The new Tatra Force e-Drive Hybrid had its world premiere at the e-Salon 2024 in Prague.

The world exhibition premiere of the new Tatra Force e-Drive Hybrid 8×8 took place at the Prague Exhibition Centre in Letňany on 7 November as part of the e-Salon 2024 trade fair. It is the latest addition to Tatra’s expanding family of e-Drive vehicles, which feature various alternative drive systems. A year ago, Tatra Trucks introduced the first member of this family, the Tatra Force e-Drive FCEV, which uses hydrogen fuel cells to generate electricity.

On the first day of the e-Salon 2024 trade fair in Prague, the new vehicle equipped with a parallel plug-in hybrid drive system developed by the oldest Czech automotive company was presented to experts, media representatives and the public by Radomír Smolka, member of the Tatra Trucks Board of Directors responsible for research and development, and Jakub Pončík, the director of research and development of Tatra Trucks. The vehicle is based on the latest third generation of the Tatra Force model range, which won this year’s Red Dot design award, among others.

The unveiled four-axle truck with a new electronic architecture and a new type of four-door cab will be used to test the installation of both a new cab for a crew of six with four seats including the driver in the first row and two seats in the second row, and a hybrid drive system. The cab is equipped with a number of superior safety features, a digital dashboard with modern ergonomics, a roof hatch, air conditioning, heating and electric window controls, to name a few. The payload is 22 tonnes, and the total vehicle weight can reach up to 38 tonnes.

„The hybrid propulsion system uses a combination of a Tatra air-cooled eight-cylinder diesel engine, an electric motor, a multi-speed fully automatic transmission with hydrodynamic converter and a traction battery and is installed into our standard chassis with a central backbone tube and independently suspended swinging half-axles with air suspension. We therefore did not have to make any special modifications to the chassis for this purpose. The combination of an internal combustion diesel engine and an electric motor with a traction battery offers several types of operating modes and, of course, it also helps us to reduce emissions during operation of the vehicle,“ explained Radomír Smolka.

Part of the hybrid system is an eight-cylinder air-cooled Tatra engine with electronic control of 300 kW and a maximum torque of 2100 Nm. It is connected to aDanfoss EM-PMI375-T1100 synchronous electric motor with permanent magnets, which has a permanent power of 300 kW, a maximum power of 500 kW and a torque of 2400 Nm. The hybrid power system also includesfully automatic seven-speed Allison 4900 gearbox, and a Tatra step-down gearbox connected via a drive shaft assembled in the central backbone tube of the vehicle chassis.The vehicle has an LTO type traction battery with a capacity of 89 kWh as well. Inside the drive train there are axial and inter-axle differentials, the axles are equipped with a new type of reduction, the so-called planetary hub reduction.

„Our new hybrid Tatra can move either using only the electric motor with a range of up to 70 km, or it can run only on the internal combustion engine power, or drive with the internal combustion engine and electric motor in parallel operation. In the case of the first mode of operation, using electric motor drive and traction battery, the truck can operate locally clean, emission-free, or, for example, silently with a reduced thermal signature. In the combined mode with the combustion engine, electric motor and traction battery operation, the entire drive system will also offer extended range,“ said Jakub Pončík, explaining the operational possibilities of the new product.

The Tatra Force e-Drive Hybrid is another of the many innovations introduced by Tatra Trucks in the last two years. Last year, it wasthe civilian version of the third generation of the Tatra Force series and the e-Drive version with a powertrain using hydrogen fuel cells. This year,a special Tatra Force vehicle with automated driving system and remote control was introduced, as well as the latest third generation of the Tatra Phoenix series and the military version of the Tatra Force third generation. Tatra Force e-Drive Hybrid closes the list of new innovations for now. However, the research and development department of Tatra Trucks is working on other projects – in the field of improving the technical solutions and electronic systems of Tatra vehicles, as well as standard internal combustion engines of its own design and other alternative propulsion systems.