Cedar Park, Texas; Bagley, Minn. - TEAM Industries (TEAM) and Fallbrook Technologies Inc. (Fallbrook) announced today that TEAM has a production-ready innovative new transmission design for all-terrain vehicles (ATV) and utility task vehicles (UTV) available to OEMs for vehicle implementation.
The transmission incorporates Fallbrook’s NuVinci continuously variable planetary (CVP) technology. NuVinci is a platform technology for a new class of continuously variable transmissions (CVT). It utilizes spheres instead of gears or belts, and can be deployed in a wide variety of applications to improve performance and/or system efficiency.
TEAM has an exclusive licensing agreement with Fallbrook for the use of NuVinci CVP technology in North America and Europe in electric and gasoline light vehicle applications. TEAM is also working with Fallbrook to provide a source for NuVinci transmissions in other applications, as well.
“We are one of the largest suppliers, if not the largest, of rubber-belt CVTs in the ORV [off-road vehicle] market,” Micah Ricke, director of product development at TEAM, said. “We continue to drive innovation in this market, and that is why we are incorporating NuVinci CVP technology into our product lineup; delivering an advanced drivetrain solution that improves reliability and provides greater capability over rubber-belt CVTs,”
“TEAM’s new CVP transmission has a variety of innovative or advanced features,” said Aaron Shagrin, Fallbrook’s VP of Licensing and Business Development. “Many stem from the incorporation of NuVinci technology. There are no belt or wear items to replace. It is sealed and needs no periodic lubrication. There is lower NVH [noise, vibration, and harshness] compared to current belt-CVTs and it is programmable and tunable for varying conditions or modes. This provides excellent low-speed drivability with no jerking or stick-slip phenomenon.”
TEAM is in active discussions with OEMs and is prepared to begin production to support OEMs as they integrate it into their vehicles. The feedback from OEMs who have test driven a NuVinci Optimized demo vehicle has been extremely positive. A product manager of a major North America OEM stated, “The ride experience exceeds anything I’ve ever experienced from a belt CVT, this is the real deal.”
“Getting to a production-ready design is a significant accomplishment,” said Sharon A. O’Leary, Fallbrook’s president and COO. “We are pleased to have a partnership with TEAM and it further demonstrates the scalability and broad potential for commercialization of NuVinci CVP technology.”
For additional information on TEAM’s transmission for OEMs, visit www.team-ind.com.
