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Home ›Articles› How will the electrification of transportation change the lubricant industry?

Gareth Fish explores how lubricant manufacturers began to adjust their greases for use in electric and hybrid vehicles

Since the Industrial Revolution, air pollution has always been a concern for residents of all countries in the world. For example, in England, people have been fighting this issue since the government passed the 1956 Clean Air Act in 1956. The most recent action was taken when the Climate Change Act was passed in 2008. The goal of this legislation is to reduce total greenhouse gas emissions from all sources of energy production.

Obviously, this battle is not only happening in England. The United States has a long history of fighting air pollution. In fact, Parliament passed the Air Pollution Control Act in 1955, one year before the first legislation passed in the UK. In 1970, the United States passed the Clean Air Act, a landmark piece of legislation that helped millions of American citizens obtain air purifiers and continued to work toward this goal more than 40 years later.

But the impact of climate change has made the struggle in the past decade more intense than ever. More and more people are seriously studying the possibility of buying electric vehicles (EV) instead of internal combustion engine vehicles (ICE). The goal is to eliminate (ultimately) the need for traditional fossil fuels to power internal combustion engine vehicles, reduce the carbon footprint of the transportation sector and support the fight against climate change.

As a result, lubricant manufacturers began to adjust their greases so that they can be used in electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles (HEV). It is important to check the current state of vehicle lubrication and how its adaptability to EVs and HEVs will change the way grease is made and used.

As more and more vehicles are electrified, what will happen to the unknowns in the lubricant market

At present, there are more than 50 types of grease used in traditional internal combustion engine vehicles, and the market has remained strong for decades. 2019 is the most recent year for which data are available, with 483,000 metric tons of grease sold worldwide. Automobile manufacturers use grease in their vehicles for four reasons: anti-corrosion, lubrication, water resistance, and squeak resistance. When greases are deployed in the passenger compartment, they are most commonly used for light lubrication applications such as noise reduction. To be used in interiors, they must be compatible with plastics and have the same lifetime as the components. On the exterior of vehicles, manufacturers use grease in anti-wear, anti-corrosion and anti-oxidation applications.

Of course, the most common uses for grease include steering racks, light truck suspension joints, door hinges, locks and handles, braking mechanisms, shock absorbers, and wheel bearings. But specialty greases are often used in small batches of electrical contact switches, pedal mechanisms, accessory drive bearings, seat adjusters, window regulators, and other applications.

In most cases, the grease on the HEV does not look much different from the grease currently used in ICE vehicles, except for the starter motor grease. They will no longer need high shock load resistance, because the starter motor in the start-stop vehicle acts as a generator without restarting the engine. In addition, if the gearbox motor bearings are designed into the gearbox, they can be lubricated with grease or oil.

Unlike traditional ICE or HEV motors, EV motors require different greases. Different from traditional reasons, the grease in electric vehicles must have the following characteristics: long life, low noise, electrical conductivity or insulation, and energy saving. In order to reduce the consumption of vehicle batteries, energy efficiency and service life are the primary considerations for greases used in electric vehicles.

Although there are more than 50 grease applications on a typical ICE vehicle, energy efficiency is only important in four specific applications: transmission system joints and bearings, front-end accessory drive bearings, wheel bearings, and steering mechanisms.

The duty cycle of a vehicle presents the most urgent challenge to its energy efficiency. After all, a good lubricating film will not be produced at low speeds. Energy loss occurs when using in-boundary lubrication. Although thicker base oils improve oil film thickness at lower speeds, they will result in higher speed mixing losses. In contrast, higher speeds will produce a thicker lubricating film. The use of lower viscosity oils will allow thinner films to be formed, thereby preventing agitation loss-but, as discussed, if the resulting film is too thin, it will compromise the durability of the component.

As the electrification process of the transportation industry continues to accelerate, it is very important to ensure that the lubricant market adapts to the new requirements of electric vehicles

In the next few years, most lubricant manufacturers believe that the use or formulation of grease will have little or no change. As HEVs become more and more common, the grease used to start motors and motor bearings will naturally change.

As more and more vehicles are electrified, what will happen to the lubricant market is unknown. The grease that affects the mileage of a vehicle needs to have higher performance in terms of energy efficiency, durability and long life. In addition, conductivity and resistivity will also become important factors in EV grease, but most of the current concerns are specific to vehicle hardware.

As the electrification process of the transportation industry continues to advance, it is very important to ensure that the lubricant market adapts to the new requirements of electric vehicles. The challenge for the industry is to ensure that manufacturers and consumers are familiar with these specific needs and create the infrastructure to meet these needs.

About the author: Gareth Fish is a Lubrizol Industrial Additive Technology Researcher 

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