One drive does not fit both halves of this market
A powered wheelchair and a warehouse AGV both run on a battery and both carry a load, but they ask opposite things of a drive.
The wheelchair needs a quiet, compact geared motor that survives daily user duty for years on a limited charge. The AGV needs a wheel drive built for continuous fleet hours and tight positioning. A patient hoist must never drop its load. An underwater thruster has to hold up at depth. The motor, gearhead, and controller have to be sized to that exact device, duty cycle, and battery budget, not pulled off a shelf.
DNH supplies Parvalux geared motors, maxon precision and wheel drives, and Phoenix Mecano linear actuators into Southern Africa, and works with manufacturers to match the drive to the device.
Common challenges
Hoists, lifts, and wheelchairs carry human loads safely.
Compact drives must deliver torque without adding bulk.
Assistive and fleet devices cycle every day for years.
Onboard power is finite, so drive efficiency matters.
Products and solutions
Three brands in the DNH portfolio cover both halves of this market.
Gearheads, encoders, sensors, and controllers are supplied alongside the motors as part of the same drive system.
AC, brushed and brushless DC geared motors
Fit-and-forget geared motor drives behind personal mobility devices, customised to each device's torque, envelope, and duty cycle.
Powered wheelchairs | Mobility scooters | Stairlifts | Wheelchair & platform lifts | Personnel lifts | Patient hoists | Taxi step actuators | AGVs
Brushless and brushed motors, wheel drives, and robot joint motors
Drive systems for autonomous and electric mobility: AGV and self-driving wheel drives, robot joints, electric-vehicle and rehabilitation-vehicle drives, and thrusters rated to 6,000 m depth.
Logistics automation & AGVs | Robotics | Electric mobility | Underwater drives
Linear actuators, lifting columns, and electric cylinders
Linear actuation for lift travel and patient-positioning lifting columns, plus wheelchair-ramp actuation in accessible vehicles, with CAN-bus control and high IP protection.
Wheelchair & platform lifts | Personnel lifts | Patient hoists | Accessible-vehicle ramps
Starter motors, generators, and e-machines
Powertrain electrification for passenger and commercial vehicles, from 12V starter-generators to 48V and high-voltage e-machines, plus Boost Recuperation Machines for mild-hybrid systems.
Starter motors | Generators/alternators | Boost Recuperation Machines | 48V hybrid e-machines | Commercial vehicle drives
Proven in the field
CE Mobility: powered wheelchairs
Parvalux | Powered wheelchairs, South Africa
CE Mobility specifies Parvalux geared motors for the electric wheelchairs it supplies to South African mobility users. The drive runs quietly and pulls a user over ramps and kerbs through years of daily charge-and-use cycles, delivering that torque without adding bulk to the chair and keeping the maintenance burden low for the end user.
Mellow Cabs: last-mile urban EVs
DNH-supplied drives | Electric mobility, South Africa
Mellow Cabs builds compact electric vehicles for last-mile urban transport and uses DNH-supplied drives on those platforms. The duty is demanding: constant stop-start cycling in dense South African city traffic, day after day, on a limited onboard battery, where drive efficiency directly protects range and fleet earnings.
maxon underwater thrusters
maxon | Crewed and uncrewed underwater vehicles
maxon thrusters drive crewed and uncrewed underwater vehicles at depths of up to 6,000 metres. At that depth the drive holds up under extreme pressure while still delivering precise, controllable propulsion for manoeuvring and station-keeping - where a failure is not recoverable.
maxon wheel drive for AGVs
maxon | Intralogistics and outdoor AGVs
The maxon wheel drive packages the motor and gearhead into one modular unit for AGVs and self-driving vehicles in both intralogistics and outdoor applications, dropping into a vehicle chassis without a custom drivetrain build and delivering the tight, repeatable positioning that fleet continuous-shift operation requires.
