BAE Systems Class 7 truck demo | Dossier 29 E-Mobility Engineering | January/February 2026 recovery while maintaining the same liftthrottle deceleration across the range, regardless of payload. This way, the drive feels the same at all times while recovering as much energy as possible.” On the road After several years in development, the team successfully tested the integrated electric drive system in its Class 7 demo vehicle last year, proving that the technology could be utilised to easily adapt existing truck models across various zero-emission applications – with testing figures showing clear improvement in efficiency and performance. The demo vehicle’s single MPCS unit incorporates three 300 A DC battery connectors, a high-voltage 200 A DC CCS 1 plug-in charging input, a 280 kW SiC traction inverter, a high-voltage 60 A DC heater port and a 200 A DC accessory power output, with modular slice technology to customise the system for the battery and motor specifications. Matthews personally tested the demo truck on a fully loaded continuous 30 mph track drive – and turned in some impressive results. “I drove it on cruise control for an hour and a half, although it was a very basic example, with no stopand-go regen, just all loss; we came up with 1.1 kWh per mile. When we talked to other OEMs, that really got their attention.” The vehicle delivers 5800 Nm of peak output torque with a total peak power of 230 kW, and offers significantly better acceleration in the 0–15 and 0–30 ranges than the class-leading diesel-based vehicles, with full torque at zero speed. It is also a close match at 0–60, giving a welcome improvement in driveability and freight efficiency. In testing, with the vehicle typically loaded at between 28,000 and 30,000 lbs and with A/C or heating running, the charge intervals were spaced out at around a range of 125 miles, to allow for traffic or extreme grades and to avoid any anxiety on highway distances. Around town, meanwhile, the range reaches beyond 180 miles at an average of 20 mph. So far, the vehicle has completed just over 3000 miles of mostly public road driving, following an initial 300 miles of tuning and integration testing on Eaton’s private closed test track. Matthews says things have gone very smoothly and points to the single biggest issue so far being not from performance but from an inconveniently located charge port. “It’s mounted in a central location in the chassis, which makes it hard to position at most public charging facilities because they are really best set up for either front or rear port locations,” he explains. “The cable is often just a few feet short of reaching our port, so we are planning to move its location on the system to better accommodate public chargers. “The only other issue was that initially we were getting too much torque when the vehicle was empty. While it was a lot of ‘fun’, we needed to dial back the first-gearavailable torque as a function of vehicle weight – and as we are able to actively evaluate vehicle weight, we could quickly adapt it to deliver a more consistent performance across the range.” The company is not standing still with the demo vehicle, routinely rolling out upgrades to add features and to eke out more efficiency, and Matthews adds: “We have a term here, coined by one of our engineers – ‘the hunt for watts’ – and our engineers are currently refining motor control efficiency and better coordinating thermal management. “We also have a number of key upgrades planned, most notably the externally sourced higher-voltage accessory options. The BAE Systems’ hardware is designed for up to 850 V DC operation but many non-BAE Systems components are limited to 750 V DC, so there are opportunities to be found there. “We also have a higher-capacity set of Forsee batteries to integrate – the ZEN 84 – which deliver a maximum voltage of 820 V DC but are identical drop-in replacements in form, fit and function. That would provide more than a 10% increase in range, for only a 1% increase in curb weight and also increase the overall system efficiency. “The other major improvement would be through a fully integrated cooling solution to even better optimise the thermal zonal balancing. Working with a company like Grayson, Webasto or Ymer would be a logical next step to simplify the cooling in keeping with our simplified electrification.” Ultimately, the key for Matthews was to make every attempt to build the demo vehicle just like an OEM would build a production truck – with cost, weight and serviceability at the top of the list. He believes that has been achieved and concludes: “The team did an excellent job of packaging the hardware to minimise connections, cable runs and hardware mounting. “Given the reduced number of components, connections, brackets, cables, clamps and overall bill of materials, it stacks up well compared to the current solutions being offered. The touch time labour is greatly reduced and the cost of poor quality, with less points of failure, is a cost saving. “The goal of ‘Electrification Simplified’ was applied to all aspects – not just to our kit but to the batteries, the power steering and the cooling system. Everywhere we could, we tried to use the ‘K.I.S.S.’ principal. In some cases, that meant some rework and ‘do-overs’, but the team wanted to put our best foot forward – and that’s exactly what we have done.” Vehicle specifications Performance Peak power: 230 kW Peak torque: 5800 Nm Technical specifications GVWR: 33,000 Motors/Gearbox weight: 275 kg MPCS weight: 52 kg Battery weight: 1299 kg Battery specification: VDA lithium-ion NMC modules Gear ratios: 4.83:1, 2.82:1, 1.65:1 and 1:1 Charging system: CCS1, 200 A limit
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