Schaeffler has presented a new product lineup, which was specially designed for electric vehicles in the form of the TriFinity triple row wheel bearing and the high-performance ball bearing with a centrifugal disc. These are said to be characterised by particularly high efficiency, among other things.

The supplier founded a new bearing division in its Automotive Technologies division at the beginning of the year and sees e-mobility as a great opportunity for its bearing technologies business. Dieter Eireiner, Head of the Bearing Division, expects “strong business development in the coming years and sees sales potential especially for ball, cylindrical roller and tapered roller bearings”. The company is involved in “promising development projects with well-known vehicle manufacturers”.

The three-row TriFinity was developed especially for electric drive trains. According to the manufacturer, compared to a standard bearing with two rows of balls, TriFinity enables “a transmission of more axle load with a significantly higher service life and rigidity without changing the bearing dimensions”. With the change from a tapered roller to a ball bearing, a “significant improvement in frictional torque and stiffness” is possible, resulting in a 0.7 per cent reduction in power consumption in the vehicle in the FTP75 cycle.

The new high-performance ball bearing with centrifugal disc is designed to combine the advantages of an open bearing with those of a sealed bearing, says Schaeffler. A CO2 reduction of 0.1g/km is mentioned. However, sustainability also comes about thanks to another characteristic: the new bearing has ten times the service life of an open bearing at lower costs.