History

The history of DTI starts in 1997 when three PhD students (Bas Vroemen, Roëll van Druten and Alex Serrarens) at the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven started working on a system that improves the dynamic behaviour and fuel economy of CVT-equipped vehicles. This project was called "EcoDrive" and the aim was to use a flywheel and a CVT to improve both fuel economy and driveability for application in a mid-sized passenger car. EcoDrive was a cooperation between the project-owner Van Doorne's Transmissie (currently Bosch Transmission Technology),  Technische Universiteit Eindhoven and the Powertrain group within TNO Automotive.

In the EcoDrive project the "Zero Inertia Powertrain" was conceived and prototyped by the three PhD students. This concept and the inspiring cooperation between its academically educated inventors became the basis for founding DTI later on. The Zero Inertia Powertrain is a flywheel based powertrain assist system of which the more developed version is now called Dynamic Torque Assist module.

After finalizing the PhD-project and initial start-up activities, "Drivetrain Innovations b.v." (with "DTI" as brand name) was launched mid 2003. DTI is an SME company focusing on developments and licensing of innovative transmission systems in the automotive industry. In 2003 DTI bought back the Zero Inertia patents from Van Doorne's Transmissie (Bosch) and started to develop improvements on this system in terms of packaging, functionality and cost. Furthermore, inspired by the Zero Inertia concept, new transmission innovations were developed such as the Powershift AMT and a number of interesting cost-effective hybrid drivetrains.

Currently DTI works together with national and international Tiers and OEMs to develop, industrialize and market their innovative, fuel saving, cost-effective and highly dynamic transmission systems.