Introducing MinErva: ready to propel us into the future

The last few years have shown us that the shift towards electrification in the automotive world is in full tilt. What’s more, the EV market seems to withstand the covid-19 crisis better than the traditional light vehicle market. At VCST, we are fully aware of this growing trend. That’s why we have created MinErva, our electrification taskforce.

Assuming new positions in the market

The aim of Minerva is to see how VCST can maintain its leading position and how we can adapt to the electrification of the powertrain. Our main objective is to remain a dependable and solid tier-2 provider of gears. After all, we already have two major electrification projects for which we are providing gears: Volta and Edison. Aside from that, we also want to become a foremost supplier of electric drive units (EDU). Our internally focussed organisation, external partnerships and expertise within BMT Drive Solutions will help us to achieve this.

Meet the new products

As we said before, for our electrification projects we will continue to make high-quality components as we are currently doing for two major American manufacturers. Aside from that though, we currently have four different complete EDUs that we would like to offer our customers.

First, we have a one-speed co-axial planetary system. The major advantage of this system is its practicality as it is ideal to be installed in applications that have little space for a drive unit. The main recipient of this system will be innovative projects such as driverless transport systems.

Next, we have our two-speed EDUs. These systems are designed for situations that do not allow for compromise between torque or speed as it can provide both depending on what is needed at a specific time. For our two-speed EDUs, we will look to produce both co-axial planetary systems as off-set ones.

Finally, we are currently developing a four-speed off-set system for medium and heavy duty trucks and service vehicles for which torque is important. Thanks to the development of our multispeed technology for the two-speed systems, we have been able to start up this development.

As it stands, both several high-profile customers as smaller start-ups have expressed their interest in our new technologies. Nearly all of them are active in niche markets, for either heavy duty or premium segments, as the products they require will have to work under demanding circumstances. And for that, they could not find a better partner than VCST.

Ready for the future

We are very much looking forward to the future as we feel that the strategy we have chosen will allow us to maintain and strengthen our position as a leading manufacturer of components as well as high-performance drive units. Thanks to our solid partnerships and our vast expertise, we are in a strong position to meet the future head on.