No-Compromise Propulsion for the Heavy-Duty Electric Pickup

How a 2-speed integrated e-Beam axle removes the final barrier to practical heavy-duty electrification

Dan Ouwenga, Director – Product Management, Dauch

The promise of electric propulsion has always been straightforward: instant torque, smooth drivability, reduced NVH, and lower lifetime operating costs. For light-duty passenger vehicles, that promise has largely been delivered. But for the heavy-duty pickup truck – the Class 2b and Class 3 work vehicles that North American customers depend on to tow, haul, and perform under sustained load – first-generation electric architectures have fallen meaningfully short.

The technical challenge is the absence of a propulsion solution that can simultaneously deliver the launch torque, continuous power, and thermal robustness that HD truck customers require. A single-speed electric drive unit, however well-engineered, faces an inherent constraint: optimizing for peak launch torque forces a tradeoff against motor speed, mass, and efficiency at cruising conditions. The result is a system that can feel impressive off the line but struggles under sustained towing load which is precisely the use case that defines this segment.

Dauch’s HD 2-speed electric rear e-Beam was developed specifically to address that tradeoff. The architecture integrates a nested 2-speed planetary differential within the axle housing that enables low-range torque multiplication without placing additional torque loads on the upstream components. In low range, the system delivers between 16,000 and 25,000 Nm of wheel torque against a gear ratio exceeding 35:1 – numbers that comfortably exceed the demands of the most aggressive HD towing and gradeability cycles. In high range, the system transitions seamlessly to a configuration optimized for efficiency and highway operation, with the motor running in its peak efficiency zone.

The 2-speed design also enables the use of a smaller, lighter, highspeed induction motor – reducing diameter from a typical 230–260 mm down to 180 mm – which saves mass, improves packaging, and eliminates the supply chain and demagnetization risks associated with rare earth permanent magnet alternatives. A new flooded stator cooling system, using an integrated air gap sleeve to direct oil flow uniformly across the Copper windings, enables sustained motor output at more than double the current density of conventional cooling approaches. The result is continuous rated power above 225 kW – not a peak figure, but a sustained capability this single e-Beam axle can maintain through a full Davis Dam or Baker Grade simulation without thermal derating.

The inverter also benefits from innovative cooling technology. A folded fin heat sink design allows direct oil cooling of the silicon carbide switching devices, reducing junction temperatures and improving continuous current capability. Benchmarked against competing architectures, this configuration delivers more than 50% improvement over a conventional isolated back plate module – meaning equivalent continuous power with significantly less silicon area, reducing cost while improving thermal margin.

Real-world validation has confirmed what the simulations predicted. A prototype 2-speed HD e-Beam was integrated into a RAM Heavy-Duty BEV conversion vehicle and subjected to a full validation program spanning dynamometer testing, cold weather operation at Aumovio’s Brimley, Michigan development center, and hot weather SAE J2807 trailer tow simulation at the General Motors Yuma Desert Proving Ground in ambient temperatures exceeding 100°F. The vehicle successfully completed J2807 grade requirements at 26,000 lbs gross combined weight rating in two-wheel-drive – a demanding threshold that no comparable production-ready electric rear axle has achieved.

Thermal data captured during Davis Dam simulation at 45 mph in low range showed a 14–18% reduction in EDU operating temperatures compared to high range operation at the same load. That margin is not incidental – lower thermal load directly enables higher continuous power, longer towing duration, and greater calibration headroom. OEM customers present during vehicle demonstrations described the shift behavior as smooth and comparable to a traditional automatic transmission.

The technology is protected by a portfolio of 13 issued and pending patents, including two developed specifically for this application. Third-party freedom-to-operate searches have identified no blocking patents.

What this body of work ultimately demonstrates is that propulsion readiness can be removed from the list of barriers to HD electrification. The technical constraints that have prevented practical BEV and EREV adoption in the heavy-duty pickup segment – launch torque, thermal robustness under sustained load, production-viable shift quality – have been resolved. The remaining variables are market timing, energy storage and infrastructure solution readiness, and OEM program pacing. Those are real constraints, but they are external to the propulsion system. When the market conditions are right, Dauch is ready to provide an electrified HD solution.

Taurus: a powerful mix of industry standard and lessons learned through experience

Automotive drivetrain engineers aim to perfect and refine electric drive lines to the point where they operate right at the edge of what is physically possible. This requires simulation models, to act as cost function in the design process or to train reduced order models. These latter models should incorporate all physical loss and performance mechanisms and should be computationally efficient at the same time. Often however, important contributions to efficiency or performance drops are hidden in empirical build factors. These factors can only be quantified too late in the design process, i.e. after testing of the first prototypes.

Based on our experience we developed Taurus, a simulation tool chain that uses industry standard tools, but adds the necessary embedded experience to capture detailed impact from component level, all the way up to the drivetrain level.

Use case: Taurus eliminates the use of build-factors for motor loss prediction

Detailed modelling in Taurus allows to calculate in a computationally efficient way the loss contributions in the motor induced by manufacturing effects and high-frequency operation. This includes degraded material properties at the cutting edges and mechanical pressure for the manufacturing effects. PWM switching induced losses in the magnets, copper, and iron are also calculated. Figure 1 illustrates the delta in amount of losses and their spatial distribution by including these effects. Prior to the calculations, additional material characterizations have been carried out.

Figure 1: ignoring PWM-induced losses and manufacturing effects leads to incorrect loss distribution data.

This spatial loss information is calculated for all operating points and thus allows further detailed analysis utilizing the data in time-based simulations to identify hot spots or to calculate cycle consumption for the full driveline.

Figure 2: Cycle loss breakdown: industry standard tool (build-factors) vs. Taurus (first principles).

The net effect of this increased fidelity on a drive cycle consumption is visible in Figure 2. It compares the loss predictions from an industry standard tool (using build factors) with the first-principles approach from Taurus and shows the correlation with measurements.

Conclusion

With limited additional characterization, a detailed and computationally efficient calculation allows to optimize cycle consumption and avoid local hot spots. By adhering to two main principles: leveraging industry standard tools and including loss mechanisms on a first principles basis, Taurus enables fast driveline R&D support from concept to troubleshooting.

Introducing DRV Solutions

DRV Solutions is an engineering partner for advanced electric drive lines, supporting from concept to validation. We combine motor & power electronics design, full driveline analysis, and system integration expertise in our Taurus Toolkit. This enables us to accelerate your design and troubleshoot performance issues.

How deeptech is already revolutionising EV powertrain engineering

Simon Shepherd, Head of eDrive and Chief Product Officer, Monumo

Deeptech is transforming EV powertrain engineering by introducing new levels of computational freedom, speed, and system integration, allowing companies to achieve levels of performance and cost reduction previously out of reach through existing methods.

Nature-Inspired System Design

Modern engineering increasingly draws inspiration from nature, where efficiency is achieved through adaptation and system-level harmony. EV developers are now using advanced computational tools to explore organic, highly optimised component shapes and system architectures; mirroring, for example, how a tree or a bird’s wing achieves a perfect balance of forces. Unlike natural evolution, which takes millennia, digital tools allow engineers to iterate and converge on superior solutions within weeks, critical for keeping pace with rapidly changing industry and regulatory demands.

Overcoming Conventional Barriers

Classic engineering methods, which adjust just a handful of design parameters, can no longer solve today’s complex powertrain optimisation challenges. Next-generation computational platforms let engineers evaluate vast combinations of component geometries and system parameters – tens of millions, in some cases -far beyond what’s possible with manual approaches or simple brute-force computation. Intelligent automated routines and novel search strategies deliver the breakthroughs needed when conventional software and human time simply cannot scale

Real-World Results at Scale

Breakthrough deeptech platforms – like Monumo’s Anser® Engine – are now enabling EV makers to rapidly generate and assess hundreds of thousands of valid designs for components such as motors and gearboxes.

• In recent projects, 250,000+ viable motor designs were created in just three days, trimming magnet use by more than 8 % and cutting costs by 4 %, saving €15 per vehicle. [1]
• Expanding system optimisation to include additional variables (e.g. stator dimensions, gears, and motor length) produced over 550,000 valid solutions in five days, achieving savings as high as 11 % (€43 per unit), or reducing losses by 12.5 % at no added cost. [2][1]

The Next Frontier

The emergence of “generative design” tools – able to propose promising designs directly – suggests future engineering cycles will be radically compressed, possibly delivering optimal solutions within minutes instead of days. Monumo’s technology roadmap forecasts continued gains as greater systemlevel freedom, parametric control, and digital intelligence are brought to bear:

• Motor-only optimisation: ~5 % cost reduction
• Whole-system integration: 10 %+
• Projected potential with full-system and freeform optimisation: 20 %+ cost reduction.

Deeptech is no longer a future prospect: it is already driving major advances in EV powertrain cost, weight, and performance, for the manufacturers prepared to fully adopt it.

Simon Shepherd is Head of eDrive and Chief Product Officer at Monumo, a deeptech startup based in Cambridge and Coventry, UK, specialising in AI-driven engineering solutions. Ready to explore how deep-tech can transform your powertrain development? Contact Simon.Shepherd@Monumo.com, see more at monumo.com listen to him speak about our latest developments at 11:15 on Wednesday 3rd December in Deep Drive Track L.