Differences with conventional EV products While the bespoke race fluids are highly efficient under race conditions, they are not suitable for use in conventional EVs and there are several differences between the two fluid categories.
One key difference is the requirements for thermal stability, with conventional e-Fluids being far more demanding. Most conventional e-Fluids are designed for much longer oil drain intervals in EV electric motors and up to a full lifetime for the vehicle. In comparison, with Formula E, even when all the races of a season are considered, the full drive distance with a single fill is considerably shorter.
Moreover, the gearbox of Formula E cars can be cooled to a certain temperature which also prevents degradation of the oil. At colder temperatures, the lubricant lasts much longer in a similar way to the aging of milk inside or outside a fridge.
Another point of difference is that commercial products often need to be available globally and on a large scale. These factors are not relevant when developing bespoke e-Fluids for Formula E, and this enables our technical team to choose from a much broader range of components when it comes to novel and innovative base oils – with a particular focus on sustainable components to minimise the carbon footprint of the product.
Taking the lessons from racetrack to road However, this does not mean that lessons are not taken from the racetrack to the road. Our partnerships in Formula E provide a strong platform of extreme driving conditions as a test bed for innovative lubricant concepts to support the continued development of our specialised e-Fluids – for example, allowing us to evaluate e-Fluids at up to 30,000 rpm and compare efficiencies of different base oil and additive concepts.
These learnings are being actively transferred from the track to road, feeding directly into the development of conventional e-Fluid products designed to optimise the efficiency of road going EVs – where it is key to understand the individual hardware and develop a bespoke e-fluids for a maximum of performance, efficiency, durability, reliability, and sustainability – for the benefit of customers worldwide.
Shell was one of the first to launch an e-fluids portfolio in 2019, demonstrating technological readiness and achieving early traction with OEMs, and today our Formula E partnerships are helping drive innovation in lubricants.
The partnerships also represent the latest chapter in our support to generations of motorsports teams which have benefited from the development of lubricants that maximise the performance and efficiency of the finely tuned race cars in environments where milliseconds can make a major difference in race results.
More broadly, they also support the expansion of our Shell Recharge charging network, as we aim to become the global leader in EV charging services and support our target to become a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050.
www.shell.com
LUBE MAGAZINE NO.175 JUNE 2023
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