Texas Instruments (TI) has debuted an integrated, functional safety-compliant, isolated gate driver it says enables engineers to design more efficient traction inverters and maximise EV driving range.

It adds that the UCC5880-Q1 driver enables EV powertrain engineers to increase power density and reduce system design complexity and cost while achieving their safety and performance goals.

By varying the gate-drive strength in real time, in steps between 20 and 5 A, designers can improve system efficiency with the driver by up to 2%, by minimising SiC switching power losses.

TI says this gives up to 7 more miles of EV driving range per battery charge. For an EV user who charges their vehicle three times a week, that could mean more than 1000 extra miles a year.

In addition, it says, engineers can further reduce component counts and quickly prototype a more efficient traction inverter system using the SiC EV traction inverter reference design. This customisable, tested design includes the UCC5880-Q1, a bias-supply power module, real-time control MCUs and high-precision sensing.

Pre-production quantities of the ISO 26262-compliant UCC5880-Q1 are available now, in a 10.5 x 7.5 mm, 32-pin package. Pricing starts at $5.90 in 1000-unit quantities. Designers can also buy a single module for $249.