Grid

Solar roof sees the light of day

Electric solar car developer Lightyear is working with Dutch multinational Royal DSM on the technology for its solar roof (writes Nick Flaherty). The companies will integrate solar power roofs in various EVs, including cars, vans and buses...

Grid

SiC chips board buses in China

Power modules from StarPower Semiconductor are using the next generation of SiC semiconductors for the first time for electric buses in China (writes Nick Flaherty). Bus maker Zhengzhou Yutong Group is using a 100 A, 1200 V SiC MOSFET transistor from Cree for the StarPower module in an 800 V powertrain design. This will provide the first electric bus design in China to use the SiC widebandgap semiconductor MOSFETs...

Grid

Magnets made using 3D printing

Researchers in Austria have developed a technique to build magnets using additive manufacturing (writes Nick Flaherty). The team, at Friedrich-Alexander- Universitat, worked with researchers at the Graz University of Technology, the University of Vienna and the research institute Joanneum Research to produce the specially...

Grid

Upgrade bring multiple comms

A controller for EV charging systems has been upgraded with a range of comms links (writes Nick Flaherty). The CC613 charge controller from Bender adds connections to Ethernet, Modbus and a powerline communication modem to give developers flexibility in the design of a charging system. This is increasingly important...

Grid

Three-phase SiC module cuts losses

Cissoid in Belgium has launched a three-phase water-cooled SiC MOSFET intelligent power module (IPM) for e-mobility (writes Nick Flaherty). The 1200 V/450 A module has built-in gate drivers, and is designed to optimise the electrical, mechanical and thermal design of the power module and control for electric car OEMs...

Grid

All-in one unit for electric drives

FTCAP in Germany has developed and manufactured a low-inductance capacitor unit that, together with a heat sink and housing, forms an integrated electromechanical device for high-efficiency electric drives (writes Nick Flaherty). The development is part of the H3Top project in collaboration...

Grid

Long trip? Make the car longer

Renault has developed a ‘shapeshifting’ electric car that becomes longer to allow an additional battery pack to be added (writes Nick Flaherty). The 4.4 m-long ‘City’ version of the Morphoz has a 40 kWh battery pack that gives it a range of 400 km. This would be suitable for 90% of local journeys that drivers typically...

Grid

Repurposing Tesla S batteries

EMUS is rolling out a battery management system (BMS) specifically to reuse battery packs from the Tesla Model S (writes Nick Flaherty). The Tesla’s 24 V DC packs have a rated capacity of 5.3 kWh, and consist of six modules. The key is that the cells in each module can end up with different performance characteristics...

Grid

Solar charging’s looking up

Hyundai has developed a roof-mounted solar charging system that connects directly to the powertrain of an electric vehicle (writes Nick Flaherty). Previous roof implementations have used the energy generated to power ancillary equipment such as entertainment systems or...

Grid

Inverter designs gain traction

ON Semiconductor has launched a family of power modules and two reference designs aimed at high-voltage automotive traction inverters (writes Nick Flaherty). The first two VE-Trac modules are intended for main traction inverters of all types of electrically powered vehicles including battery-electric vehicles, plugin hybrids and full hybrids. There are two inverter design platforms for...