- Mercedes has developed a brand new in-drive braking system touted as having a number of important benefits.
- It’s “just about maintenance-free,” traps brake mud, is best for the setting and guarantees to get rid of brake fade.
- The system is at the moment being examined with no clear time-frame for a manufacturing utility.
The overwhelming majority of automobiles have outboard brakes which are 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 automobile.
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. Numerous firms have proposed various kinds 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 fall E-Tron.
VW argues that even in its EVs with over 300 horsepower, drum brakes are enough for the rear. A lot of the braking is finished by the entrance brakes anyway, so going again to this older fashion 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. Nonetheless, it hasn’t merely taken a conventional disk or drum brake setup and put it contained in the drive unit. It utterly 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 velocity is achieved by pushing the round brake pad onto the stationary disk. Mercedes says this technique 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 have to be emptied.
The upcoming Euro 7 (EU7) emissions customary doesn’t simply take a look at tailpipe emissions. It additionally takes tire and brake particulate emissions from automobiles into consideration, so maintaining brake mud from going into the setting will grow to be extra of a speaking level in Europe as soon as EU7 comes into drive in 2026.
This looks like a giant departure even from the inboard brakes that we already know. Mercedes argues there are many benefits apart from the system being “just about maintenance-free.” For the reason that disk is water-cooled, brake fade below heavy use shouldn’t be a problem. It additionally reduces unsprung weight, which improves dealing with.
One other benefit touted by the producer is with the ability to equip automobiles with utterly coated, aerodynamic wheels that can assist decrease automobiles’ drag coefficient. The system would additionally cut back braking noise, and house owners wouldn’t be met with rust-covered brake disks after not driving their automobiles for just a few days.
We didn’t assume this was such a giant concern, however Mercedes advised us this particularly was one thing it obtained 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 it will likely be laborious to persuade automobile lovers that this is a bonus.
