Wolfern:
The high-tech specialist for stepless drive technology from Upper Austria is ready for the jump to the next league – now also as a manufacturer of highly innovative and compact stepless transmissions for a wide variety of vehicle types, one is consistently aiming for niches where the challenges of mobility and security are highest. High-terrain vehicles that require propulsion under the most difficult driving conditions, or emergency vehicles in the municipal area, where a wide range of work requirements can be met 365 days a year, even under the most adverse weather conditions, are on top of the list of VDS.
Managing Director Gerhard Hörmann prefers to sit infront of the wheel of a wide variety of test vehicles himself and daringly explores the last limits of physics, as shown in the pictures.
Baptism by fire is done:
The first vehicles with the new so-called VTP450 stepless transmission are already working restless. Intensive presence at various trade fairs and off-road events has contributed to the fact that more and more enquiries are coming into the VDS. Even individual private customers are knocking at the doors of VDS in order to have their vehicle “upgraded” with the VTP450.
The concept – the security concept:
Technology freaks will understand this language – the abbreviation stands for “Variable Twin Planet”, i.e. a concept in which a double planet set must play together with a hydrostatic variator unit and mechanical gears including the coupling package. The driver has it easier, the most important “control lever” in the VTP450 vehicle is the “driving pedal”. If it is passed through, it accelerates to the maximum speed without any interruption of traction. If you take your foot off the accelerator pedal, the vehicle delays to a standstill – even in heavy terrain steeply downhill. The whole concentration of the driver is focused on coping with the terrain in front of him – there would be stirring with a gear lever in mechanical gearboxes, looking for suitable translation for the moment, or the tiresome slip of traditional Automatic transmission – far from helpful.
The target groups:
Since VDS not only operates on the Landrover Defender but also on the Toyota Landcruiser in its test fleet with the VTP450 – a lot of companies are interested and have seen these vehicles and also tested them on the VDS test-track.
Thanks to the compact design and the modular arrangement of the AWD downforce, the VTP450 is also adaptable to many other vehicles with the simplest means. So it is quite possible to be enthused about the “plug and play mode”.
VDS offers the VTP450 unit including transmission and vehicle control, including the control console, and the conversion is also carried out in-house.