In spite of the arrival of LEDs, Xenon technology has still few nice years ahead, presumably until 2018 as Driving Vision News forecasted in a lecture at Delris 2 years ago.
Xenon could even be considered as illustrating best how a mature technology can induce innovation through continuous developments and conduct to a completely renewed offer: the fully integrated Xenon 25W.
Developed with the initial target of getting rid of the washing system, Xenon 25W is the best affordable technology for a better light in the near future for most cars: it is the best compromise between better lighting performance and cost. Here are the reasons why:
Fully integrated Xenon 25W comes with 5 advantages and one obstacle.
The first two advantages are presented in this newsletter.
Two other advantages are presented in our next newsletter and the last advantage plus the obstacle to go through will follow.
First advantage: weight reduction
20 years before, a 1989 Xenon system , at that time called D1, had a weight over 2,000 g per side, with an additional 2000 g for the car washing system.
Today’s standard complete Xenon systems weights about 300 to 375 g per side (bulb, igniter, shielded cable, ECU) with an additional 2000 g for the washing system.
With the completely integrated Xenon 25W system under preparation in the European experts working group, the target is a weight of around 125 g per side, and no washing system.
This means a saving of up to 2500 g per car by just step ping to the integrated Xenon 25W version, including the saving of 2000g for the washing system.
Weight is always a key factor in the current situation. The European average fleet weights are actually about 1250 kg and 2,5 kg saved are meaningful. This is one argument why we should go for Xenon 25W.