supplying OEMs with technology for a range of EV applications such as buses and trucks. Dana was one of the first companies to establish a site of this nature.

As part of its electromobility efforts, Dana has made over $400 million in investments in total, particularly through the Pune facility. In the last three years, Dana has also made several acquisitions to bolster its presence in international markets. These include the acquisitions of Oerlikon Group, Nordresa, Rational Motion GmbH, PI Innovo and Ashwoods Electric Motors which have all strengthened Dana’s vehicle integration, embedded software and control systems. By offering and adapting its quality drivetrain and e-Propulsion products while constantly improving its market reach, Dana’s e-mobility efforts haven’t gone unrecognised.

On 25 April 2022, Dana announced that it had secured a leading spot across the Automotive News PACE and PACEpilot Award programs, with five innovative electrification technologies being named to the lists.

As it approachea its 29th event this year, the prestigious PACE Awards program will recognise suppliers for game-changing technologies that deliver superior innovation, technological advancement and business performance. The PACEpilot Award recognises pre-commercial, postpilot innovations in the automotive or future mobility space, including products, processes, software and IT systems. Three of Dana’s innovations were named as finalists for the PACE Awards in 2022, which included the complete vehicle integration for e-Propulsion and e-Power systems, the TM4 high-performance inverter and the metallic bipolar plates for fuel cell stacks.

At the event during September 2022, it was announced that Dana’s complete e-Propulsion and e-Power system had won the PACE Award. The e-Propulsion and e-Power systems provide customers with a turnkey solution for the design, development, integration and upfitting of electrified technologies to the vehicle chassis.

The fully integrated EV solution leverages Dana’s core technologies in EV architecture, vertically integrated systems engineering and core product portfolio in integrated electric systems to accelerate the time to deliver vehicles to the market.

“We are honoured to once again be recognised by the Automotive News PACE judges for our commitment to delivering innovation that has a direct and substantial impact for our customers as they deliver the next generation of electric vehicles,” says Dana Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Christophe Dominiak. “Dana’s ability to integrate and upfit our complete package of e-Propulsion and e-Power systems enables our customers to meet the rapidly approaching regulatory requirements and respond to the increase in demand for sustainable clean-energy solutions.”

The e-Propulsion system delivers the motion for the vehicle by leveraging Dana’s expertise in high-voltage motors and inverters, driveline technologies and thermal management to optimise for the vehicle’s duty cycle while achieving the highest levels of functional safety and best-in-class efficiency.

Dana’s TM4 high-performance inverter, on the other hand, leverages the company’s in-house power modules to deliver high reliability and efficiency for a broad range of two, three, and four-wheeled high-performance vehicle applications.

The metallic bipolar plates with integrated metal bead seal are an integral component in the fuel-cell stack, delivering improved cost, performance and manufacturability, aiding original equipment manufacturers in realising commercialisation of fuel-cell powered mobility.

Two of Dana’s innovations were also named as finalists for the PACEpilot awards, the electric rigid beam axle and composite battery enclosure. The electric rigid beam axle is a compact, robust threein-one system capable of handling on- and off-road performance, which was designed to meet the rigorous requirements of light-vehicle pickup truck applications. The composite battery enclosure with integrated thermal management leverages the company’s sealing and thermal engineering expertise to deliver an integrated solution for hybrid and EV applications.

Continuing its commitment to EV solutions, Dana introduced its Spicer Electrified eSP502 e-Transmission in October 2022, which then displayed at Bauma in Germany between 24 and 30 October.