Lubricant for use in electric and hybrid vehicles and methods of using the same

1. A system for determining a characteristic of a transmission body comprising transmission components, wherein the transmission body and the components are suitable for use in an electric or hybrid vehicle, the system comprising:

a lubricant formulated for use in a transmission component, wherein the lubricant comprises:

a base oil;

a first gear oil additive, and

a second additive, wherein the second additive comprises a molybdenum dithiocarbamate complex in an amount of about 0.5 (w/w) % to about 1.0 (w/w) % of the lubricant, wherein the molybdenum dithiocarbamate additive causes a variation in the color of the lubricant in response to use of the lubricant in a transmission system for a period of time, the variation in color indicative of temperature, contact load, viscosity, or operation time, and

a chart depicting expected lubricant color change undergone by a lubricant of a specified viscosity of a when the component of a transmission body is operated under certain conditions for a certain amount of time for a characteristic, wherein the lubricant is configured to show the variation in color between a temperature window from about 40° C up to about 125° C, and the chart depicts expected lubricant color change undergone by the lubricant when the components of the transmission body is operated under the temperature window from about 40° C up to about 125° C, the color of the lubriean lubricant is amber at 40° C and is blue or green at 125° C,

wherein a characteristic of the component may be evaluated by directly contacting the component comprising an electric motor with the fresh lubricant formulation, operating the transmission component under a set of conditions to form a used lubricant formulation, removing at least a portion of the used lubricant formulation from the component, assigning a color to the used lubricant formulation, matching the color of the used lubricant formulation to the chart.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the base oil is selected from the group consisting of a group I oil, a group II oil, a group III oil, a group IV oil, a group V oil, and a combination thereof.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the base oil is a Group III oil present in amount from about 50 (w/w) % to about 99.9 (w/w) % of the lubricant.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first gear oil additive is selected from the group consisting of viscosity modifiers, antifoaming agents, additive packages, antioxidant agents, antiwear agents, extreme pressure agents, detergents, dispersants, anti-rust agents, friction modifiers, corrosion inhibitors, and combinations thereof.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first gear oil additive is present in an amount of between about 0.01 (w/w) % to about 20 (w/w) % of the lubricant.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the second additive is present in an amount of about 0.5 (w/w) % of the lubricant.

7. A method of evaluating electrical characteristics of a transmission system suitable for use in an electric or hybrid vehicle, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a transmission body comprising the transmission components, wherein the transmission body and components are suitable for use in an electric or hybrid vehicle;

providing a fresh lubricant formulation comprising:

a base oil;

a first gear oil additive; and

a second additive,

wherein the second additive comprises a molybdenum dithiocarbamate complex, in an amount of about 0.5 wt % to about 1.0 wt % of the lubricant, wherein the molybdenum dithiocarbamate additive causes a variation in the color of the lubricant in response to use of the lubricant in a transmission system for a period of time, the variation in color indicative of temperature, contact load, viscosity, or operation time, wherein the transmission components are operated under a temperature window from about 40° C. up to about 125° C., and the variation in color is not due to oxidation of the lubricant formulation; and

directly contacting at least one transmission component comprising an electric motor with the fresh lubricant formulation and operating the transmission component under a set of conditions to form a used lubricant formulation;

removing at least a portion of the used lubricant formulation from the transmission system and assigning a color for the used lubricant formulation;

matching the color of the used lubricant formulation to a chart with a substantially similar color assigned to a control lubricant formulation created under a substantially similar set of conditions to obtain a set of matched colors; and

determining a characteristic of the transmission system selected from the group consisting of a load placed on the transmission system, a temperature at which the transmission system operates, a time that the transmission system operates, and a viscosity of the fresh lubricant formulation based on the set of matched colors.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the lubricant exhibits a variation in color over a contact load between about 100 kg and about 315 kg.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the lubricant exhibits a variation in color between a viscosity of about 6 cSt and about 2.5 cSt over a time period of lubricant use of about 1 hour at 90° C.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the lubricant exhibits a variation in color over a time period of lubricant use from about 5 minutes to about 45 minutes at a constant temperature.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the lubricant is configured to improve extreme pressure protection with a load wear index (LWI) of about 35.4.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the variation in the color of the lubricant comprises that the color of the lubricant is amber when the contact load is 0 kg and is green when the contact load is 400 kg.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the variation in the color of the lubricant comprises that the color of the lubricant is green at 100° C.