• Special brakes
    for special vehicles

Specialist vehicles

Utilising the past. Shaping the future.

There is an entire world of specialist vehicles existing beyond the confines of conventional automotive design. From tiny autonomous airport pods to massive crop sprayers, all need braking systems designed specifically for their unique role. All of them are served by Alcon.

Over the years our expertise has lead us through some very unconventional projects. We provide brakes for agricultural vehicles operating in climates from roasting deserts to frozen tundra. We equip emergency services, police forces and riot control vehicles. One typical example of the kind of interesting challenge we face in this area is providing brakes for an airport vehicle that weighs 5.6 tonnes itself, but which must tow and therefore stop an unbraked load of up to 50 tonnes.

This is the kind of puzzle Alcon exists to solve. We work with our customers to understand their needs, agree a specification, design, develop, produce and test the components, supply and then support the customer for as long as our components are on their vehicles.

Brake-by-wire

Alcon’s first brake-by-wire system, AAC01, was developed in 2016 primarily for use in Formula E and was nominated for the Most Innovative New Motorsport Product of the Year by the World Motorsport Symposium.

Building on this early success, Alcon have continued development of the system alongside several high profile programs and combined all learning to offer a significantly enhanced package, the AAC03; a product that is not just world-class, but world-beating.

The AAC03 BBW system is a standalone, off-the-shelf solution built to satisfy the exacting demands of a Formula E race car in all conditions. Consisting of an integrated hydraulic power pack, servo valve-actuated active circuit and fail-safe manual backup circuit, the AAC03 is safe, robust, reliable and incredibly efficient.