The EV Shift: What Electrified Drivetrains Mean for Forging Buyers
Release time：
2026-10-14
The EV Shift: What Electrified Drivetrains Mean for Forging Buyers
Nanjing Liju Precision Forging Co., Ltd. ｜ Industry News ｜ October 2026
Cover: forged gears, shafts and differential components for an electric drive axle (illustration — replace with factory photography)
Electric vehicles do not need fewer forgings — they need different ones. The transition to electric drivetrains is rewriting the part list inside a car: gears and shafts that spin at higher speeds, chassis components engineered for every kilogram, and aluminum where steel used to live. For buyers, the question is no longer whether to forge, but which forging capability to qualify.
01 · The Market: EVs Passed the One-in-Four Mark
Global electric car sales rose by more than 20% year on year in 2025 to around 21 million units, with one in four new cars sold being electric (IEA, Global Energy Review 2026). Momentum continues: the IEA's Global EV Outlook 2026 projects 23 million electric cars in 2026 — about 28% of global sales — with Europe growing fastest at roughly +20%, so that one in three cars sold there is electric.
Each of those vehicles carries a heavier share of engineered drivetrain and chassis metal than a conventional car. That is not less forging volume. It is a different mix of it.
02 · Where Forgings Sit in an EV
Electric drive axles (e-axles). The gear set, differential and half shafts of a compact e-axle do more work per kilogram than a combustion drivetrain: higher speeds, higher torque density, tighter NVH budgets. These parts are forged in alloy steels (42CrMo4-type grades), often with precision-forged gear teeth and controlled grain flow along the load path.
Chassis and suspension. Steering knuckles, control arms and subframe brackets are where lightweighting shows up. Forged aluminum in grades such as 6082 and 7075 replaces cast iron and cast aluminum: a published study on a steering knuckle redesigned from cast iron to forged Al6082 achieved roughly 60% weight reduction while meeting stiffness and durability requirements (Wiley / The Scientific World Journal).
Powertrain ancillaries. Motor shafts, output flanges and structural brackets complete the forged parts map — each demanding fatigue strength, dimensional consistency and full traceability.
Fig. 1: Automated forging line for lightweight aluminum chassis parts (illustration — replace with factory photography)
03 · The Quality Bar Moves Up
Electrification raises three demands that every forging supplier must now answer:
Higher speeds, higher fatigue risk. E-axle gears and shafts run faster than their combustion counterparts; fatigue limits, surface integrity and runout become design-critical, not negotiable.
Mass production, mass consistency. One model can consume hundreds of thousands of forgings a year. Process capability (Cpk), SPC data and PPAP/APQP documentation are part of the part.
Lightweighting without compromise. Aluminum forgings reward consistent material, controlled grain flow and defect-free surfaces. A weak internal defect that a casting might hide becomes a fatigue failure in a forged lightweight part.
04 · What Buyers Should Look For
Material coverage. A supplier that forges both alloy steels (42CrMo4, 34CrNiMo6) and aluminum (6082, 7075, 6061) lets one qualification cover an entire platform.
Process combination. Hot forging, cold forging and machining under one roof shortens the supply chain and keeps geometry control inside the same quality system.
Quality system. IATF 16949 with real PPAP, SPC and full traceability — not a certificate on the wall.
In-house laboratory. Hardness, CMM, tensile, metallographic, spectroscopy and roughness testing on site means evidence, not promises.
Automation. Robotic handling and controlled cycles keep batch-to-batch consistency at EV volumes.
05 · What Liju Brings to the EV Supply Chain
Nanjing Liju Precision Forging has supplied forged parts to automotive and OEM programs since 2003. Founded in 1998 and covering 34,000 m² in Nanjing's Liuhe Economic Development Zone, the plant runs 300T–1,600T friction screw presses and automated closed-die hot forging lines, plus a cold forging shop, machining, CAD/CAM tooling and an in-house laboratory — hardness, CMM, tensile, metallographic, spectroscopy and roughness analysis — under ISO 9001, IATF 16949 and ISO 14001. The portfolio spans automotive, high-speed rail, railway accessories, aviation, mining, hydraulic, forklift (Toyota and Crown projects), copper connector and aluminum forging programs, with parts exported to the United States, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan.
Send your drawings to sales@njliju.com for a DFM review and quotation. Or call +86 138 5144 1727. The plant: No. 6 Longhua Road, Liuhe Economic Development Zone, Nanjing, China.
The electric revolution does not end forgings. It raises the bar on them.
