The group PSA continues its offensive in the electrified vehicle. The automaker confirmed Thursday, September 27, the creation of a joint venture with the Sino-Belgian manufacturer of gearboxes Punch Powertrain. Objective: to produce electrical transmissions within the Metz (Moselle) plant by 2022. The expected production capacity is 600 000 units per year, for an investment of 82 million euros and a workforce reaching 400 jobs at full load, “according to the automaker.
More specifically, the joint venture – which should be owned 50/50 by both parties – aims to ensure the manufacture of electrically-clutched double-clutch gearboxes. A component that should allow the French manufacturer to advance on light hybridization. As part of this solution, the heat engine is associated with a 48-volt hybridization system. This appears as an assistance tool for the engine, but does not allow to drive in pure electric.
Tenfold increase in sales
His real interest is in fact to find on the side of consumption. Micro-hybridization makes it possible to “reduce consumption and therefore CO2 emissions at a lower cost than the conventional hybrid,” says Frédéric Laganier, director of the group’s industrial strategy. PSA estimates that the reduction of emissions could reach up to 16% compared to a conventional thermal car. “This will allow us to offer a petrol engine with the same consumption as a diesel,” says Frédéric Laganier.
A boon at a time when regulations on reducing CO2 emissions are likely to get tougher in Europe, while sales of diesel – which emits less carbon dioxide than gasoline – continue to fall. As part of its electrification strategy, the PSA Group wants to offer as early as 2019 an electrified version of its new models.
By 2025, all the models in the group will be equipped with a hybrid or 100% electric version. The automaker anticipates a tenfold increase in sales of electrified vehicles by 2025, much of which should be driven by the dynamism of China.