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Case Study

American Axle and Manufacturing (AAM)

“It’s not enough to just build the best technology. We have to meet the market where it is. ConceptEV software helps us do that by enabling informed trade-offs across mechanical, electromagnetic, and power electronics domains, ensuring we optimize not just for performance but for cost and efficiency.”

— Tony Pistagnesi
Executive Director / Innovation and Business Development, AAM

AAM Leverages Ansys ConceptEV Software to Drive Automotive Innovation in Electric Driveline Technology

AAM, a leading global supplier of automotive drivetrain and propulsion system solutions, continuously strives to push the boundaries of automotive disruption through vehicle electrification. AAM’s recent work involved unit optimization at the system level — a philosophy engineering teams wanted to extend to more design decisions during development to be able to deliver more value to customers. This activity included the use of simulation to create a method to study powertrain and battery design trade-offs with the intent to normalize them across the entire vehicle.

Challenges

Next-generation automotive propulsion system development is challenging, considering demands for rapid innovation in the electrification space. AAM must continuously balance customer expectations for performance, cost, and efficiency benchmarked against aggressive turnaround times. However, the industry’s traditional development processes resulted in designs that lacked full-system context, which made it difficult for engineers to evaluate trade-offs and optimize at both the system and component levels. For AAM to provide the best solutions to its customers, a new approach was needed to condense development timelines and address previously overlooked opportunities for improvement.

AAM, Headquartered in Detroit

Headquartered in Detroit, AAM is at the forefront of electric powertrain innovations that support some of the world’s top automakers leading in EV sales

Engineering Solutions 

AAM's method, combined with Ansys ConceptEV software was used to optimize vehicle architecture, iterate on component-level designs, and track impact at the vehicle level, all within the same environment. Now, component-level engineers can add their changes to the environment, run a simulation, and see in real time how these changes impact a vehicle in terms of performance, efficiency, and cost. AAM can engage much earlier and more collaboratively with OEMs to understand priorities and constraints, as well as work together to optimize entire systems for mechanical, electrical, and thermal factors. This leads to better technical outcomes relevant to customer real-world needs.

“ConceptEV software gives us a powerful environment to evaluate and iterate quickly on electric propulsion architectures, helping us respond to the fast-moving demands of the industry. The flexibility and speed of the tool are key enablers in a market where expectations, technologies, and cost inputs are constantly shifting,” says Tony Pistagnesi executive director of Innovation and Business Development at AAM.

Retrofitted Tesla Model Y

Tesla Model Y retrofitted with AAM's prototype high speed electric drive units. Photo courtesy of AAM.

Benefits

  • Increased development speed. AAM significantly reduced engineering effort by front-loading critical design decisions, cutting weeks from development cycles.
  • Delivery of real-time simulation capabilities. More hours saved means more time with OEMs to understand requirements, co-develop solutions, and explore trade-offs.
  • Support for fully optimized designs. AAM achieved better design trade-offs across performance, cost, and efficiency, validated against hardware testing.
  • Enhanced collaboration. Streamlining decision-making with full system context facilitates cross-functional teamwork and a deeper understanding of design decisions.
  • New design evaluation standard. A new methodology and ConceptEV software helped AAM establish a baseline for all design decisions, from concept to production.
  • Drives digital engineering and systems thinking. The AMM/Ansys collaboration supports a larger go-to-market strategy for next-gen driveline and propulsion systems that are competitive, scalable, and aligned with end-user needs.
AAM recognized Ansys, part of Synopsys

AAM recognized Ansys, part of Synopsys as one of 16 key suppliers to earn 2025 Supplier of the Year and Supplier Excellence Awards, specifically for innovation performance. Pictured from left to right: Fred Solomon, VP Global Procurement & SQE at AAM; Derrick Hesser, Enterprise Sales Director of Transportation at Synopsys; Judy Curran, Senior Chief Technologist at Ansys, part of Synopsys; and Mike Lynch, President & COO at AAM.

AAM Uses Ansys ConceptEV

An AAM engineer using Ansys ConceptEV software to drive automotive innovation in electric driveline technology.