Within the scope of this research, Siemens Corporate Technology has developed an integrated system consisting of a motor/generator, power electronics and an interface with a battery connection for electrically-powered cars.

The Electric RUF 911 of Alois Ruf (earlier post), a manufacturer of high-performance cars based in Pfaffenhausen, contains a preliminary version of the electric drive concept. The prototype has a central 270 kilowatts (362 hp) motor with torque of 950 Nm and achieves an average range of approximately 200 kilometers. A later version is expected to feature a twin-motor design.

Thus equipped, this eRUF will feature a bi-directional grid connection, which will allow it to be recharged in about two hours at a 400-volt electrical outlet—without the extra electrical circuitry typically required for recharging—and also permit it to feed energy back into the power grid via the same socket.

LTC/Gaia supplied a battery pack for the eRUF built with 45 Ah cells. The vehicle has a top speed of 250 km/h (155 mph) and a range of 250 km (155 miles), with 320 km (199 miles) possible with an enlarged battery pack.

The Swiss concept car manufacturer Rinspeed presented its electric car iChange before the Geneva Motor Show. (Earlier post.) The iChange is equipped with a 150 kW, 370 Nm electric motor that supports a top speed of 220 km/h (137 mph). It takes only 4.2 seconds to go from zero to 100 kilometers per hour. The three lithium-ion batteries can be recharged in about three hours at a conventional 230-volt electrical socket.

EDISON. Siemens Energy is participating in the EDISON project (Electric vehicles in a Distributed and Integrated market using Sustainable energy and Open Networks), which is studying innovative ways of linking electric vehicles to the power supply grid in Denmark. The objective is the standardization of electrical energy-storage equipment and the development of charging and discharging technologies for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. Preliminary studies have shown that of the millions of cars in the industrial countries, over 90 percent are idle for comparatively long periods of time each day.

If these electric vehicles were equipped with appropriately powerful batteries, they could be used as an intermediate storage medium for energy, provided that a suitable infrastructure were present. As a technology partner in this project, Siemens is responsible for the coordination and delivery of key technologies, such as those that must be developed for various types of charging stations and the associated control systems in the interest of optimal utilization of the battery capacities.