USA — At the Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo 2024 in Las Vegas, electric propulsion systems company, BAE Systems Inc of Endicott, New York and Eaton Corporation of Maumee, Ohio, announced that they had successfully tested their integrated electric drive system on a Class 7 demonstration vehicle at Eaton’s proving grounds in Marshall, Michigan. The vehicle was on display at the show. The collaboration was first announced the year prior, at ACT 2023, where the companies announced the plan to offer a solution for the medium- and heavy-duty commercial truck market.

The vehicle system combined BAE Systems’ power-dense electric motor and advanced silicon carbide/gallium nitride power electronics suite with Eaton’s medium-duty four-speed (4-speed) EV transmission. This system can also be fitted with Eaton’s HD-4 EV transmission, offering electric drive systems for commercial trucks (19 tonnes and over). The benefits of the system, according to BAE Systems, is the reduced number of components, cables and connections which save space and weight. This also simplifies the integration process whilst lowering overall cost.