From vehicle electrification to autonomous driving Preview of the IAA Transportation 2024

From Stefanie Eckardt | Translated by AI 14 min Reading Time

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From September 17 to 22, 2024, IAA Transportation will once again open its doors, showcasing the latest in commercial vehicle innovations. The event will spotlight advancements in battery-electric drives, fuel cells, intelligent charging solutions, automated driving technologies, software-defined commercial vehicles, and enhanced safety systems.

From September 17 to 22, everything will once again revolve around modern commercial vehicle technologies at the IAA Transportation in Hanover.(Image: Photovision-DH GmbH)
From September 17 to 22, everything will once again revolve around modern commercial vehicle technologies at the IAA Transportation in Hanover.
(Image: Photovision-DH GmbH)

The commercial vehicle industry, like the automotive sector, is undergoing its most significant transformation to date. This shift is evident at IAA Transportation 2024, which has expanded by nearly 20%, attracting over 1,650 exhibitors from 41 countries. Under the theme "People and Goods on the Move," the event will address both current and future industry challenges, showcasing innovative solutions that are shaping the future of transportation.

Commercial vehicle manufacturer

At the IAA Transportation, commercial vehicle manufacturers will be focusing on commercial vehicles with battery-electric drives, fuel cells and renewable fuels in combustion engines. Volvo Trucks, for example, will be showcasing its new Volvo FH Aero series at this year's trade fair in Hanover, which was recently launched for Europe, Asia and Africa. It also includes variants that run on electricity or biofuel. In the US market, the all-new Volvo VNL was launched on a completely new platform that includes autonomous technologies. The manufacturer will also be presenting other models such as the Volvo FM Low Entry, which is equipped exclusively with a battery-electric powertrain, and e-axle technology, which enables a longer electric range and optimized handling. Volvo Trucks will also be showing its new driver assistance systems at the IAA, including the new Camera Monitor System (CMS), which improves aerodynamics as well as increasing safety through better visibility. A total of eight different Volvo Trucks models will be on display, including the Volvo FH Aero Electric 4x2 with Camera Monitor System (CMS), the Volvo FH16 Aero 4x2 with HVO fuel, XXL cab and CMS, the Volvo FMX Electric 6x4 with 3-sided tipper, the Volvo FM Low Entry 6x2 with skip loader, the Volvo FM Gas Powered 4x2 with CMS, the Volvo FE Electric 4x2 with skip loader, the fully equipped Volvo VNL 860 and a Volvo fuel cell test truck.

MAN Truck & Bus is presenting the new MAN eTGL at the IAA 2024. The electrically powered 12-tonner rounds off the commercial vehicle manufacturer's electric truck portfolio for light distribution transport. With a range of up to 235 kilometers, fast charging in around 30 minutes and a payload of up to 6,600 kilograms, depending on the body, it offers the ideal combination for quiet and locally CO2-free transport in urban goods logistics for food chains, retailers or the catering industry. Together with the eTGS and eTGX, MAN now offers the entire total weight portfolio from twelve to 42 tons fully electrically with the new eTGL. Comparatively low range requirements, the option of depot charging at logistics locations and increasing noise and emission restrictions for combustion trucks in city centers make urban distribution transport an important starting segment for the switch to electromobility.

In addition to battery-electric models, Daimler Truck is also focusing on fuel cell vehicles. The company recently announced the customer-oriented testing of five Mercedes-Benz GenH2 trucks. After long internal test drives, the manufacturer handed over the first five pre-series vehicles to customers to test the GenH2 truck in their daily logistics operations. These fuel cell trucks are being tested with the companies Air Products, Amazon, Holcim, Ineos and Wiedmann & Winz. The test customers are using the vehicles in various long-distance transport applications. Amazon uses the GenH2 truck in its logistics network in Germany, Air Products for the transportation of cylinder gases, Wiedmann & Winz for sea containers, Holcim for building materials logistics and Vervaeke for the transportation of PVC and vinyl. According to the company, the GenH2 trucks have two fuel cell systems with a total output of 300 kW (2x 150 kW) and a 70 kWh battery that can deliver up to 400 kW in the short term. Two electric motors are to provide a continuous output of 2x 230 kW and a maximum output of 2x 330 kW. The tanks will hold 44 kilograms of deep-frozen liquid hydrogen, which is cold at -253 degrees Celsius and should offer a higher energy density than gaseous hydrogen. This should enable a range of over 1,000 kilometers, as Daimler Truck showed during a demonstration drive last September.

Iveco is using the IAA Transportation to present new locally emission-free commercial vehicles under the motto "Drive the road of change". Two world premieres are particularly noteworthy: the new electric light commercial vehicle developed with Hyundai, with which the manufacturer intends to make its debut in the upper end of the medium segment up to 3.5 tons, and the heavy-duty S-eWay chassis, which is intended to offer versatile solutions for all urban and regional requirements. In total, more than 20 vehicles will be on display to showcase the range of alternatively powered vehicles with HVO, biomethane, battery electric and hydrogen. In the Test Drive Area, Iveco will also offer visitors the opportunity to test drive a total of 13 vehicles themselves, ranging from light to medium to heavy-duty trucks.

Renault Trucks has announced that the manufacturer's Oxygen electric truck is entering its second round of testing. In this phase, the vehicles will be tested and optimized under real-life conditions. The aim is to further improve the electric trucks' suitability for everyday use and efficiency. The tests are being carried out in collaboration with various logistics companies that use the Oxygen in regular operations.

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles has announced that it will celebrate the premiere of the Transporter T7 in Hanover. At the same time, the company revealed details about the interior and load compartment of the completely newly developed Transporter generation. The T7, which is due to be launched at the beginning of 2025 and was developed in cooperation with Ford, will feature a digital cockpit landscape with a 12-inch digital display and a 13-inch touchscreen for the infotainment system, as well as an extended load compartment compared to the previous Transporter 6.1 model. The T7 will offer a load volume of 5.78 cubic meters or 9 cubic meters in the long version and a payload of 1.33 tons or a towing capacity of up to 2.8 tons. As a panel van, the T7 will again be equipped with two individual seats at the front as standard, but will also be available with an optional two-seater bench seat for an additional passenger seat or with up to three easily removable individual seats in the second row of seats and - at a later date as an estate - with a three-seater bench seat in the third row of seats. The dT7 will also be the only commercial vehicle in its class to be available as a platform truck with a six-seater crew cab.

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Automotive supplier in Hanover

Continental's appearance at the trade fair is being held under the motto "Innovating Transportation From Road To Cloud". The supplier will be showcasing its innovations in the areas of intelligent services and software-defined commercial vehicles, safe and sustainable road transportation and autonomous commercial vehicles, which aim to make transportation safer, more connected and more autonomous. Continental will present a wide range of solutions, from tires and driver assistance systems to advanced vehicle connectivity. The company intends to present HPCs and software as well as a complete ecosystem that extends from the road to the cloud and enables the software-defined vehicle (SDV) and autonomous driving functions. This includes a high-performance computer for the commercial vehicle cockpit and a cross-domain zone control unit that integrates the power supply for cockpit and ADAS components, among other things. The technology company will also be presenting its Automotive Edge Framework CAEdge, a cloud-based development environment that enables rapid development and testing of vehicle software. The intelligent services presented in Hanover, which use real-time data for greater process automation and efficiency, include two new versions of the ContiConnect digital tire management solution. Also on show: Solutions for vehicles with new energy supply (NEV) such as thermal management for battery electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles. Continental will also provide deeper insights into its progress with Aurora in the development and production of a Level 4 system on a large scale.

Valeo will present 48 V hybrid systems for vans and other compact commercial vehicles, Cyclee technology and technologies for e-bikes for battery thermoregulation, air conditioning and heat pump thermal management. Valeo will also present FlexHeater, an intelligent heating system for electric commercial vehicles that uses the interior surfaces to provide an additional level of comfort with low energy consumption. Valeo's battery thermoregulation and heat pump thermal management technologies will also be on show. Safety technologies are also the focus of the trade fair presentation. For example, Aquablade cleans the windshield to ensure constant visibility and reduce the driver's reaction time by 315 milliseconds. The Driver Monitoring System (DMS), which is integrated into the B-pillar of vans, is designed to prevent the driver from falling asleep or being distracted. Scala-3-Lidar, in turn, is the world's first series-produced 3D laser scanner and is already being used in vehicles on the market. Valeo is also developing lighting technologies for trucks to increase safety with adaptive high beam and HD road projection.

Mahle will be showing a demo in which the supplier's electric axle, battery cooling and fuel cell peripherals are combined with a fully functional fuel cell. The conversion of hydrogen into electricity in the fuel cell is not trivial, particularly with regard to heat management. At the IAA Transportation, Mahle will be presenting a new evaporative cooling system, which was also installed in the demo. According to the manufacturer, it guarantees an optimally tempered fuel cell and offers up to 50 kW more cooling capacity in the given installation space. The advantage: less fan power is required and hydrogen consumption can be reduced by up to 1.5 percent.

ZF is demonstrating new software functions to offer smarter, better connected and more efficient commercial vehicle technologies. One of the new solutions serves to optimize the interaction of the electric driveline with the EBS brake management functions. Another increases the recuperation performance. In both cases, ZF uses its software expertise from other vehicle segments. Recuperation can effectively increase the range of the electric vehicle or reduce the size of the batteries required. The synergy program developed by the supplier coordinates the electric drive and braking functions in order to optimize recuperation under full stability control. This allows increases in efficiency, safety and comfort to be achieved while reducing the total cost of ownership (TCO). The system combines the modular, electric drives with the mBSP XBS braking system. The electric drive serves as an actuator for the braking system and vice versa, so that the capacities of both systems are used to effectively control acceleration and braking processes. The system maximizes energy recovery to recharge the batteries while driving, effectively increasing the vehicle's range.

Knorr-Bremse is working on redundancy architectures for braking and steering systems as well as energy management. The automotive supplier is focusing on SAE level 4 with redundant actuators. This will play an important role in the future, not only for automated driving, as the company intends to demonstrate at the IAA Transportation in Hanover.

Increasing automation requires redundancy systems. In the future, more and more functions and therefore responsibilities will be transferred from humans to machines. The aims of automating driving tasks are to overcome the shortage of drivers, improve road safety and reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO) for operators. High vehicle reliability and availability are prerequisites for automated driving. This requires redundant braking, steering and energy management systems. Redundancy means the independent functioning of primary and secondary systems, systematic fault detection and handling as well as mutual system monitoring.

The challenges not only for Knorr-Bremse in realizing the redundant functional components lie primarily in the increased complexity. This is due to increased safety requirements, additional and modified components, new interfaces and more complex validation and verification of the overall systems. Added to this are changes in working methods due to new process frameworks in the development of safety-critical components. Scalability and modularity play an important role against the backdrop of uncertain future unit developments and technical hurdles, as these factors ensure greater flexibility. Knorr-Bremse focuses on this with modular Level 2 systems that can be expanded to Level 4 systems by adding or modifying modular components. In the future, fail-safe actuators will be used beyond automated driving and transferred to new truck technologies. Examples of this include X-by-wire technologies such as electro-mechanical braking systems (EMBS) and steer-by-wire steering systems.

Fuel cell and hydrogen engine

FES GmbH from Saxony is focusing on the fuel cell and is presenting a production-ready fuel cell truck at the trade fair. This vehicle, which is based on a MAN TGM chassis, should be on the roads from 2025 and represent an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional diesel vehicles. The truck will be offered in various configurations, with gross weights of 12 to 26 tons and gross train weights of up to 40 tons in combination with trailers. The FES fuel cell truck will have an electric dual-motor drivetrain with 280 kW continuous power and, from 2025, a 30-second boost of 308 kW. The fuel cell system, which comes from Toyota, will in turn offer a continuous output of 120 kW, which is to be increased to 170 kW from 2025. The hydrogen tank made of CFRP will in turn hold 33 kilograms of hydrogen at 700 bar, which should enable a range of 350 to 500 kilometers. In addition, a 57 kWh buffer battery is to be integrated to provide a range reserve of 40 kilometers and short-term boost power.

Cellcentric, the 50:50 joint venture between Daimler Truck and Volvo, is presenting a virtual 3D model of its future NextGen fuel cell system for heavy-duty transportation in Hanover. The study provides an outlook on the dimensions and design of new fuel cell systems. The virtual 3D model signals the start of the efficient and competitive NextGen single-packaging fuel cell system for heavy-duty long-distance transportation, which is said to offer a convincing TCO. Following the development phase and prototype production of fuel cell systems, cellcentric is now in the preliminary stage of industrial production, preparing for large-scale production in the recently inaugurated factory in Esslingen. The pilot production in Esslingen also marks the next step towards the largest fuel cell production in Europe at the new cellcentric site "KLIMA|WERK" in Weilheim, which is planned for the end of the decade.

Quantron launches first fuel cell-powered trucks in the light and heavy-duty classes and announces cost parity for climate-friendly commercial vehicles through global partnerships. The aim is to achieve cost parity between comparable zero-emission vehicles and diesel vehicles. The company plans to announce further details on these partnerships at the IAA Transportation.

Commercial vehicles can also be operated in a climate-neutral way with a fuel cell system. Automotive supplier Bosch wants to demonstrate this. This technology is particularly suitable for longer journeys and maximum payloads - making it a sensible addition to battery-electric trucks. Bosch is already in series production with a 200-kilowatt fuel cell system. The company is now working on the "Fuel Cell Power Module Compact 300", which will be even more compact and, with an increased output of 300 kilowatts, even more efficient. In addition to such complete solutions, Bosch also offers individual system components and submodules as well as components for hydrogen storage systems, enabling it to provide the right solution for every customer.

The supplier will also be presenting the status quo of the hydrogen engine, which will initially be used in heavy commercial vehicles. At the beginning of 2024, the EU also recognized this drive solution as climate-neutral. As its concept is derived from established diesel and natural gas engines, engine manufacturers can use more than 90 percent of existing development and production technologies. Bosch is developing the key components of the injection system for the hydrogen engine, including a new injector for direct injection, which does not require additional lubrication and is due to be launched on the market in 2026. The market launch of the first hydrogen engines equipped with Bosch intake manifold injection is planned for 2025.

Battery technology

BorgWarner is presenting new lithium iron phosphate battery packs at the IAA Transportation. These are the result of the collaboration between the US automotive supplier and BYD subsidiary FinDreams Batteries. As part of the agreement concluded with FinDreams Batteries in February 2024, BorgWarner will offer LFP battery systems with the BYD subsidiary's battery blade cells for commercial vehicles. The term of this agreement is eight years and covers Europe, North and South America as well as selected regions in the Asia-Pacific region. In addition, the automotive supplier has also obtained a license to use FinDreams Battery's intellectual property relating to the design and manufacturing process of the battery systems. "These innovative LFP battery packs represent a significant step forward in improving the efficiency, cost-effectiveness and sustainability of commercial vehicles," BorgWarner is confident.

The company's new DC charging station will also be on display at stand C65 in hall 12. With a scalable power range from 120 kW to 360 kW, this fast charging station is suitable for the charging requirements of public charging stations and commercial electric vehicle fleets.

The Chinese battery manufacturer CATL has launched a new brand called Tianxing for commercial vehicle batteries. These batteries will have capacities of 30 to 200 kWh and are suitable for a wide range of commercial vehicles in various industries. CATL relies on double-layer large-area liquid cooling and innovative insulating materials from the aviation industry. The use of the cell-to-pack approach is also intended to increase energy density, reduce weight and cut costs. The first products will include the Tianxing L Superfast Charging Edition and the Tianxing L Long Range Edition, both of which are designed for light commercial vehicles. While the Superfast Charging Edition as a 140 kW unit can fully charge in 15 minutes and restore 60 percent of the charge in twelve minutes, the Long Range Edition has a capacity of 200 kWh and is suitable for transport service providers in the medium and long-distance range, according to CATL. The range is said to be 500 kilometers. The company also stated that the batteries are already in series production and have been integrated into 21 models from 13 different companies, including Dongfeng and SAIC Maxus.

Charging infrastructure

Milence, the joint venture between Daimler Truck, Traton and Volvo, has successfully tested a new Megawatt Charging System (MCS) together with Power Electronics. This milestone was achieved with a prototype of the Mercedes-Benz eActros 600. This technology is designed to charge batteries in around 30 minutes, which should significantly increase the efficiency and practicality of electric trucks in long-distance transportation. The test achieved a charging capacity of 1,100 kilowatts. Further tests with various truck brands are planned to ensure that the system is ready for the market. At the IAA Transportation, Milence will be presenting new developments and its European network expansion plans as well as offering workshops on the topic.

DAF is also focusing on the topic of charging infrastructure. The company has joined the "HDV Booking" consortium, which is working on the development of a platform for reserving public charging stations for trucks in Europe. This will further increase the availability of fully electric DAF trucks, especially for long-distance transportation. The HDV Booking platform is scheduled to go live across Europe in 2026.

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