E-MOBILITY
Thermal losses are dealt with more efficiently with a 48V design
alternators was quite steep, and so there was resistance to it. But, if you go to plug in an EV or hybrid vehicle, you automatically have a high voltage battery. When you think of it from a system perspective, it’s easier to conceive that we should be running 48V coming off the high voltage. 48V wires are about 10% of the diameter and weight of a 12V wire, and voltage kind of equates to pressure: low pressure means you need bigger pipes, high pressure means you can use smaller pipes. So, 48V is higher voltage, and higher pressure. You can use smaller wires which weigh less, and which also use far less copper than a 12V wire. And then, thermal losses are also dealt with more efficiently with a 48V design as you’re able to run the 48V to multiple points in the vehicle and locally convert it to 12V power needed across the vehicle. This drives benefits for weight and cooling complexity throughout the whole EV.”
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SMALL DEVICES DELIVER HUGE IMPROVEMENTS When you add all these elements together – removing the low voltage battery, downsizing the DC-DC converter and introducing 48V zonal architecture in the wiring – Vicor calculated engineers could save around 18kg of weight per vehicle. “That is a really substantial saving
in an industry that generally fights over single grams,” Green says. “But what does this really mean for people who operate the vehicle? Well, we figured out that if you reduce the weight of a vehicle by 18kg, you can add 1-2.5km of range, which doesn’t seem like a lot. But, if you could then add 18kg of battery cells due to that saving, you would increase the range by 5%. This lifts us much closer to that sweet spot that consumers are looking for to make the leap to adopting EVs at passenger car level. The same thing
would be true for larger vehicles, in fact the argument may even be stronger in commercial vehicles where saving 18kg could mean you can haul 18kg more in cargo or passengers.” With this in mind, it’s clear that
Vicor’s higher power density DC- DC converter modules have the potential to provide both flexibility and efficiency into the power delivery network, supporting integration into the battery due to their smaller size and reduced heat emissions. “EV manufacturers can take
advantage of these benefits to reduce vehicle weight and move closer to the 540km range sweet spot that will ultimately help to speed up EV adoption,” Green concludes.
For more information visit:
www.vicorpower.com
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