The Benteler Electric Drive System is gaining traction. Earlier this year, the Chinese real estate company Evergrande Group announced its plan to enter the Chinese electric vehicle market. To accelerate the development process, the company has now signed a contract to implement the Benteler Electric Drive System as the basis of its electric vehicle chassis architecture.

The agreement with Evergrande Auto, signed at a ceremony at its headquarters in Shenzhen, China, on September 2, demonstrates the potential of the Benteler Electric Drive System as a series-ready platform solution for electric vehicles. Its industrialisation concept is ready for immediate implementation and removes the need for multi-year development and testing cycles by vehicle manufacturers. As a result, Evergrande Auto will be able to bring its first electric vehicles to serial production much faster than would otherwise have been possible.

Marco Kollmeier, vice-president of Benteler’s Electro-Mobility business unit, said: “For us, this agreement proves the functionality and performance of the Benteler Electric Drive System in real conditions. Customers like Evergrande Auto benefit from our scalable tailor-made e-mobility solutions, thus saving development time for fast growth acceleration.”

Hui Ka Yan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Evergrande Auto, commented: “Evergrande's new electric vehicles must evolve towards world-class core technology and first-rate product quality. As a leading global partner for the automotive industry, Benteler helps us to achieve this. It does not only bring comprehensive vehicle know-how and highly differentiated engineering expertise, but also extensive e-mobility know-how.”

As weight-optimized modular system solution, the Benteler Electric Drive System can be tailored to the customers’ exact requirements. The proven design integrates several functions including integrated crash management, flexible and scalable battery storage as well as integrated thermal management.