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New Electric Pickup Marks the Centennial of EV Technology from Siemens

15 December 1997

New Electric Pickup Marks the Centennial of EV Technology from Siemens

    ORLANDO, Fla., Dec. 15 -- The motor powering Ford Motor
Company's first production electric vehicle, the 1998 Ranger EV, caps a
century of automotive innovation.
    Siemens Automotive drew on a century worth of experience in electric motor
development which dates back to the Viktoria, the first mass produced electric
car assembled by the Siemens-Halske Company in 1897.
    Fifty years before the unveiling of the Viktoria, the founder of Siemens
envisioned building an electric automobile.  "If ever I have the time and the
money, I want to build an electro-magnetic taxi cab," Werner von Siemens wrote
in 1847.  His dream has been re-energized 150 years later as the power source
for the Ford Ranger EV.
    "Although Siemens no longer manufactures cars, the company utilizes its
comprehensive electric propulsion heritage -- which includes introduction of
the world's first electrified railway -- to provide automakers like Ford with
reliable and refined drive systems for electric vehicles," explains Tomas
Dohrner, Director, Electric Vehicle Programs for Siemens Automotive's Electric
Motor Drives and Drive Systems for Electric Vehicles in Auburn Hills,
Michigan.
    The Siemens electric drive motor weighs approximately 150. lb. (65 kg), a
mere fraction of the weight of the average internal combustion engine.  It
packs a reliability punch of 5,000 lifehours -- the equivalent of 150,000
miles.  With a relatively simple construction, consisting of a rotor, shaft,
stator and three bearings, the electric drive motor greatly differs from an
internal combustion gasoline engine.  The electric drive motor (induction
motor) does not have cylinders, pistons, crankshaft, camshaft, valves, spark
plugs, lifter or rocker arms.  "With the induction motor, rotor movement
creates the power.  It's both motor and generator in one package.  The Siemens
induction motor is one of the most advanced production-capable motors
available on today's market," Dohrner said.
    In addition to the electric drive motor, Siemens' Ranger EV contributions
include the microcontroller, and a computer-driven diagnostic system (which
monitors engine functions).  "One of the keys to the success of an electric
vehicle is having a responsive engine.  We believe this drive-by-wire system
which relies on electric signals for operation performs and acts like an
internal combustion engine," Dohrner offers.   Ranger EV is one of 10 electric
vehicles in the world currently using Siemens' EV technologies.

SOURCE  Siemens Automotive Corporation