长久以来，福特（Ford）一直认为，正是“选择的力量”让公司发展壮大至今。如今，全球汽车行业在动力装置方面充满了各种“选项”。除了传统的内燃发动机之外，各种替代推进系统层出不穷，包括轻混动推进系统、插电式混动动力系统、纯电动推进系统、燃料电池系统等，而且更多替代燃料和小型/增压内燃机也接连出现，这也让各家汽车集团的产品和公司管理工作更加复杂，福特也到了必须作出“选择”的时刻。
福特汽车动力总成工程全球副总裁 Dave Filipe 在面临不断增加的新型解决方案时必须作出一些艰难抉择，这也将最终决定福特汽车未来的产品生产研发走向。但好的一面是 Filipe 本人非常喜欢福特的肥沃的工程研发土壤，且坚信自己优秀的团队有能力解决面临的挑战。最近，在他位于迪尔伯恩的办公室接受采访时，Filipe 表示，“你可以认为这是挑战，但却让我充满激情，现在有哪家公司有明确的战略？谁愿意为产品投资？并投入资源实现这一目标？”
Filipe 在 2017 年 9 月接替了 Bob Fascetti 担任福特动力总成负责人，他对汽车动力系统领域的变化速度有充分意识。Filipe 表示，“我昨天上午刚刚参加了一次技术会议。但想想六七年前我们讨论的都是哪些问题？‘好吧，我们现在已经是六速，要不要继续推出八速或十速？’对的，我们当时也认为这些问题充满挑战。”
是的，如今似乎每天都有“汽车行业将进入全电动时代”的宣传报道，但 Filipe 认为，目前原厂当下的任务是按照不同市场，推出不同的解决方案搭配。“我们知道全电动时代即将到来，我们也一定会参与其中。比如，我们会在未来三到四年内拥有 8款全电动车型；而且，最重要的是，我们还在 Rivian 投资了5 亿美元，以便加快新产品的上市速度，加速该领域的发展。因此，你可以看到我们对全电动时代的到来没有丝毫怀疑。”Filipe解释说，“很多分析师都对 2030 年的情况有自己的预测，但到时候只有客户才能让一切‘真相大白’。”
Filipe 指出，尽管“全电动”风靡一时，但不同市场却需要不同的产品组合搭配。“我们无法决定电动汽车在市场中的比例，可能是 10％、20％ 或 30％，但我们能做的是尽量提升我们电动汽车产品的吸引力。但无论如何，市场仍有 70% 将属于内燃车型，因此我们还在同时致力于为这部分市场提供不同的解决方案。”
“我们在花每一笔钱时都必须有充足理由，这也是我们对内燃发动机的态度。但这并不意味着我们的投资最终将没有回报，因为在未来 10 到 12 年内它仍将在全球产品组合战略中扮演重要角色。”Filipe 表示，“我们可以为内燃机车型配备电动功能，作为纯电动汽车的有力补充。”
“在福特，我们致力于对混合动力车采取双管齐下的方法，”Filipe 指出，“首先是我们的Power Split 电子无级变速器，现在是我们的模块化混合动力技术（MHT），我们是唯一一家为全电动车型配备第二套动力系统的厂商。对于一些客户常有牵引需求的较大车型来说，比如探险者、F-150 皮卡等，这就是最理想的解决方案。”
柴油机转型和推杆 V8 发动机
在被问及如何看待最近经常为人所指的传统燃料时，Filipe 表示，“近几年，柴油发动机领域的趋势发生了变化，特别是在欧洲地区。如今，除了欧洲城市明确表示他们不喜欢柴油机外，世界各地的客户也都对柴油机有了新的想法。在短短的几年内，柴油机的比例显着减少，这些变化我们都看在眼里。”
Filipe 介绍说，“我们正在分析、简化并调整面向欧洲市场的柴油乘用车产线。但与此同时，商用车领域的客户仍很重视柴油机。此外，就在此时此刻，我们刚刚向欧洲市场推出了一款新的插电式混动 Transit 商用车。重申一下，我们已经开始调整公司的产品组合，但也同时意识到部分客户对柴油车型的需求。”
“在美国市场中，柴油发动机在 Super Duty 等重型车辆中的表现非常不错，我们需要做的是提供一种替代解决方案。对此，我们已经计划将推出一款扭矩非常高、尺寸更大的 V8 发动机。”Filipe 在介绍公司绰号“哥斯拉”的全新 7.3L OHV 八缸汽油发动机时表示，“重型车辆世界的客户最关心车辆的工作性能和拥有成本。对于这些客户，重型车辆是汽车，但更是工具。我们比较了所有选项，并最终认为对此最好的解决方案是‘推杆发动机’。我们已经很久没有为汽油发动机采用推杆设计了。”
随着电气化时代的投资压力不断增加，很少有公司在大规模的产业转型中为内燃发动机留有单独预算。福特与大众汽车（Volkswagen）有战略合作，且同时收购 Spin 等移动出行创业公司，并投资了 Rivian。如今，汽车公司必须满足当下的盈利要求，并同时为大量未来技术进行投资。不过，福特汽车高管 Filipe 认为公司团队的“创新能力”和“灵活性”足以帮助公司战胜挑战：“我们的团队拥有创新精神，非常擅长设计系统解决方案并创造价值方程，这对所有人都是双赢。”
新型移动出行时代的到来如此急迫又如此重要，Filipe 作为公司领头人势必得付出更多努力。在被问及每天几点上班时，Filipe 表示，“我每天来上班的时候天还没亮。”但他同时指出，“我在公司已经工作 27年了。我知道，我们拥有令人难以置信的优秀人才，而且他们还在不断进步。过去几年，我们已经在电气化方面申请了1300 多项专利。我一直在向我们的团队学习，也为可以与他们一起踏上征程而激动不已。”
Ford has always touted its “Power of Choice,” and when it comes to automotive powerplants, the industry is entering a new age of propulsion options. The wellspring of alternative powertrains entering the field – from mild- to plug-in hybrids; battery electrics to fuel cells; alternative fuels and downsized/boosted internal combustion engines – has made the role of managing a global engineering group significantly more complex.
With expanding solutions unfolding before him in real-time, Dave Filipe, Ford's global VP of powertrain engineering, has some powerful decisions to make, ones that will ultimately guide Ford's future product viability. Luckily for Filipe, he says he relishes the fertile engineering environment and the challenges facing his capable teams. “You could call it a challenge, but I love it,” Filipe said during a recent Automotive Engineering interview in his Dearborn office. “What other company is out there right now who has these clear strategies and who’s willing to invest in its products, and uses its team to deliver that?”
Filipe, who took over the top Ford powertrain spot from Bob Fascetti in September of 2017, is aware of how quickly the powertrain space is changing. “I was at a technical conference yesterday morning, reminiscing that six or seven years ago, we were thinking about, ‘OK, we're at six speeds today. Do I go to eight or ten?’” Filipe said. “Yeah. I thought those were challenging days.”
Each day sees some prognostication of a fully electrified mobility future, but for today's OEMs, Filipe envisions a mix of solutions, by market. “We know all-electric is coming and we will be a player. We're going to have eight all-electric vehicles over the next three to four years. On top of that, we invested $500 million in Rivian to add a product to the market quickly to help accelerate in that space. So, fully committed to all electric,” Filipe explained. “A lot of analysts have projected what 2030 looks like, but customers are going to dictate that.”
Filipe noted that though “all-electric” is all the rage, a mixed portfolio approach will be needed to serve the various markets. “Since we can't dictate how much all- electric's going to be in the marketplace—and it could be 10-, 20-, 30-percent—we'll make our products as appealing as possible to the customer for all electric. In the meantime, we are trying to address that remaining 70% of the portfolio, which will be ICE based.”
“We have to rationalize what we spend where, and we're doing that on the ICE side. But when you do that, it doesn't mean it goes to zero, because ICE is still going to be a significant role in the global portfolio for the next 10 to 12 years,” Filipe said. “And we could use it nicely combined with electrification to compliment an all-electric BEV.”
“At Ford, we're committed to a two-pronged approach on hybrids,” he noted. “The Power Split, which is electronic CVT, and now our modular hybrid technology (MHT). We're the only OEM to complement our all-electrics with a second powertrain system, and it's the right solution for heavier vehicles—Explorers, F-150s—where customers want towing.”
Diesel shifts and pushrod V8s
“In the world of diesel, the trends have shifted in recent years, particularly for Europe. Not just cities in Europe showing they're not fond of diesels, the customers are starting to weigh in,” Filipe said when queried on the future of the recently chastised fuel. “And we see that movement down. Within a handful of years, a significant reduction.”
“In Europe, we are adjusting course. We're simplifying and rationalizing what we have in our passenger- car diesel lineup,” he explained. “But at the same time, on commercial vehicles, that customer is still looking at diesels. We're also introducing a plug-in hybrid version of a Transit in Europe as we speak. So again, starting to shift our portfolio and recognize that diesel is wanted by certain customer segments.”
“In the U.S., what we're trying to do in this space is offer an alternative to the diesel that works very well in a Super Duty. And this is a very high-torque, larger V8 that we're going to provide,” Filipe said, referencing the new 7.3-L “Godzilla” OHV gasoline V8. “In the world of Super Duty where it's all about work, cost of ownership, it's a tool. We looked at all the options, and we think the best answer in this case was coming out with a pushrod engine, which we haven't done in a long, long time on the gasoline side.”
With investment costs for the electrified age looming, few companies seem prepared to go the budget alone on the massive industrial shift. Ford has strategically engaged with Volkswagen, while acquiring mobility startups such as Spin and investing in Rivian. Key in making it to the future while surviving the balance sheet is a great supply base, which Filipe credits for its innovation and agility: “They are innovative, and very good at systems solutions and creating the value equation, because it's got to be a win-win for everybody.”
With so much at stake in this nascent new mobility era, is Filipe getting to the office earlier these days? “It's dark out,” Filipe conceded about his morning schedule, but he noted, “I'm hitting 27 years with the company. We've got incredibly talented people who keep getting smarter, and we've filed over 1,300 patents in the past couple years on electrification alone. I just enjoy being on the journey with the team because I keep learning from them.”
Author: Paul Seredynski
SAE Automotive Engineering
福特的全新 7.3L 汽油 V8 发动机，绰号“哥斯拉”，将登陆 2020 款 Super Duty 皮卡系列。这也是福特近几十年来推出的首款全新 OHV 汽油发动机。
“我们在花每一笔钱时都必须有充足理由，这也是我们对内燃发动机的态度。但这并不意味着我们将终止对内燃发动机研发的投资，因为在未来10 到 12 年内它仍将在全球产品组合战略中扮演重要角色。”