Green Caliper – the brake caliper for electric cars

Green Caliper

The new lightweight Green Caliper offers high braking performance with less weight and, at the same time, significantly reduced residual braking torque. In two to three years, the system could be found in production cars.

Brakes in electric cars: More peak power, less thermal load

(Picture: Continental)

The requirements for a brake in an electric vehicle are different from those for internal combustion vehicles. The brakes in electric cars are activated much less frequently, and in over 80 percent of all deceleration situations, the brake is not needed at all due to recuperation. However, BEVs can be significantly heavier. Less braking activity and more weight changes the thermal load on the brakes and thus the requirement profile of a brake caliper. And it is precisely for this changed requirement profile that the new caliper design is optimized.
The cast-iron fist caliper of the Green Caliper is much more compact, and the brake pads are smaller and less thick because they wear more slowly. This reduces the mass of the caliper. At the same time, the smaller caliper with its lower bridge height allows the installation of a larger but thinner cast iron brake disc.The brake caliper has an active return of the brake pads after each braking action. This reduces the residual drag torque between the pads and the disc, a ‘almost loss-free operation’ . The air gap between the pad and the disc is also larger. In total, the new design could save up to two kilograms of mass per brake caliper – plus up to three more kilograms per brake disc.
To reduce weight, not only has the housing been made significantly more filigree, but also the lining mass for use in battery-electric vehicles (BEVBEV – battery electric vehicle; pure battery electric cars More) has been reduced. Based of the electrification of vehicles, the hydraulic brake actuation can be replaced by an electric control. Because of the simpler system implementation, the first solutions for dry brakes are installed on the rear axle.
Whether brake abrasion will also be reduced here due to Euro-7 (see alsp ‘EURO-7 what’s new’) remains to be seen.