Automotive lighting specialist Osram is providing an overview of vehicle headlights, the technology currently employed, the technology soon to come and what the aftermarket can offer drivers.
Osram has been in the automotive industry for more than 110 years, specialising in manufacturing OE quality headlight and auxiliary bulbs.
There are a host of vehicle bulb technologies to choose from, and Osram’s offering spans from its standard 12V and 24V halogen and xenon technologies through to performance upgrades for those technologies as well as LED, although the latter is illegal for retrofitting.
Where are we with LEDs?
In the UK, it is illegal to retrofit LED bulbs to a vehicle that will be driven on a public highway, as they are deemed for off-road use only. The exception to this being pre-1986 classic cars and single source headlamp vehicles, like motorbikes.
Drivers in the EU, including Ireland, who have vehicles that have been approved to use Osram’s LED retrofit bulbs, can benefit with a light output that is up to 230 per cent brighter than standard halogens, helping them see better and giving them more confidence on the road when driving at night.
Osram’s range of Night Breaker that are deemed road legal in many European countries also have a construction that is said to be better at withstanding vibrations, such as from potholes, meaning five times longer life.
LED bulbs should not be confused with LED lights that are now the standard lights on many new vehicles. This LED technology has been homologated with the lamp unit as a single piece for which there is no replaceable part. This means that motorists have seen the rise of LED technology and seen the benefits, but only when the car comes with LED source headlamps.
The desire to replicate this light output has resulted in an explosion in LED bulb sales. In the UK, all of these bulbs will be illegal for use on the road, but the majority will be used on the road, potentially causing glare, as many have not been designed to be road legal.
Osram’s LEDriving retrofit portfolio includes LED bulbs for high and low beam, fog, signalling and interior lighting applications. These retrofit LEDs provide superior brightness and colour temperatures of up to 6,500 kelvin. The product ranges include the LEDriving HL easy, bright and intense for 12V headlight applications, LEDriving FL for fog light applications, LEDriving HLT for trucks and 24V vehicles, LEDriving HLM for motorbikes, LEDriving HL VINTAGE for classic cars and LEDriving SL for auxiliary lighting applications. All the bulbs in the LED portfolio are marked for ‘Off-Road’ use only. Due to legislation in the UK, these bulbs are therefore only suitable for off-road use.
Xenon range
Osram upgrade xenon bulbs are said to generate up to 220 per cent more brightness when compared to the minimum legal standard. Xenon bulbs also use less energy and have a longer lifespan than halogen bulbs.
Products that are prominent in this portfolio include the Xenarc Night Breaker 220, which is Osram’s brightest xenon upgrade bulb. It has a 250m long beam and up to 20 per cent whiter light, allowing drivers to see further and, therefore, respond to the conditions on the road earlier. If a driver is looking for more white light, Osram offers the Xenarc Cool Blue Intense (Next Gen) range, which offers up to 150 per cent more brightness than the minimum legal standard.
However, if a driver is focused on a reliable bulb that will last a long time, Osram’s Xenarc Ultra Life has a 10-year guarantee, which is up to four times longer than a standard bulb, providing the driver extra reassurance and saving them replacement costs. Finally, Osram has the Xenarc Original, which has a four-year guarantee and is OEM quality. These bulbs fit a variety of vehicles and are of premium quality manufactured in Germany and the same as those supplied to vehicle manufacturers around the world.
Halogen range Due to their beam length, performance and longevity Osram’s halogen bulb offering has always been incredibly popular amongst drivers, technicians and retailers.
Like its xenon counterpart, Osram’s Night Breaker 220, is the brand’s latest offering and is the brightest street-legal halogen bulb, with up to 220 per cent more brightness and up to 150m long beam. The Night Breaker Laser is the second most powerful halogen bulb with up to 150 per cent more brightness and has more light performance due to laser ablation technology.
If a driver is looking for a bulb that will have high performance and longevity, technicians should recommend Osram’s Night Breaker Silver, which has an excellent performance to lifetime ratio, up to 130m long beam and up to 100 per cent more brightness.
For a more modern and stylish look, Osram’s Cool Blue Intense (Next Gen) is suitable, with extra white light for an LED look and is ideal for use in clear-glass headlights with its modern design with a silver cap. For drivers that are looking for a reliable headlight and who aren’t worried about anything more ‘flashy’, Osram’s Ultra Life range is the ideal solution, with a fouryear guarantee and up to 62,000 miles of service life.
Finally, in the halogen range, is the 12V Original Line, which is an OEM-quality product that is tried and trusted by vehicle manufacturers across Europe and therefore covers a wide array of applications for both headlight and auxiliary applications.
There is still technology to come and new advances for the aftermarket to embrace.
Adaptive driving beam
In 2023, Osram launched the first generation of the Eviyos multipixel LED for Adaptive Driving Beam and projection headlamps. The Eviyos was first implemented by Volkswagen in its Touareg and Tiguan models equipped with headlamps manufactured by Marelli, each of which feature 19,200 pixels, whereas the Eviyos light source itself can provide up to 25,600 individually controllable pixels.
Intelligent Eviyos based headlamps substantially improve the night driving experience, lighting up much more of the road ahead without dazzling the drivers of oncoming vehicles. The Eviyos LED can also be used to project symbols and pictures on the road, opening up new potential for car-to-environment communication, mainly for safety warnings and other messages.
Now Osram is enhancing the appeal of the Eviyos LED with the release of Eviyos HD 25 gen2.
The release of Eviyos HD 25 gen2 introduces some valuable improvements, including enhanced brightness specification – the original Eviyos HD 25 gen1 produces a typical brightness of 85 MNits. In the new Eviyos HD 25 gen2, this specification has been improved to a minimum brightness of 85 MNits. It also has reduced stray light emission, making the headlamp’s optical system easier to design and manufacture.
This is just one example of how Osram is continually developing headlamp technology, that will filter down to the aftermarket and present the industry with new opportunities in the future.
