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Power electronics

Nick Flaherty explains the three types of switching technologies for inverters and how to match them to a given inverter design. Power electronics is of course a key technology for e-mobility systems, and the development of their components is a vital part of the evolution...

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DC-DC converters

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...

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Thermal Management 2020

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...

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Battery materials

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...

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ECUs

Peter Donaldson reports on the latest development trends in engine control units, and the factors driving them. While the entire powertrain of an EV is much simpler than that of a typical modern car with an internal combustion engine, the number and sophistication of the electronic control units (ECUs) distributed around road-going EVs in particular continues to grow as...

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Measuring methods and equipment

New component measurement technologies are complementing traditional methods, and are now being integrated into EV production lines, writes Peter Donaldson. Metrology methods and equipment used in the manufacture of EVs are no different in principle from those applied to IC- engined ones, but their powertrains are built using a different set of...

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Fuel cells

Nick Flaherty explains the issues at play when designing and building a fuel cell. Sometimes it seems that the specification and design of a fuel cell is more of an art than a matter of engineering. While the basics of the cells are clear, most often based around a stack of proton exchange membrane (PEM) cells...

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Connectors

Choosing the most suitable type of connector for an electric vehicle subsystem is governed by a range of factors, as Rory Jackson explains. Connectors are such vital components in vehicles that they make any explanation of their role redundant. What can be underestimated though are...

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eAxles

Peter Donaldson canvasses some Tier 1 suppliers’ views on contemporary eAxle technology and the likely future trends in their design. Integrating a motor, gearing and power electronics into a compact, modular package that sits between a vehicle’s driven wheels creates a system that has come to be known as an eAxle. It is an increasingly attractive option for...

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Magnetics

Making electric motors more efficient means looking beyond the magnetic materials and switching techniques, as Nick Flaherty explains. The development of the first rare earth magnets in the 1960s by scientists at the US Air Force Materials Laboratory introduced a key new capability for e-mobility. Combining yttrium and cobalt in an...