INTERVIEW 27
November/December 2019 • VehicleDynamicsInternational.com
other corrosive fl uid in the brake. That’s the main
reason I decided to use drum brakes on the MEB.”
The MEB platform Lingg is referring to (Modularer
E-Antriebs-Baukasten in German) is the ultra-modern
electric vehicle platform for the next generation of VW
Group’s EVs that Lingg explains uses a combination of
braking technologies to get the most out of EV batteries
and regenerative braking potential.
“We use regenerative braking to get energy back into
the battery, but you have situations where you cannot
only use the re-gen braking, so you need the hydraulic
brake function add-on,” he continues. “You have to plan
between the hydraulic braking and the electric or re-gen
braking. So we have both in our cars, and that’s why it’s
quite complicated to get the same pedal feel with a ‘brakeblending’
system.
“Other brands have different philosophies. For example
Tesla has, as we call it, ‘one-pedal’ drive. You can also
decelerate with the accelerator, and if you push the brake
pedal you just have hydraulic braking. With Volkswagens,
if you press the brake pedal you have both types of
braking – a combination of re-gen and hydraulic braking.
That’s more effi cient. It’s like a conventional car: you have
as much re-gen braking as possible and the rest you do
with the hydraulic brake system.”
While EVs sometimes require more braking complexity,
the lower stress and use of the hydraulic part of the
system should help those components last longer.
“Yes, defi nitely,” Lingg confi rms. “So we decided to use
smaller and lighter discs because they have less wear. We
have a lot of functions around the brakes that help us
change the dimensions. We have an active brake-cooling
system in the MEB and in the Golf. The fan of the engine’s
cooling system also cools the brakes, so you can use
smaller discs and achieve the same performance.”
Close over the horizon, Lingg explains that Californian
legislation relating to copper in brake pads will majorly
affect the materials used in braking systems worldwide.
“If copper gets into the water it’s dangerous for fi sh,
and that’s the truth,” Lingg concedes. “And that’s why,
from 2021 onwards, the use of copper will be forbidden
in brake pads in California. Then maybe one or two years
later, it will be forbidden in the whole of the USA. It’s a
bit comparable to the asbestos-free systems years ago. It
is really a challenge because copper brings the heat out
of the port to the plate behind and helps to reduce noise.
It’s really diffi cult to replace. There has to be a way, but
we haven’t found it yet.”
In the meantime, Lingg and his team are having to use
alternatives that he admits are heavier, noisier and more
expensive than copper-based solutions, but with what
California adopts likely to be copied across North America
and then Europe and elsewhere, he feels the change might
as well be worldwide rather than regional.
ABOVE: The I.D. R Pikes Peak
creates electrical energy by
converting braking energy into
electricity, which is fed into the
battery system
BELOW: The pedals on the
e-tron concepts may appeal
to Generation Z buyers
/VehicleDynamicsInternational.com