ZF announced Tuesday testing is now underway on its completed PowerLine 8-speed automatic transmission production line at its Gray Court, S.C. manufacturing facility.
ZF says the production line is part of the $200 million investment in the ZF Transmissions facility. The new PowerLine project will employ more than 500 people, and has the capacity to produce more than 200,000 transmissions per year, the company says. Production is slated to begin in the fall.
“The ZF PowerLine transmission, with its efficiency focused architecture, provides outstanding performance and comfort, and helps commercial vehicle manufacturers and fleets meet tough CO2 targets in a cost-efficient way,” says Christian Feldhaus, director Commercial Vehicle Driveline Systems, Americas, ZF Group. “We are pleased to announce the launch of the largest production capacity for PowerLine worldwide, serving our North American customers.”
The ZF PowerLine transmission is designed to be used in trucks, buses, and other commercial vehicles, up to some vocational Class 8 applications. It is based on ZF’s 8-speed automatic transmission family. ZF says the highly innovative and patented layout provides a wider-spread gear range with fewer moving parts, reducing friction and, therefore, improving fuel efficiency. The fully integrated transmission architecture helps to improve the total cost of ownership of PowerLine-equipped vehicles and boosts vehicle uptime with high reliability.
"PowerLine is full of great attributes focused on what matters: safety, total cost of ownership, efficiency, and reliability," Feldhaus says.
Available to North American customers since 2021, ZF adds the PowerLine transmission was introduced in Europe in 2020 and was initially produced at ZF’s global headquarters in Friedrichshafen, Germany. The Gray Court, S.C., manufacturing facility, which opened in 2012 and has to date produced more than 7.3 million automotive transmissions, is the first in the U.S. to produce the PowerLine transmission. Today, the 1,687,000-sq.-ft., facility employs roughly 2,700 people. ZF notes also the new production line will meet all USMCA requirements.
