Peter Donaldson investigates the technology that underpins these essential voltage switching devices. In modern pure electric and hybrid vehicles, battery voltages of 300- 400 V is becoming common, 600 V is gaining ground and 800 V systems are starting to emerge, all to help produce more power yet keep...

Peter Donaldson reports on the methods and materials for keeping EV batteries and other components in their optimum temperature range. Thermal management is the art and science of moving heat energy around to keep various components of a vehicle – and its occupants – at safe, efficient and comfortable working...

Power Integrations has unveiled a flyback switcher with an integrated 750 V MOSFET and secondary-side sensing that can be used to provide an alternative 12 V power supply for an EV if its onboard 12 V battery fails (writes Nick Flaherty). The InnoSwitch3-AQ can be used for traction inverters, onboard charger, DCDC bus converters and BMSs. The 12 V battery is used to provide the gate drive...

Battery test systems are proving key to speeding up the development times for new batteries, as Nick Flaherty explains. At the heart of testing battery cells, modules and packs are the levels of voltage and current. Temperature and pressure are increasingly important conditions ...

Rory Jackson details the development of these electric delivery vans, which have been designed and built from the ground up. The Workhorse Group designs and builds battery-electric medium-duty trucks, and earlier this year it started production of its C-Series vans...

A fleet of fully electric passenger ferries is rolling out in Thailand using motors from Danfoss Editron (writes Nick Flaherty). The first two 24 m-long catamarans are currently being tested in Bangkok. Each one is fitted with two Danfoss EMPMI375-T800 motors. The motors use synchronous reluctance assisted...

Nick Flaherty reports on how recent advances in materials are leading to EV batteries with ever-growing energy densities. Battery systems for e-mobility platforms are based largely around lithium chemistry. Liquid lithium salts with graphite anodes and composite metal cathodes are the dominant combination for battery cells...

Staubli has launched a connector for battery packs that supports voltages up to 1000 V for onboard chargers in commercial EVs (writes Nick Flaherty). The PerforMore connector supports 400 A at 1000 V and has a mechanism to allow safe disconnection at that voltage. The goal was to get the most power out...

The next generation - VIA Motors' CTO takes Rory Jackson through the company's series of advances towards fully electric mobility solutions. Throughout his childhood in Toulouse, France, Thierry Caussat could often hear the sound of Airbus’ Concorde airliners screaming...

Electric car maker Tesla is to use a new form factor for its battery cells that will form part of the structure of its vehicles (writes Nick Flaherty). The company is also using a new material, silicon powder, and a new roll-to-roll manufacturing process to build the cells. In the current 2170 cell, which is 21 mm in diameter and 70 mm long, the roll of electrodes...