23rd
June 2009 - ZF and ISE
Corporation Agree to a Strategic Partnership to Supply Electric Hybrid
Drive Systems and Components to North American Vehicle Market
ZF Friedrichshafen (ZF), a
leading manufacturer of vehicle driveline and chassis technology, and
ISE Corporation (ISE ), a leading designer and manufacture of hybrid
propulsion systems and components for heavy duty vehicles, today
announced plans to collaborate on the development and supply of a
complete line of Parallel-electric hybrid drive systems and components
for the North American vehicle markets.
ZF and ISE have signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) that outlines plans for an intended Strategic
Collaboration and Development Partnership. The combined expertise of the
two companies will result in a product portfolio of Series and Parallel
hybrid-electric drive systems and components unrivaled in the world.
Collaboration details of the MOU include
ZF's intention to utilize ISE expertise for integration engineering,
sales, subsystem assembly, and service support for ZF Hybrid systems and
components into the North America commercial
vehicle market. Respectively, ISE intends to develop and market an ISE
branded parallel hybrid drive system for the
North America commercial vehicle market that incorporates
ZF Hybrid Systems & Components. ZF has developed several parallel-hybrid
configurations for various applications for the transit bus and truck
industries, and as a result of this agreement, North American sales of
ZF Hybrid Systems and Components will be sold through ISE and jointly
marketed by both companies.
"We are very excited about this
groundbreaking relationship where ZF's worldwide expertise in driveline
products and parallel hybrid drive systems, combined with ISE's top
level expertise in Series Hybrid Drive Systems and high performance
energy storage systems, will provide the broadest and most capable
product range to meet all commercial vehicle applications," said
Wolfgang Schilha, Senior Vice President Bus Driveline
Technology, ZF Friedrichshafen AG.
"ISE is thrilled with the opportunity to
partner with ZF, who are without question, the world's most capable
provider of driveline products and parallel hybrid drive systems for
medium and heavy duty applications. With our combined resources,
expertise and complementary products, along with ISE's hybrid market
expertise in North America, this partnership is
without question, the envy of the industry," said Rick Sander,
President and CEO of ISE. "There is no question that the synergies of
this relationship will help accelerate and expand the world wide
adoption of commercial hybrid drive systems resulting in substantial
environmental and sustainability improvements, along with improved
business solutions."
About ZF
ZF is one of the world's leading
automotive industry suppliers specializing in driveline and chassis
technologies. With a workforce of 63,000 employees, the company operates
125 plants in 26 countries. ZF Group revenues in 2008 totaled
$16.3 billion. ZF ranks as one of the top-10 automotive industry
suppliers worldwide.
About ISE
As a world leader in the area of electric
"Series Hybrid" drive systems, ISE has demonstrated innovation and
production capability in both the transit bus and commercial truck
markets providing hybrid systems tailored to high duty cycle
applications with substantial improvements in Fuel Economy, Exhaust
Emissions, Environmental Noise Reduction, Maintenance Costs and a path
toward Battery Dominant Electric vehicles. ISE's offerings include
gasoline hybrid, fuel cell hybrid, diesel hybrid and battery dominant
drive systems. ISE also provides industry leading energy storage systems
including, Lithium-Ion Battery based systems for high energy density
requirements for the most practical solutions for battery dominant
commercial electric vehicles, and Ultracapacitor based systems,
providing optimized high-power regenerative braking.
Source:
ZF Press Release