A team from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has shown by modeling that the wafer cost of an emerging Ga2O3 wide bandgap semiconductor can be more than 3-times lower compared to SiC. This lower cost of the Ga2O3 wafers should lead to less-expensive high-performance power electronic devices in the... Read more →

BorgWarner is introducing a fully integrated e-axle—iDM—that packages a transmission, electric motor featuring BorgWarner’s efficient bar-wound stator solution and specially developed power electronics. The company already has the iDM’s forerunner—the electric drive module (eDM)— in serial production. The iDM product family is available in three different versions (iDM XS, iDM... Read more →

Eaton’s eMobility business has developed compact power-dense automotive inverters capable of increasing the range of electric vehicles. The inverters, which draw electricity from the battery and control how it is applied to the motor to manage power and torque, will be tested by a global automaker in first quarter 2019.... Read more →

On 15 December, the new BMW iFE.18 and the BMW i Andretti Motorsport Team will contest their first race in the ABB FIA Formula E Championship in Ad Diriyah (KSA). At the heart of the car, which was developed for Season 5, lies the drivetrain: the Racing eDrive01. Drivetrain components:... Read more →

The new Jaguar I-PACE’s (earlier post) electric powertrain can operate at currents of up to 650 amps. To handle these large currents and the resulting extreme load changes, Continental developed a next-generation power electronics system for Jaguar Land Rover that is specifically adapted to the requirements of sporty, performance-oriented powertrains.... Read more →

MTS Systems Corporation, a global supplier of high-performance test systems and sensors, announced further power density improvements to its electric motor and inverter technology for motorsport. Power density is a key component of successful racing. Leveraging experience and technology gained from developing energy recovery systems for Formula 1 racecars, MTS... Read more →

Fuel cell drive systems can have too low an output voltage and a volatile voltage level, both of which hamper system performance. These differences can be compensated by a DC / DC converter to regulate the voltage level for feeding into the DC link. With the support of the Central... Read more →

FCA US has awarded the production of the power electronics module for the Jeep Wrangler PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicle) to its Toledo Machining Plant. As part of the Capital Markets Day presentation in June, FCA committed to expanding its electrified propulsion systems in global architectures spanning the full range... Read more →

The UK’s Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) has awarded £35 million (US$45.5 million) to three UK-based low carbon automotive powertrain projects. The technologies developed will support aspirations for the UK to be a world leader in zero emissions technology as part of the Industrial Strategy and recently-published Road to Zero strategy.... Read more →

West Virginia University (WVU) researchers are opening a new facility to capture rare earth elements (REEs) from acid mine drainage (AMD) from coal mining. Through a collaborative research and development program with the US Department of Energy (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), WVU is opening the Rare Earth Extraction... Read more →

As part of its contribution to a recently completed major European research initiative to achieve more efficient and cost-effective hybrid powertrains for both passenger cars and commercial vehicles, Ricardo developed a new 48V e-motor offering up to a 50% increase in power density compared with current production machines. Ricardo designed... Read more →

Power management company Eaton is addressing increasing demand for high-voltage electrified vehicle technologies with the creation of its new eMobility business. eMobility is poised to capitalize on a global vehicle electrification market projected to grow to 15 million pure battery-electric vehicles and another 30 million hybrids, from mild to plug-in,... Read more →

Dana Incorporated and Hydro-Québec announced a joint-venture partnership in which TM4 Inc., a subsidiary of Hydro-Québec, will become Dana’s source for electric motors, power inverters, and control systems. As part of this agreement, Dana will become a majority shareholder of TM4 in exchange for CA$165 million (approximately US$127 million). Hydro-Québec... Read more →

John Deere Electronic Solutions’ (JDES) PD400 inverter is a key component in the Fuso eCanter fully electric truck. (Earlier post.) The JDES PD400 is a rugged, off-the-shelf inverter that has been proven in use at John Deere and in other off-road OEM applications. Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation (MFTBC)... Read more →

UK-based electric powertrain specialist AVID Technology is working in collaboration with a consortium of six partners, including Jaguar Land Rover, to develop advanced hybrid electric vehicle systems as part of a £20.8-million (US$29-million) R&D project supported by the Advanced Propulsion Centre. AVID’s core expertise is the design of high-performance power... Read more →

Lexus hosted the world premiere of the new UX crossover at the 2018 Geneva Motor show. The UX marks a series of technical innovations, including the first use of the new global architecture platform GA-C, which delivers fundamental high structural rigidity and a low center of gravity, thus securing excellent... Read more →

SAIC Motor Corporation Limited and Infineon Technologies AG established a joint venture to manufacture power modules for the developing electric vehicle market in China. SAIC Motor holds a stake of 51% of the JV and Infineon 49 percent, respectively. The partners have received all approvals by public authorities. The JV... Read more →

Delphi Technologies PLC, a leader in vehicle propulsion technologies, has invested in PolyCharge America, Inc, a start-up established to commercialize a new capacitor technology. This technology helps to make high-power inverters smaller, lighter and more tolerant to high temperatures. The minority equity investment, for an undisclosed sum, builds on an... Read more →

DENSO Corporation and FLOSFIA Inc., a tech startup spun out from Kyoto University, are partnering to develop a next-generation power semiconductor device expected to reduce the energy loss, cost, size and weight of inverters used in electrified vehicles (EVs). Through the joint development project, the two companies aim to improve... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced up to $100 million in funding for new projects as part of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy’s (ARPA‑E) latest OPEN funding opportunity. (DE-FOA-0001858) ARPA-E issued previous OPEN solicitations in 2009, 2012, and 2015. Open solicitations enable ARPA-E to support transformational projects outside the... Read more →

The BMW Group will invest €200 million (US$233 million) over the next four years in its new BMW Group Battery Cell Competence Center in Munich. This interdisciplinary competence center aims to advance battery cell technology and introduce it into production processes; the center will open in early 2019. In the... Read more →

To expand its global electrified powertrain offerings and strengthen its local footprint in China, Magna has entered into a joint-venture agreement with Huayu Automotive Systems Co., Ltd. (HASCO), a subsidiary of SAIC Motor. The JV will initially produce an electric-drive powertrain system for a German automaker. For the initial customer... Read more →

In a strategic move to broaden its product offering, TM4 has introduced a new bi-directional charger inverter, the BCI20. TM4 developed this product in collaboration with Convertronix, a Québec-based company specialized in the design and manufacturing of power conversion equipment. The TM4 BCI20 functions as battery charger and inverter for... Read more →

Leveraging its experience with electromobility components, Bosch has developed a new generation electric axle drive, or e-axle. The motor, power electronics, and transmission form one compact unit that directly drives the car’s axle. This makes the powertrain not only far more efficient, but more affordable as well. Bosch has had... Read more →

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) announced $30 million in funding for 21 innovative projects as part of the Creating Innovative and Reliable Circuits Using Inventive Topologies and Semiconductors (CIRCUITS) program. CIRCUITS project teams will accelerate the development and deployment of a new class of... Read more →

Hyundai Mobis has developed an on-board, bi-directional charger for plug-in vehicles. The bi-directional onboard charger (OBC) allows the vehicle to supply electricity in its battery to the grid. The power supplied by the vehicle can also be used as emergency power in homes. If more than enough power is supplied,... Read more →

BMW i Ventures has made a strategic investment in GaN Systems, a fabless power transistor company at the forefront of semiconductor technology. Gallium Nitride (GaN) is a wide band gap (WBG) semiconductor material that allows for higher energy efficiency, smaller form factors and higher performance. GaN devices offer a number... Read more →

Half-bridge circuits are the centerpiece of many voltage converters. Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF has now produced and demonstrated the world’s first monolithically integrated GaN half bridge for the important 600 volt class. In power electronics components, this is the standard volt class for grid-connected electrical devices,... Read more →

Renesas Electronics Corporation announced its new 100kW-class inverter solution that achieves industry-leading small volume of 3.9 liter (L) for high-power 100kW-class motors in mid- to large-sized hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) including SUVs, and mid- to small-sized electric vehicles (EVs). Renesas will provide a solution kit including software that maximizes the... Read more →

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation has developed a working model of an ultra-compact silicon carbide (SiC) inverter for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) that is believed to be the world’s smallest SiC device of its type at just five liters volume. It also is believed to offer the world’s highest power density of... Read more →

Visedo, a Finnish manufacturer specializing in electric powertrains and components, has secured a financing package of €20 million (US$21 million) to support its international growth plans. The financing consists of an equity investment of €13.5 million, an EFSI loan of €5 million and €1.5 million in funding from other sources.... Read more →

Automotive and industrial supplier Schaeffler finalized a purchase contract with SEMIKRON International GmbH for the acquisition of 51% of the shares of Compact Dynamics GmbH, a manufacturer of high-performance electric motors. At the same time, Schaeffler and SEMIKRON have agreed a cooperation for the development of power electronics systems and... Read more →

Wolfspeed, A Cree Company, a leading global supplier of silicon carbide (SiC) power products, won a 2016 R&D 100 Award for its high-temperature, wide-bandgap (WBG) underhood inverter for hybrid and electric vehicles. Wolfspeed’s high-temperature, WBG underhood inverter was developed in response to the need for smaller, lighter, and more efficient... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E) has launched a new program—Power Nitride Doping Innovation Offers Devices Enabling SWITCHES (PNDIODES) (DE-FOA-0001691)—to fund transformational advances and mechanistic understanding in the process of selective area doping in the III-Nitride wide band gap (WBG) semiconductor material system.... Read more →

Wolfspeed, a Cree Company and a leader in silicon carbide (SiC) power products, has introduced a 1000V MOSFET (metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor) that enables a reduction in overall system cost, while improving system efficiency and decreasing system size. The new MOSFET, specially optimized for fast charging and industrial power supplies, enables... Read more →

Researchers at the Future Renewable Electric Energy Distribution and Management (FREEDM) Systems Center at North Carolina State University have developed an inverter for hybrid and electric vehicles using off-the-shelf components made of the wide-bandgap semiconductor material silicon carbide (SiC). The new SiC-based inverter has a power density of 12.1 kW/L—close... Read more →

Engineers from the University of Utah and the University of Minnesota have discovered that interfacing two particular oxide-based materials—strontium titanate (STO) and neodymium titanate (NTO)—makes them highly conductive, a boon for future power electronics that could result in more power-efficient laptops, electric cars and home appliances that also don’t need... Read more →

Infineon Technologies AG has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Wolfspeed Power and RF division of Cree. The deal also includes the related SiC wafer substrate business for power and RF power. The purchase price for this planned all-cash transaction is US$850 million (~€740 million). Infineon says that... Read more →

The University of Nottingham (UK) is leading a 3-year, £830,000 (US$1.1-million) research project on power electronics—the EPSRC Challenge Network in Automotive Power Electronics. The EPSRC Challenge Network in Automotive Power Electronics will bring together the academic and industrial communities to identify and to address the long-term challenges in the design,... Read more →

Infineon Technologies AG is presenting its latest power module family for hybrid and electric vehicles—HybridPACK Double Sided Cooling (DSC)—at the PCIM 2016 tradeshow. The new power modules have extremely small dimensions of only 42 mm x 42.4 mm x 4.77 mm. They target HEV applications such as main inverters and... Read more →

Siemens and Valeo have signed an agreement to form a joint venture in high voltage powertrains for the entire range of electric vehicles including hybrids, plug-in hybrids and full electric vehicles. Building upon the complementary scope and portfolio of the partners, the joint venture will provide substantial synergies in manufacturing... Read more →

Controls engineering firm Pi Innovo and gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductor manufacturer GaN Systems are collaborating to offer automakers a pathway to the efficient and effective electrification of auxiliary systems for multi-voltage conventional, hybrid-electric, and pure electric vehicles. GaN devices offer a number of benefits compared to silicon-based devices, including high... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) selected 33 small businesses to work directly with DOE national labs to accelerate the commercialization of new clean energy technologies. The department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy is investing nearly $6.7 million under Round 1 of the new Small Business Vouchers (SBV)... Read more →

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) intends to issue, on behalf of the Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO), a $25-million Funding Opportunity Announcement (DE-FOA-0001467) entitled “Next Generation of Electric Machines: Enabling Technologies.” EERE plans to issue the FOA around March 2016. Through this... Read more →

TM4, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Exagon Motors, Hydro-Québec and the Gouvernement du Québec are collaborating to develop a new electric drivetrain for light-duty vehicles. TM4 will act as the developer of the electric powertrain in the pre-development phase of the project. The government’s contribution will be made up of a CAD... Read more →

The US Department of Energy has announced the 2016 Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) Phase I Release 2 Topics, covering eight DOE research program organizations. Among the many topics listed are magnetocaloric materials development for hydrogen delivery; two hydrogen technology transfer opportunities (TTO); EV traction... Read more →

UQM Technologies Inc. has signed a 10-year supply agreement with ITL Efficiency Corporation in China, a subsidiary of Eastlake New Energy, to provide electric propulsion systems for three market segments: 6-8 meter shuttle buses; light- to medium-duty delivery trucks; and 10-12 meter transit buses. Over the term of the Agreement,... Read more →

GM and LG announced an expanded and deepened relationship around the coming Bolt battery-electric vehicle (earlier post), with LG providing not only the battery pack and battery heater, but also the critical PEEM (power electronics and electric machine) components; the HVAC electronic climate control system compressor; telematics hardware for OnStar;... Read more →

Toyota made significant improvements in its new generation full hybrid powertrain applied in the fourth generation Prius (earlier post), reducing losses, redesigning and relocating key components and reducing weight. Extensive changes to the transaxle, engine and combined hybrid system, generate an expected improvement in EPA estimated MPG on core models... Read more →

Power electronics semiconductors, which manage voltage and current, are a key technology for enabling improvements in “fuel economy” in electric vehicles. While conventional silicon-based semiconductor technology currently owns the plug-in vehicle power electronics market, emerging wide band gap (WBG) semiconductors offer significantly greater energy efficiency potential than silicon. A team... Read more →