The 3 Generations of Electrification: Accelerating Product Development Lifecycles

In the recent webinar, Powering Progress: Innovative Charging Solutions for Off-Highway Mobile Machinery, Rod Dayrit of the ZAPI GROUP explored the ever-evolving landscape of industrial electrification. 

Among the key webinar takeaways, Dayrit introduced a framework for the phased adoption of electrified solutions. He called it a “generational model” for electrification. 

As electrification penetration varies significantly between industries, clear patterns begin to emerge. These trends offer a practical roadmap for legacy OEMs seeking to electrify.

For OEM development teams, leveraging these insights can help fast-track their electric transition.

Why a Generational Approach? 

Electrification is far more complex than swapping an internal combustion engine (ICE) with an electric drivetrain. To achieve optimal performance, electric drivetrains require seamless integration of numerous interconnected components, including: 

• Electric motors
• Battery packs
• Charging solutions
• Auxiliary systems

This shift introduces new challenges for legacy OEMs accustomed to combustion machinery, particularly in off-road sectors. A generational approach offers a structured, phased pathway that spreads development risks while enabling OEMs to iterate and refine their solutions over time.

Analyzing the 3 Generations of Industrial Electric Machinery 

For industries currently lagging in electrified solutions, the challenges to getting started may seem to outweigh the benefits. However, these very industries stand to benefit most. They can draw on cross-industry insights from sectors that already navigated the complexities of electrification.

Consider how the three phases of a generational approach leverages this advantage.

Generation 1: The Foundational Building Block

As OEMs begin their electrification journey, their first goal is simple but vital: prove that electric alternatives can meet—or ideally, exceed—the performance of their ICE counterparts. This phase typically involves adopting off-the-shelf components from parallel markets to develop a “proof-of-concept” solution.

OEMs can expect the first-generation development process to be marked by: 

• A focus on establishing stakeholder confidence
• Reliance on government incentives
• Higher initial cost due to limited economies of scale

These challenges highlight the importance of supplier expertise and parallel market solutions. By leveraging these advantages, OEMs can develop a successful first-generation drivetrain while maintaining momentum for later stages.

Generation 1.5: Iterative Design

With viability established, OEMs shift focus to refining the product. In this transitional phase, engineers integrate subsystems (e.g., batteries, motors, and power electronics) to create more cohesive and efficient solutions.

The objective behind these integrations is to: 

• Reduce material and development costs
• Optimize design performance and reliability
• Shift developmental responsibilities to specialized suppliers

By engaging third-party system integrators at this critical stage, OEMs streamline the design process and accelerate time-to-market. This helps shift the responsibility for development tasks down the supply chain, reducing risk for the company.

Generation 2: Full Integration

This stage concludes the heavy lifting of development. OEMs now allocate resources toward differentiation—adapting and refining solutions to excel within specific markets. 

In Generation 2 (Gen-2), the OEM’s role shifts from hands-on integrations to strategic oversight. Most system integration responsibilities fall to component suppliers, like ZAPI GROUP, or third-party integrators, enabling OEMs to further reduce time-to-market, costs, and liability while benefiting from the expertise of specialized partners.

This approach eliminates the inefficiencies of cobbling together disparate components. The role of electrification evolves from a supplement to a core element of the finalized system design—one tailored to the specific needs of OEM verticals.

By its completion, Gen-2 will deliver higher performance, improved operational efficiency, and a future-ready architecture that can incorporate new technologies as they emerge.

The Next Generation: Intelligent Integrations

Unlike standard ICE, where disparate components merely function in parallel, electrified machinery unlocks the potential for intelligent integration. Next-generation systems enable synergistic advantages through advanced technologies such as:  

• Regenerative braking, which extends battery life, boosts vehicle efficiency and reduces wear on mechanical brakes
• Battery management systems (BMS) that optimize charging and discharging cycles to ensure safety, efficiency and battery longevity
• Communication protocols, which allow for real-time diagnostics, predictive maintenance and improved fleet management 

These interconnected technologies amplify each other’s benefits, contributing to a fully integrated solution where each component enhances overall performance and reliability. Such closed-loop systems become greater than the sum of their parts—delivering a drivetrain that thrives even in the harshest industrial settings. 

Challenges to Full Integration 

It should be noted that, for all of its advantages, full integration comes with trade-offs. 

The interconnected nature of integrated systems can introduce challenges when single components fail or require an upgrade. Rather than a simple swap-out, an issue in one part of the system may necessitate modifications—even an overhaul—of the entire platform. 

Strategic collaboration with experienced suppliers and integrators is a must for such scenarios. Their expertise can help OEMs strike an optimal balance between integration and modularity, tapping into the benefits of an integrated system while retaining enough flexibility to address future changes with minimal disruption.

The Role of Third-Party System Integrators

Choosing the right suppliers and system integrators—those with broad expertise in electrification—can accelerate OEM product development. The right partners empower OEMs to: 

• Skip the costly backtracking that often accompanies early design phases
• Draw on a wider range of suppliers, improving supply chain resilience 
• Leverage cross-industry insights and lessons learned from parallel markets

In many cases, OEMs can adopt and refashion proven solutions rather than start from scratch. Engaging third parties as early as Generation 1 unlocks these benefits sooner rather than later, enabling OEMs to realize value before committing significant time and resources to development.

A Generational Path Forward

For OEMs seeking to electrify, the generational approach can be distilled into two primary objectives: 

Doing so enables OEMs to streamline the iterative design process, achieving faster time-to-market and ensuring a smoother electrical transition.

ZAPI GROUP plays an essential role in this ecosystem. With deep expertise in charging solutions and electrification propulsion systems, ZAPI GROUP empowers OEMs to overcome challenges, adopt proven solutions, and position themselves as leaders in a rapidly electrifying market. 

Explore the ZAPI GROUP’s webinar or get in touch with our team to learn more.