USA – At the Advanced Clean Transportation Expo, held between 28 April and 1 May in Anaheim, California, ZF Friedrichshafen AG premiered two new products: its upcoming ‘Traxon 2 Hybrid’ powertrain, making its North American market debut; and a third-generation air compressor for the global electric vehicle market.

First announced at the company’s technology day in 2024, the Traxon 2 Hybrid combines ZF’s next-generation automated manual transmission with the same electric motor technology found in the fully-electric ‘CeTrax’ and ‘AxTrax’ product lines. Production of the hybrid transmission is slated for the second half of this decade, but Dirk Wohltmann, who is director of engineering for ZF in the Americas region told T&BB that the company is working on a proof-of-concept specifically for the North American market to demonstrate the savings which can be made in fuel consumption and, thus, carbon emissions as well.

In hybrid electric applications, the Traxon 2 Hybrid could reduce emissions by up to 14% in short haul operations and up to 9% in long haul. In plug-in hybrid applications, the emissions reduction could be as much as 40%.

The e-comp Scroll air compressor from ZF

Global premiere of the ‘e-comp Scroll’ air compressor

At ACT Expo 2025, ZF also presented a new air compressor for medium- to heavy-duty electric trucks, buses, and coaches. With interlocking scrolls to compress the air instead of pistons, noise is reduced to around 67dB(A) at the nominal operation point of 250 litres per minute, and vibration is also reduced. Moreover, the compressor does not require oil lubrication in order to work, cutting down on maintenance costs.

The e-comp Scroll is an integrated system comprising not only the compressor but an electric motor, inverter, and liquid cooling system, compressing air up to 12.5 bar at variable speeds. It will enter production in Europe in 2027.

Total cost of ownership is a main selling point for both the compressor and the Traxon 2 Hybrid, with the compressor being designed to switch off and conserve power between cycles. Wohltmann told T&BB that tariffs on goods imported from Europe and elsewhere are just “one more factor” in the overall business case for any given product. With the potential fuel/energy savings which can be achieved with the compressor and/or the Traxon 2 Hybrid, ZF believes it has a strong case in the American market, regardless of the extra cost added by tariffs on automotive parts. The market is driven by TCO, Wohltmann commented, and any product, electric or not, needs to make a quick payback to the customer. The company would consider localising production of either product range in America only if there was a powerful case for it, Wohltmann said.