E-MOBILITY
in it, which got everyone excited, and since then we have seen a lot of movement in this area.”
HOLISTIC APPROACH TO ARCHITECTURE To address these challenges, Vicor has identified several key areas where its technology can have a significant impact. Through its highly power-dense conversion devices, the company is working to enable downsizing of the battery pack, eliminating low voltage batteries, downsizing the DC-DC converters, integrating smaller DC-DC into the battery housing, and introducing 48V zonal architecture. “We use a process of power
conversion called zero voltage switching, which is very fast,” Green explains. “This means we can go from zero power to full power at a rate of eight million A/s, taking power from the high voltage battery and converting it to 48V and running it to a load faster than if you had a standard 48V or 12V battery feeding that load. This is important because there’s no lag, which allows you to get rid of the low voltage battery or drastically downsize it, and this can take about 10kg of weight out of a vehicle.” The other aspect Vicor focuses on
is downsizing the DC-DC converter. “We take 3-5l systems and downsize them to 1-1.5l of space,” Green adds. “In passenger cars in particular, space is critical, but even with larger vehicles, using less space gives you more flexibility in the layout design of the vehicle and can bring other efficiencies. As a demonstration, we looked at the Tesla Model X, which has one of the best power-to-weight and power-to-volume ratios, and Vitesco’s new fourth generation system. We found that our system would be two to three times better than both of those in terms of its efficiency and its power-to-weight and power-to- density. Our system brings the DC- DC converter down to a size that an engineer can comfortably imagine putting inside a battery housing.” Essentially, Vicor’s approach enables
the DC-DC converter to be downsized and tucked away in one of the corners of the battery housing, which saves weight through removing the need for a metal housing around it and makes
48V zonal architecture
use of the existing cooling system in the housing to cool the electronics. From a safety perspective, the approach also reduces the number of high-voltage power cables coming out of the battery housing.
We use a
process of power conversion called zero voltage switching, which is very fast
48V ZONAL ARCHITECTURE As Green explains, 48V zonal architecture was first discussed in the late 1990s with the emergence of the first hybrid EVs as a potential path to maximising thermal efficiency. However, the technology had not seen much development until Tesla brought out the Cybertruck last October. “The reason for this is that the
majority of alternators are 12V or 24V,” says Green. “The engineering and testing costs to change those
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