ZF ramps up electric production for Isuzu

After volume production of the CeTrax lite electric drive for light commercial vehicles started in April 2023, ZF has already produced its first thousand units.

The ramp-up in volume production was steeper than planned due to increased demand from Isuzu. The drive is used by Isuzu to power the latest generation its light-duty electric truck, the Isuzu ELF EV, known here as the N Series.

The electric central drive for light commercial vehicles continues the success story of its ‘big brother’ the CeTrax, which went into volume production in 2020. The central drive, which is also produced at the ZF Friedrichshafen plant, is mainly used in buses with orders from customers in South Korea, the USA, Australia, and Europe.

ZF says a special feature of the CeTrax concept is that the all-electric central drive is suitable for electrifying existing commercial vehicle platforms. In this way, manufacturers can expand their portfolio towards purely electric vehicles without having to make further significant alterations to their design platforms.

Electrification with CeTrax lite offers just as much potential for small delivery trucks, city buses or special vehicles, which are mainly used for the last-mile deliveries to consumers and therefore are perfectly suited to operate in low-emission zones of inner-city environments.

CeTrax lite is an all-electric drive with a peak output of 150kW that sits centrally in the vehicle frame – the space normally occupied by the conventional transmission in combustion-engine vehicles. The key customer is Japanese commercial vehicle manufacturer Isuzu, which has been supplying its ELF EV vehicles equipped with CeTrax to customers since October last year.

The electric version of the new Isuzu N Series is destined to go on the market here early next year and pre-production units are already in the country.

In the N Series, the electric motor sits in between the chassis rails with a short drive shaft to a conventional rear diff. Isuzu will be offering two versions of the N Series EV, a 4.5 tonne NLR with three battery packs of 20kWh each and a 7.5-tonne NPR version with five battery packs.

The smaller of the two trucks will have power output of 110kW or 150hp and the larger will have outputs of 150kW or 200hp.

Early reports indicate that range will be in the vicinity of 150 to 200 kilometres.