The benefits that gear-reduced starter motors offer, over older direct drive type, are well known in the car, LCV and HGV markets.

For several years Prestolite have offered the market leading M105R starter motor, fitted on many OE’s including MTU, MAN, Van Hool, Cummins, CAT, Perkins, King Long, Weichai Power, Yulin Diesel and many others.

Based on the success of the M105R starters we have worked hard to expand our gear-reduced starter range and continue doing so to bring you the best product for all your starting needs.

We can now offer heavy duty GR starters from 2.8L up to 32L engines (single starter applications).

Noseless starters with rotatable nose housing and rotatable control relay giving ultimate flexibility, and advanced clutch and gearbox developments to delivery enhanced starting conditions, protecting engines and giving endurance and longevity.

The M128R development is now completed, giving a 24V / 12kW starter for up to 32L engines (or 64L in dual starter applications).

In 2020, Shanghai E-Drive, which like Prestolite is part of the EVBG group and manufactures pure electric vehicle systems, hybrid and plug-in hybrid systems, moved their commercial vehicle manufacturing centre to a new Prestolite factory in Weifang. The company completed its first European original equipment EV bus system contract for Irizar and has recently supplied over 4,000 pieces of e-drive to Renault for their Dacia SUV.

Looking ahead, the long term future bodes well for the company as Prestolite are at the forefront of Electric Vehicle technology in China with a business that has been established for over 10 years and an annual output over 500K EV drive, controllers, plug in hybrid, hydrogen fuel cell units. This technology is currently being rolled out to the rest of the company’s divisions globally, with exciting new projects in the pipeline.