- Mercedes has developed a brand new in-drive braking system touted as having a number of vital benefits.
- It’s “nearly maintenance-free,” traps brake mud, is healthier for the atmosphere and guarantees to eradicate brake fade.
- The system is at the moment being examined with no clear timeframe for a manufacturing utility.
The overwhelming majority of vehicles have outboard brakes which can be linked to their wheel hubs, and solely a handful include inboard brakes. Mercedes has taken issues one step additional and put the brakes contained in the housing of an electrical car’s drive unit, and it’s touting a number of benefits, together with by no means having to service the brakes for the lifetime of the automotive.
Electrical automobiles can use their motors to decelerate, not solely saving their friction brakes from put on but in addition placing electrical energy into their battery pack. Varied firms have proposed several types of brakes for EVs, from Continental’s ultra-think mountain bike-like disks to the drum brakes that Volkswagen equips all automobiles constructed on its MEB platform, like the ID.4 or Audi This autumn E-Tron.
VW argues that even in its EVs with over 300 horsepower, drum brakes are ample for the rear. A lot of the braking is finished by the entrance brakes anyway, so going again to this older type of brakes (which is cheaper than disk brakes) is a technique VW has tailored its automobiles for electrical propulsion.
Mercedes has now taken this one step additional with its in-drive brakes. Nevertheless, it hasn’t merely taken a conventional disk or drum brake setup and put it contained in the drive unit. It fully reimagined braking, and within the model of the system they confirmed us in Stuttgart final week, the disk is water-cooled and it doesn’t spin, and the brake pad is round and it spins with the motor.
There isn’t any conventional caliper both and scrubbing pace is achieved by pushing the round brake pad onto the stationary disk. Mercedes says this method shouldn’t require service for the lifetime of the car and all of the brake mud it generates is stored contained in the system in a compartment that doesn’t should be emptied.
The upcoming Euro 7 (EU7) emissions normal doesn’t simply have a look at tailpipe emissions. It additionally takes tire and brake particulate emissions from automobiles under consideration, so maintaining brake mud from going into the atmosphere will turn into extra of a speaking level in Europe as soon as EU7 comes into pressure in 2026.
This looks as if an enormous departure even from the inboard brakes that we already know. Mercedes argues there are many benefits except for the system being “nearly maintenance-free.” Because the disk is water-cooled, brake fade beneath heavy use shouldn’t be a problem. It additionally reduces unsprung weight, which improves dealing with.
One other benefit touted by the producer is having the ability to equip automobiles with fully lined, aerodynamic wheels that can assist decrease automobiles’ drag coefficient. The system would additionally scale back braking noise, and homeowners wouldn’t be met with rust-covered brake disks after not driving their vehicles for a number of days.
We didn’t assume this was such an enormous problem, however Mercedes advised us this particularly was one thing it acquired many complaints about. The Mercedes engineer who defined how this new braking system works mentioned eradicating the caliper from the wheel will give designers much more freedom to create unique-looking wheels, however will probably be onerous to persuade automotive fans that this is a bonus.
