As regulations become more stringent, OEMs will require higher performing fluids to keep up
Current trends show that automatic transmission fluids are expected to become more and more important to vehicle fuel economy performance, according to Infineum's Insight. Since the early nineties, transmission fluids specifications have been required to make significant improvements in oxidative stability and low temperature fluidity.
Increasingly tough specs meant that many group I base stocks could no longer be used to make high performing fluids, creating a market tendency toward Group II and III, a trend highlighted by many at the ICIS Base Oils Conference in Seoul including SBA consulting's Stephen Ames. Today, the increased desire for fuel efficient fluids has lead to the specifying of fluids that can only be made from API Group III oils.
As transmissions are playing an increasingly important role in overall efficiency for OEMs, many have started introducing new designs, including variable and dual clutch transmissions, with a view to a nine-speed clutch in the near future. Lower viscosity fluids (KV100, KV40, and KV20) are being favoured by OEMs such as Mercedes, who recently introduced their lowest KV100 thus far, with a viscosity of around 4.3 cSt.
Increased shear stability combined with low temperature viscosity has increased the base fluid requirements significantly, a trend which will continue to prevail as the market becomes more competitive and regulations of OEMs become tighter.