German automotive company ZF has built 1,000 CeTrax lite electric drives for light commercial vehicles since it started volume production in April 2023.

CeTrax lite is an all-electric drive with a peak output of 150 kW that sits centrally in the vehicle frame—replacing the transmission in combustion vehicles. It is an all-electric central drive, which is suitable for electrifying existing commercial vehicle platforms. The company has ramped up volume manufacturing faster than planned, in response to demand from Japanese commercial vehicle manufacturer Isuzu. The drive powers Isuzu’s latest light distribution truck, the ELF EV. More volume production will begin this year. 

The central drive is produced at ZF’s Friedrichshafen factory and is used in buses ordered from South Korea, the US, Australia and Europe. Friedrichshafen will also produce the CeTrax 2 dual electric central drive this year.

“An electric drive from ZF means that the hardware components and the software are optimally matched,” said Kleber Vinhas, Location Manager of the ZF Friedrichshafen plant. “This makes CeTrax lite particularly efficient in practice.”

Source: ZF