BMW, VW-backed electric motor maker gains from range-extender rise
BMW, which has been collaborating with DeepDrive since the 2021, said the supplier's e-motor has reached a "remarkable" level of maturity and called it "an exciting vision for the electric drive of the future."
GARCHING, Germany -- Volatility in the battery-electric vehicle market, which has renewed interest in long-range plug-in hybrids and extended range EVs, is giving an added lift to DeepDrive, an electric motor start-up that has support from BMW and Volkswagen Group.
"There are a lot of activities for us around hybrid, especially range extenders at the moment," DeepDrive co-CEO Felix P?rnbacher told Automotive News Europe at the supplier's new headquarters here north of Munich. "If you build a hybrid, you don't have space for big electric motors. So, you need some very compact lightweight motors, which is where our technology excels."
DeepDrive, which has patented a dual-rotor electric motor and is also working on in-wheel motors, will debut a new product line aimed at alternative electrified drivetrains at the Munich IAA auto show in September, P?rnbacher said. He declined to provide more details.
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Interest in the DeepDrive's e-motor is high because independent tests have shown that it is more efficient, more cost effective, more sustainable and offers higher performance than rival topologies, he said.
The supplier remains on track for large-scale production of its electric motor by 2028-29 and small-scale production by as early as next year.
When asked how much new engineering needs to be done to make DeepDrive's current electric motor or in-wheel motor work in a range extender, P?rnbacher cited a figure of 20 to 30 percent.
"It's the same basic knowledge," he said.
He added that the discussions around using DeepDrive's products in cars with the alternative powertrains are not a signal that customers are walking away from BEVs.
"There hasn't been a single OEM that only wants to talk with us about hybrid applications.
They all still want to talk about battery-electric vehicle applications. They just want to de-risk their strategy by building platforms that allow for both," P?rnbacher said.
During the last year DeepDrive has built around 60 central drives. Several of the prototypes have been purchased by automakers.
"We're at a point where many of the large automakers have been running our central drives on their test benches for months and they are telling us, 'This technology works,' " P?rnbacher said. "That is incredibly valuable for us because it's not just our internal validation."
Eight of the 10 largest automakers in the world are working with DeepDrive on tailored series applications.
Most of that work is around the company's electric motor, which investor BMW Group started road testing last summer.
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BMW, which has been collaborating with DeepDrive since 2021, said the supplier's electric motor has reached a "remarkable" level of maturity.
"DeepDrive has developed an exciting vision for the electric drive of the future," Karol Virsik, BMW Group head of research vehicle concepts and technologies, said in a statement.
Continental, which has also formed a strategic partnership with the German startup, will integrate its brake system into DeepDrive's in-wheel motors to create a so-called drive-brake module.
In addition, Leitmotif, an independent venture capital firm focused on decarbonization with close ties to Volkswagen Group, last summer invested £15 million in DeepDrive during a funding round that provided the supplier a combined £30 million.
"Leitmotif is investing nearly exclusively Volkswagen money," P?rnbacher said, which tells you something about what they [VW] think about this technology."