The inaugural North American version of the Lubricant Expo and The Bearing Show took place last week at Huntington Place in Detroit. A vibrant conference/education schedule balanced an informative group of exhibitors discussing component challenges, system upgrades and future trends. Innovation in the automotive, transportation and energy industries is keeping R&D departments busier than ever. Here’s why:

Future Proofing Lubricants: Dr. George Zhang, vice president, R&D, Valvoline Global Operations, cited sustainability, electrification, and AI as three areas currently driving future trends in the lubrication market. How can the lubricant industry help improve efficiency, safety, and the overall drive experience in the transportation industry for years to come? Engines are going to get smaller but more powerful and lubrication providers must address the fast-paced changes taking place across the industries they serve. In EVs, for example, Zhang says fluid formulations must be tweaked to match the performance of next generation driveline systems.

Data Center Energy Usage: The biggest culprit of energy usage today and the foreseeable future is the ENORMOUS power needed to drive large warehouses of computing infrastructure. In a word, we can’t keep up with these energy demands. Shell, Valvoline, Exxon Mobil, and others are aware of the growing needs in the data center cooling market. Materials science, fluid conveyance and thermal management solutions will need to be addressed to prevent future bottlenecks in the energy supply chain. According to the International Energy Agency, the United States 2,700+ data centers utilized over four percent of country’s total energy in 2022 and the numbers are skyrocketing each year. AI appears to be a growing problem in this area.

Bearing System Design: Test, test, revaluate and test again. In the ever-challenging world of selecting the best possible bearing for the application, Todd Snelgrove, founding partner at Experts in Value, discussed how price is measurable and value is not. Value pricing should, in fact, be part of a company’s holistic approach. In basic terms, it’s not how little you pay, it’s how much you get. Best value and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) are so important that many organizations are creating positions to examine and improve value-added concepts within mechanical power transmission organizations. (expertsinvalue.com)

Lubrication for Electric Vehicles: Anastazi Sarigiannis, business development manager, automotive and bearing industries at Klüber Lubrication discussed this topic during a bearing failure mode panel. As bearing and gearbox requirements change so do lubrication developments. Those involved in EVs are examining conditions where the electric motors are running at a speed to generate the appropriate film thickness, but at low speeds, you have that film thickness collapse. R&D is determining if a lubricant can work effectively under ALL possible operating conditions.

Move those EV goals back a few years: We’re still on a path toward sustainability and electrification in the automotive and transportation industries, but goals once highlighted for 2030 – 2035 are now being “cautiously” changed to 2040 – 2050. Why? Infrastructure, charging stations, energy providers, battery materials, the list goes on and on. The good news is that both the bearing and lubrication segments are making e-mobility and electrification a top priority while the industry addresses many of these challenges.

Automotive/Transportation Advancements: The list of requirements for lubrication continues to evolve. Companies seek greater technical requirements, efficiency and durability benefits and the ability to make products much more sustainable in the process. Shell, for example, is partnering with leading OEMs to support battery electric (BEV) and fuel cell electric (FCEV) powertrains for passenger car vehicles as well as commercial and heavy-duty vehicles by enhancing its Shell EV-Plus Fluids and E-Greases. Trucks, cars, wind turbines, bearings, gears, hydraulics, and engines will all play a role in the wholesale changes taking place across the lubrication industry in the future.

The Bearing Show and Lubricant Expo North America will return to Detroit March 18–20, 2025.