Looking ahead
Having entered into substantial exclusivity agreements in commercial vehicles through its licences with Allison Transmission, Inc and the unnamed European Truck and Bus Manufacturer, Torotrak is focused on delivering programme results for these established high-value customers.
Beyond these priorities, Torotrak is increasingly involved in ‘green technology’, focused on more recently identified areas of opportunity to expand the application of the company’s technology to the rapidly growing markets for efficiency enhancing devices in the field of CO2 mitigation. In pursuit of these new opportunities, Torotrak is pursuing partnership relationships to allow a sharing of product development costs and to provide greater control over the routes to markets.
The company is currently a lead participant in one collaborative project, part-funded by the UK Government’s Technology Strategy Board, focused on the application of flywheel-based hybrid technology to commercial vehicles. Additionally, Torotrak is a member of two similar collaborative consortia, again part-funded by the Technology Strategy Board, to apply its technology to flywheel-based mechanical hybrids for on- and off-highway vehicles.
And through its newly formed joint venture company Rotrak, Torotrak is also focusing its efforts on developing variable drive centrifugal compressor technology to address the automotive market’s need for effective engine downsizing technologies.
What next for Torotrak? The future is promising, with the company in a strong, well-funded position to provide scalable, variable drive solutions to satisfy the growing, and ever more demanding, requirements for improved fuel efficiency and reduced CO2 emissions.
