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The current political push for e-mobility marked a major decline in the R&D interest to internal combustion engine (ICE). Following this global trend, Ford is committed to going 100% electric by 2030 for passenger cars and 2035 for light commercial vehicles. At the same time, many researchers admit that, due to many objective factors, vehicles powered by ICE will remain in operation for decades to come. Development of alternative carbon-neutral fuels can bring a renaissance in the ICE development as practical limitations of electric-only approach get exposed. Since a significant part of energy losses in the ICE comes from friction, engine tribology has been an important research topic over the past two decades and a significant progress in improving the engine efficiency was achieved.

The design of internal combustion engines is more and more oriented toward sustainability, especially fuel economy. To reach this aim, several technologies have been developed, however, most significantly increase engine complexity and cost. An attractive way to achieve better fuel economy is the reduction of the engine's mechanical losses, which directly has positive influence on fuel economy. The strongest contributor to these losses is still the friction of the piston assembly. During the past decades, considerable progress in the reduction of piston and piston ring friction has been achieved. Beside the material and design of pistons and piston rings, the optimization of the liner's surface structure was always of interest, and a major role in this development was - and still is - played by surface coating technologies.

The Ford Zetec-E engine primary drive system generation will be presented. The Zetec-E engine has been developed for a high volume production. The engines are produced in three engine plants with an installation capacity of 1.2 Mill. engines p.a. This paper describes the design features for the timing belt drive concept of the Ford Zetec-E engine family. The first engine was launched in January 1992 at Bridgend Wales (UK) and other plants are located in Cologne, Germany and Chihuahua, Mexico. The continuous improvement of the timing belt drives as well as the vehicle installation and packaging requirements for the world wide Ford power trains led us to the latest upgrade generation for MY 1999. In depth a technical view is taken into the different timing belt concepts, with idlers and various tensioning systems. The influence of a valve train with variable camshaft timing and none VCT applications will be evaluated.