Electric mobilityWe are on board - with innovative lubrication solutions
Pure battery electric vehicles (BEV) call for major changes to design elements constitute a new vehicle type with its own geometry together with a low noise level typical of electric vehicles, and great demands on design and material development. This transformation creates new tribological challenges as a result of new components and materials, generating a corresponding demand for lubricants. BECHEM has lubrication solutions for electromobility.
BECHEM offers the automotive industry a global partnership for lubricant development and production. With its laboratories and state-of-the-art chemical and physical testing and analysis systems, BECHEM is ready to develop the right lubrication solutions for applications the world over.
Risk of wear due to high mechanical insertion and removal forces
During loading operations in cargo infrastructure and in vehicles, contact systems are subject to very wide temperature ranges as well as a high number of plugging cycles. High mechanical insertion and releasing forces also produce additional wear.
BECHEM products for electrical contact lubrication meet the highest demands for lubrication, protection, and improved electrical conductivity. With their wide operating temperature range, they make a major contribution to the long lifespans and sophisticated functionality of advanced electrical contact systems. They are also compatible with most plastics and insulation materials. BECHEM works closely with the automotive industry to develop special solutions for OEMs as well as for the service, after-sales, and accessory sectors. In addition to classic lubricants, other possibilities include special anti-friction coatings – potentially combined with lubricants.
Hydrophobic coatings can prevent contact with water, such as on covered door handles, locking systems, or mechanical covers on charging connections, while also limiting the formation of ice layers thanks to pearling effects.
Not only the elimination of internal combustion engine noise, but also various measures to reduce wind and road noise ensure a driving experience with very low background noise. This is made possible, among other things, by acoustic films used in windshield construction, body insulation materials, the replacement of exterior mirrors with camera systems, and foam elements bonded into the tires. The result: creaking noises caused by stick-slip—for example, when the bellows move during steering—or smacking noises caused by body torsion are now more noticeable to the driver and passengers than before.
Even normal operational noises from switches and adjustment mechanisms in seat modules can be distracting at lower volume levels if they do not harmonize with the vehicle’s quality profile and acoustic design. Smooth, quiet sliding and positioning require high-quality specialty lubricants with excellent damping properties to suppress disruptive noises throughout the vehicle’s lifetime. To address this, BECHEM has developed a broad range of lubricants and anti-seize compounds that significantly improve ride comfort and exhibit high material compatibility.
Specialty lubricants enable targeted vibration damping, friction coefficient optimization, and controlled, reproducible motion sequences. In this way, they make a decisive contribution to the customized haptics and acoustics of kinematic components.
BECHEM also offers solutions for other e-mobility applications, such as e-bikes and e-scooters—for example, addressing issues related to material compatibility when combining plastic and metal sprockets.
BECHEM’s high-performance greases, which have stood the test of time, have proven their worth in traditional automotive components. State-of-the-art, forward-looking machining fluids are also used in manufacturing, machining, and forming—such as water-based lubricants and release agents in the production of the rotor shaft.
In an electric motor, rotational speeds in the range of 20,000 rpm are standard. Development efforts are already aimed at achieving speeds of up to 50,000 rpm. The rotor shaft, which supports the rotor, is mounted in two high-performance ball bearings. To ensure that the drive shafts can continuously transmit the high torques to the wheels, a low-maintenance, oil-lubricated input gearbox is used for reduction. BECHEM offers high-performance solutions not only for these applications but also for many classic chassis components.
In electric vehicles, in addition to and in place of traditional welded joints, there are many—sometimes complex—applications for fasteners: the crash frame, battery carrier, top cover, underbody protection for the battery, and the power electronics housing.
To increase the proportion of environmentally friendly manufacturing processes and low-emission components, the focus is also on optimized resource efficiency in the production of specially manufactured screws, bolts, and sleeves. BECHEM supplies a comprehensive range of high-performance forming lubricants for the multi-stage wire forming process (cold extrusion). BECHEM has demonstrated groundbreaking innovation in this application area with its zinc-phosphate-free wire coating process, which excels in terms of environmental friendliness and energy efficiency.
Custom-made products for metal forming
Wire manufacturing for automotive wiring harnesses presents enormous challenges, such as ensuring the reliability of the wires and the use of new materials and alloys for both signal and power transmission at very high data rates. Likewise, the miniaturization of automotive wiring harnesses poses challenges in terms of both design and assembly.
For the production of complex wiring systems and automotive wiring harnesses, BECHEM supplies the industry with high-quality drawing lubricants for a wide variety of material alloys and for reducing wire cross-sections.
BECHEM offers suitable lubricants and assembly aids for the installation of these systems. For future
Lubrication solutions for wire drawing
Alongside the battery, the electric motor—together with its power electronics—is the heart of the electric car. High-quality copper wire windings are required for manufacturing the stator’s electromagnetic coil and the rotor in a separately excited synchronous motor. From wire rod production through drawing and annealing to further processing, BECHEM offers a proven, high-performance product range.
The outstanding drawing lubricants in the BECHEM Unopol series are among the world’s leading brands for the production of a wide variety of wire geometries. BECHEM always stays ahead of the curve as machine technology evolves and becomes increasingly complex. As a member of the NF Wire Forum consortium, BECHEM maintains close contact and collaboration with relevant tool and machine manufacturers.
Next-gen drawing lubricant for copper wire drawing
High-precision fine-blanking and punching processes with long tool life play a key role in the manufacture of many automotive components. According to experts, even the slightest deviations from the specified geometries at the edges of electrical steel sheets during the production of rotor and stator laminations can lead to undesirable reductions in performance.
If stator or rotor laminations produced with worn tools are installed in motor cores, this results in a lower level of magnetization and, consequently, reduced efficiency of the motor.
BECHEM forming lubricants support resource-efficient near-net-shape technologies such as fine blanking, which help reduce process times and eliminate manufacturing steps.
From sheet metal forming to solid forming
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