The auto industry is facing some monumental changes, much bigger than a mere shift in consumer demand from one body type to another. One of the major trends, electrification, is already having an impact on automobile manufacturing. According to a report from the International Energy Agency, there were 3 million electric vehicles (EVs) on the road in 2017, a 50 percent increase over the previous year. The same report predicts that number will swell to 125 million EVs on the road by 2030. This trend affects many aspects of automotive manufacturing—such as lubrication.

Lubrication in the Auto Industry

Every industry has its own set of lubrication requirements. In automotive cost and longevity tend to be the principle considerations for lubricants.

For this reason, the majority of lubricants found inside cars and trucks were historically hydrocarbon-based, and that’s still the case today. Nevertheless, PFPEs have been making steady inroads in the automotive industry in recent decades, as John Keenan, application development engineer at Chemours, explained. “In the car that you’re driving, there’s a good chance that there’s a PFPE,” he said. “And there’s a good chance that it’s our product: Krytox Performance Lubricants.”

In one sense that’s not surprising, given that PFPEs generally outperform conventional lubricants. But PFPEs also tend to cost more than hydrocarbon-based lubricants, so one might wonder why cost-conscious automakers would opt for PFPEs over conventional lubricants. To answer that question, we need to look at how the auto industry has been changing in recent history.

Automotive Lubricants – Then & Now

It started with alternators:

“When we got into alternators more than 20 years ago,” Keenan said, “the temperatures were getting hotter and the conventional lubricant that the manufacturer was using wasn’t making it through the warranty period because it would just dry up.”

The solution was to replace the alternator’s conventional lubricant with a PFPE, which was able to withstand the high temperature. “As long as it’s not exceeding its base oil limit, it’s significantly longer lasting,” Keenan said. This explains the appeal of relatively higher priced PFPEs for automakers: maintenance-free lubrication. A higher upfront cost is much easier to justify if it means eliminating ancillary costs down the line—and it’s not just the cost of relubrication.

An automakers’ success or failure depends in large part on the amount of warranty problems that they have to deal with, but, as Keenan explained, “PFPEs have eliminated a lot of those warranty issues so OEMs don’t have to worry about having to replace parts while they’re still under warranty.”

This explains how the use of PFPEs spread from alternators to other longevity-challenged parts. “After the alternators, other problems started to crop up, like the idler pulley and the fan clutches,” Keenan said. “We started working down the line of failure modes on the old front-end and accessory components because the conventional lubricant just couldn’t take the temperature.”

Today, temperature is once again having an impact on automakers’ choice of lubricants. However, rather than being driven by higher temperatures, those making hybrids and EVs are thinking more about the low end of the scale.

“The temperatures are pushing their bottom limits to -40 C, and even more extreme to -50 C. If you can engineer it to work at that temperature, it’s going to work everywhere.”

Keenan explained that because hybrid and EV powertrains don’t generate as much heat as an internal combustion engine, automotive engineers can’t count on that heat to offset low temperatures. That’s why it’s crucial to consider both the upper and lower temperature limits of lubricants for under hood applications in EVs.

Elimination of noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) is another aspect of the automotive industry that’s being impacted by the growing popularity of hybrid and EV mass production. Since these vehicles are inherently quieter than their IC counterparts, engineers may need to consider noises that would traditionally be drowned out by an IC engine.

“Chemours is constantly developing new products that will find success in these applications. We see different harmonics with an electric motor than with a gas engine, and some of our new products will work better at these new frequencies than lubricants used in the past,” Keenan said. “Different formulations are needed for different applications.”

The Changing Face of Lubrication

Krytox lubricants have been around for over sixty years and a lot has changed in that time, from formulation to application. “In the past,” Keenan said, “we would sometimes see customers applying our lubricants in ways that led to significant waste. For example, one customer was laying out sunroof cables on tarps and literally used mops to apply the Krytox.” Of course, those days are long gone, and Chemours has worked with customers to develop automated dispensing systems to maximize the effectiveness of Krytox Lubricants while minimizing waste. The company has introduced a number of industry specific lubricants to keep up with the demand. This includes automotive specific lubricants like Krytox AUT Series.

One thing that hasn’t changed over this time is the need for lubricants that can satisfy manufacturers’ warranties. To that end, it helps to remember that while the relationship between automotive lubrication and automotive design is consistent, the automotive design is changing. This drives the constant need for collaboration and innovation.

New vehicle designs, including hybrid and electric drivetrains, can call for more advanced lubricants and the push to reduce vehicle maintenance can call for maintenance-free lubrication. In turn, more durable and robust lubricants can enable future vehicle designs. For example, components that no longer require relubrication can be modified or relocated without worrying so much about accessibility for maintenance. This cycle will continue as EVs become more and more common on production lines.

It’s a brave new world for automobile lubrication, and a great time to be an automotive engineer.

Visit The Chemours Company website for more information.

This article is sponsored by Chemours.  All opinions are mine.  --Ian Wright