Alpine & BorgWarner launch cooperation
Renault’s Alpine F1 Team has entered into a partnership with US automotive supplier BorgWarner. Both partners want to identify technologies and technical collaborations for future Alpine electric models.
Alpine had announced in January that it would concentrate on the development of purely electric sports cars in the future. Accordingly, an electric compact sports car in the B segment will be developed based on the CMF-B EV and an electric sports cross-over for the C segment based on the CMF-EV. In addition, there will be a purely electric successor to the Alpine A110.
Alpine does not go into detail in the short announcement, such as which technologies might be involved. “We can therefore benefit from a shared approach on electrification, hybridization, high-performance batteries and energy recovery components such as the MGU-K and MGU-H,” says Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi rather generally. “BorgWarner is a pioneer in the design and manufacture of high-quality propulsion products that will help deliver a clean, energy-efficient world, so the possible synergies are hugely exciting.”
It is not the first collaboration between the two companies: Renault and BorgWarner have been jointly developing turbochargers and powertrain technologies for 30 years, including the A110’s powertrain.
The fact that the partnership was officially formed with Alpine’s Formula 1 team is probably due to the existing development cooperation – Formula 1 race cars also use turbochargers and hybrid components. “The automotive and Formula One industries face very similar challenges in optimising each powertrain component for longer distances and more power while considering environmental impact,” says Rossi.
BorgWarner had acquired supplier Delphi Technologies last year. Delphi had introduced an 800-volt inverter with silicon carbide, among other products, in 2019. As part of the new partnership, the Delphi logo will also be seen on Alpine’s Formula One race cars at some Grand Prix. But BorgWarner itself also offers EV components: For example, the drive of the Aiways U5 or a future electric small car from Hyundai.
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