German Auto Supplier Bosch to Increase Electric and Hybrid Investment

Bosch is intensifying its commitment to electric and hybrid vehicle technology despite an outlook that sees vehicles using such alternative systems remaining niche players for the foreseeable future, stated Automotive News Europe in an interview with the Stuttgart, German-based auto supplier.

“Despite high oil prices, the internal combustion engine will remain the dominant technology over the next 20 years,” commented Wolf-Henning Scheider, manager of Bosch’s gasoline systems division.

The company, which previously worked in the development of many automotive technologies such as antilock brakes and modern day traction and stability control systems, will soon see its hybrid electric program hit the road in the form of the next generation Volkswagen Touareg and Porsche Cayenne, scheduled to hit the market in 2010.

Bosch wants to position itself as a leader in alternative fuel technologies just like it has in automotive safety, with electric-drive being its specialty. At a workshop at the supplier’s Schwieberdingen development center, Scheider communicated that pure-electric drives are further ahead than other alternative technologies with respect to feasible real-world application. Just when such technologies will start to become commonplace, the Bosch spokesman said, “But I don’t dare cite a date when the technology will take hold in the market.”

Key to any electric-drive vehicle is battery technology, and rather than entering new waters on its own Bosch has partnered with South Korean multinational Samsung in a $400 million lithium-ion battery development and production facility. Scheider sees more investments needed, however, over the space of four to five years.

“We will have regular production of the first cells in 2010,” he commented. “The entire battery will follow in 2011.”

Lithium-ion batteries, known more for cellular phone and laptop use, appear to be the logical step in automotive applications. They’re currently expensive to produce, for sure, and more critically don’t enjoy the lifespan of the nickel-metal-hydride batteries being used for today’s hybrid vehicles, but they charge quicker and hold a charge longer, and are less harmful to the environment overall.

Scheider cites battery technology as the main reason why “hybrids and electric cars will remain a niche application until at least 2015,” when new advancements in battery technologies are expected to reduce costs and improve durability.

While 650,000 hybrid vehicles are expected to roll off global assembly lines this year, according to Automotive News Europe, Scheider believes this will grow to a much more significant number. He projects Bosch components will be used in more than 350,000 partially- or fully-electric-powered vehicles by 2015.