HUBER+SUHNER says the manufacturing of electric commercial vehicles, such as trucks, buses and electric special vehicles, will be made more efficient thanks to the launch of its new purpose-built high voltage modular cable assembly (mCAY). The solution has been designed to be simpler to assemble and to save development efforts and time.
Many vehicle manufacturers focus on the direct costs of their solutions, without paying enough attention to indirect production costs such as assembly, test and production equipment, or even reworks. These costs can be significantly reduced by considering requirements from production, and through the application of a modular approach, rather than a product-by-product approach.
As a result of the significant investment made in the company’s own in-house production capability, HUBER+SUHNER has expanded its high-voltage portfolio to deliver complete cable assemblies to customers. End-of-line testing is included within the assembly process, meaning once the mCAY solution has been assembled and tested together, the customer can install it immediately within commercial Electric Vehicles (EVs).
“The development of new modular cable assemblies demonstrates our commitment to not just selling components, but advanced solutions”, said HUBER+SUHNER Senior Product Manager Robert Weirauch. “Our partnerships with major connector manufacturers ensure our engineers remain up to date with the latest solutions on the market. We then use our team’s experience with these technologies to deliver ready-to-use assemblies perfect for our customer’s requirements”, he continued.
The market for heavy-duty commercial EVs is growing rapidly. New measures relating to heavy-duty vehicles and a reduction of their carbon emissions continue to be rolled out, including one from the European Parliament in April 2024, making switching to EVs a more sustainable option for businesses.
In 2023, sales of electric trucks alone increased by 35% worldwide, including a threefold increase in both Europe and the United States. This has put increased pressure on manufacturers to get heavy-duty EVs on the market faster, but this a challenging owing to the complexities of modern cable assemblies.
“As high voltage cable and connector technologies grow in complexity, so too does the assembly process. If manufacturers lack the technical knowledge, experience, or tools required to assemble these critical parts, it could result in avoidable errors and a slow time-to-market for their EVs”, Mr Weirauch continued. “HUBER+SUHNER, and its expertise in both components and assembly, can take the pressure off our customers to get this right, freeing up vital time and resources to be used elsewhere”.
HUBER+SUHNER is also launching a product configurator which allows customers to tailor products to their exact specifications. The WEB empowers users to mix and match cables, connectors and glands in just a few clicks. This means customers can craft their desired solution, with full oversight on how this will look. With options for numerous cable sizes and types (single-core, multi-core or flex), an mCAY can be customized effortlessly through the intuitive configuration software. This will accelerate the purchasing process and shorten delivery times for high-voltage solutions, to best support vehicle electrification needs.
HUBER+SUHNER offers a wide range of validated cable options, as well as access to the latest high-voltage connectors, to empower EV design teams to validate wiring concepts and accelerate homologation. Modular cable assemblies have been designed to be fully compatible with other products of the high-voltage portfolio, including RADOX® high-voltage cables, the modular High-Voltage Distribution Unit (mHVDU) and RADOX® EV-C connection system.
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