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Project tests electric truck for work in the Arctic

Operating EVs in extreme temperatures is a demanding exercise, as lithium-ion batteries generally work best between 15 and 35 C, so a four-week trial conducted throughout February 2021 above the Arctic Circle in Sweden was a severe test of a truck and its charging infrastructure (writes Peter Donaldson). In the test, the battery-powered truck carried loads of 14 t of iron ore sludge over a 280 km round trip in temperatures down to -32 C, says Adam Holmer of power-as-a-service provider Vattenfall. The trial was a cooperative effort between Vattenfall, Volvo Trucks and dealer Wist Last och Buss, charger manufacturer ABB and mining company Kaunis Iron.

New Products

Honda to start battery-sharing service for electric rickshaws

Honda has announced plans to begin a battery-sharing service for electric rickshaws in India in the first half of 2022, using the Honda Mobile Power Pack e: (MPP e:), its new portable and swappable battery. There are more than 8 million auto rickshaws in India, and they are an essential means of daily transportation for people. In urban areas, they are powered mainly by compressed natural gas and have been a key challenge for electrification.

Grid

Flat chassis chosen for axial motors

Saiettta has used its AFT140 axial motor for a flat chassis for urban vehicles (writes Nick Flaherty). Mounted on the corners of the chassis, the AFT 140 in-wheel electric motors provide a torque of up to 140 Nm for controllable power at low speeds in urban stop-start journeys. The chassis is a flexible platform that […]

New Products

Webasto batteries power innovative e-shuttle

French trucking company Lohr Industries will be launching a fully electric and modular e-shuttle system called the Cristal in four French cities before the end of 2021. The vehicles will be powered by batteries from Webasto, one of the world’s largest automotive suppliers. Some German cities have also signalled their interest.

Grid

Device reads LV and HV in one go

A 45 V high-withstand voltage battery monitoring device for automotive designs has implemented a supply voltage-divided output for the first time (writes Nick Flaherty). Dividing battery monitoring between high- and low-voltage sources increases the safety of e-mobility designs, as it allows 12 V batteries to be monitored by the same device that monitors the low […]

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Ground vibration testing of NASA’s X-57 Maxwell electric aircraft

Electric propulsion is spawning aircraft with diverse and novel configurations. The multiple motors, rotors, propellers and fans associated with distributed electric propulsion are shaping many complex and unusual forms in the quest to enhance lift and thrust, and to reduce drag through close aerodynamic coupling with airframes. One of the most important processes in their development is ensuring that they don’t suffer from damaging vibration. To that end, NASA has used equipment from Hottinger Bruel & Kjær (HBK) to collect and process accelerometer data in ground vibration testing (GVT) for its X-57 Maxwell aircraft.

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Silver Power Systems and partners develop ‘world’s most advanced’ battery digital twin

An established concept in other areas of industry, a digital twin is a high-fidelity software model of a real system to which it is linked in as close to real time as possible. With that goal in mind, EV battery analytics specialist Silver Power

Grid

Matrix aimed at seal and EMI issues

The Electrically and Thermally Conductive and Electromagnetic Interference Shielding Materials (ETEMI) project aims to enhance conventional elastomers, liquid silicon rubber and thermoplastics to address sealing and EMI issues at the same time in EVs. This is driving the development of a new class of electrically conductive sealing materials.

Deep Insight

EV dynamics

How a car moves in response to the forces acting on it is a fundamental determinant of safety, comfort, energy efficiency and driver engagement, and electrification of the powertrain profoundly affects that dynamic behaviour. This influence results from differences in the vehicle’s overall mass and its distribution, when compared with IC-engined vehicles, along with the speed and precision of response inherent in electrical machines.

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Validating BMS performance

Battery management systems are becoming increasingly safety-critical, as they are responsible for balancing battery cells operating at several hundred volts and maintaining temperatures within narrow working ranges to prevent thermal runaway (writes Peter Donaldson). Gauging the performance of a BMS during r&d, validation, verification and production is therefore of vital and growing importance. Bloomy Controls’ new Flex BMS Validation System is focused on the validation part, particularly in situations where the developer needs to test more than one BMS design.

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