Current legislation and customer concerns about climate change demand drives with a special focus on efficiency. General trends are starting to focus on energy savings, and customers often use total cost of ownership as a deciding factor when selecting new drives.

In addition to the influences of the gear geometry, for example as described by Wimmer (Ref. 1), lightweight construction also plays an increasingly important role. Targeted lightweight gear wheel design can reduce the rotating mass, which directly reduces the energy required by the drive unit during acceleration or braking.