Power Integrations (PI) has developed two versions of its gate driver board that is suitable for powertrain designs in heavy equipment such as trucks, buses, and agricultural and construction equipment (writes Nick Flaherty). The Scale EV gate driver boards are designed to fit on top of Infineon’s EconoDual half-bridge modules in the same footprint. The […] More…

The Hall effect has been the mainstay of magnetic sensing since it was discovered by US physicist Edwin Hall in 1879. The effect describes the creation of an electric field in a conductor that carries a current and is placed perpendicular to a magnetic field. The fact that the induced voltage is proportional to the magnetic field provides a measurement that is used to control brushless motors and the position of almost anything that rotates. More…

Allison Transmission has announced the availability of hydrogen fuel cell and compressed natural gas (CNG) testing at its Vehicle Electrification + Environmental Test Center. The company has completed the installation of two phases of hydrogen capabilities. Phase one provides the ability to safely detect and manage hydrogen gas or flames in a test cell as […] More…

Mercedes-Benz is replacing raw fossil resources with pyrolysis oil made in part from its scrap tyres. It aims to put components featuring the technology into series production in a number of its models this year. The company says it anticipates being able to chemically recycle several hundred tonnes of tyres every year and use the […] More…

Green Watt Power, a division of Powerland Technology, has announced the EVC-1500 fully potted, ruggedised charger for 48 V batteries for EV applications. It is designed specifically to charge lithium-ion battery systems in motorcycles, scooters, carts, fork lifts and other e-mobility applications.  The charger has universal input voltages and an output voltage range of 28-59 […] More…

In a thermal runaway, a lithium-ion battery typically releases oxygen from the cathode and volatile hydrocarbons from the electrolyte, generating both oxidiser and fuel to sustain a fire from purely internal sources (writes Peter Donaldson). Reliable detection and early intervention are therefore critical for preventing the worst consequences of battery thermal incidents – fire and […] More…

Developers of charging systems are looking to address key challenges for fast charging and higher capacity battery packs, and this is leading to automated charging systems. More…

NXP Semiconductors has announced further worldwide supply deals with automotive OEMs for its S32 family of domain and zonal automotive processors. They include a major player, and include NXP’s upcoming 5 nm ASIL-D processors, to be used across its fleet of future vehicles from the middle of the decade. OEMs have to integrate 100 or […] More…

Advanced Cell Engineering (ACE) has filed a patent application for a very large format (VLF) battery cell (writes Nick Flaherty). The filing, in the U,S is part of its Project Magnus to develop a highly efficient, 1 m cell-to-pack prismatic cell. It is ACE’s fourth patent application in the past 6 months. Rather than using thousands […] More…

Amada Weld Tech Europe has announced the release of its new AWS3 pneumatic active welding system, which combines pneumatic weld heads and weld pincers with an inverter weld controller. The system unifies process control, monitoring and quality analysis, which the company says makes it ideal for welding applications in electronics, medical engineering and automotive sectors. […] More…

EMotive’s 12 t Scarab 6×6 electric off-road truck is designed to appeal to a range of industries including agriculture, forestry, quarrying, mining, adventure tourism and airfield firefighting – all areas where large zero-emissions vehicles are becoming increasingly attractive. More…

Complex interactions between electric powertrain components provide significant challenges in accurately predicting the noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) performance of a design when using high level system-level models (writes Nick Flaherty). The models can help reduce the cost and development time, but the underlying interaction of the component-level simulations needs to be understood to achieve […] More…

Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Solutions (WMFTS) is highlighting its range of Bredel and Bredel APEX hose pumps for manufacturing processes used in producing lithium-ion batteries for EVs. The company says they provide constant production cycle efficiency and help manufacturers to meet ever-more demanding battery production schedules. The Bredel pumps are said to be ideal for the […] More…

SUV manufacturer Mahindra & Mahindra has unveiled its new INGLO EV platform and five e-SUVs under two brands, the XUV and the BE. The modular INGLO platform uses VW MEB platform components and will underpin all Mahindra EVs from now on. It features an augmented reality-enabled heads-up display, edge-to-edge screen, 5G network capability and over-the-air […] More…

Industrial image processing specialist Vitronic is testing a new inline inspection method that can detect particle contamination during the assembly of battery modules. The contaminants can impair battery performance, and are also suspected of causing them to catch fire. The system could be used in the gigafactories being planned or under construction across Europe. Since […] More…

While most drivers of IC-engined vehicles are vaguely aware that running the air conditioning increases fuel consumption, such is the energy density of petrol and diesel that it has rarely been a major concern, although with fuel prices at record highs that is changing rapidly. Similarly, IC engines produce so much waste heat that drawing upon it to warm up the cabin on a cold day has a negligible effect on fuel burn. More…

BATTERY CHARGING Enovix has demonstrated 5 minute charging of its prototype silicon battery cells for EVs (writes Nick Flaherty). Tests on the 0.27 Ah cells demonstrate charging from 0 to 80% charge in 5.2 minutes, and achieve a greater than 98% charge capacity in under 10 minutes. The cell uses a 100% silicon anode with […] More…

While we are growing used to artificially intelligent software in smartphones, for example, if  AI and machine learning are to benefit EV applications such as controlling batteries, inverters and motors, the software must meet all the safety, security and quality standards that apply to serial production vehicles in the automotive industry. This is the mission […] More…

With 40 years of experience re-manufacturing internal combustion engines and transmissions for automotive OEMs, Autocraft Solutions Group has turned its attention to EVs in recent years and has developed both fixed and mobile battery re-manufacturing systems to meet a growing need, as CTO Simon Warburton explains to Peter Donaldson. That need is to match battery […] More…

Venturi Astrolab has developed an electric lunar rover with a flexible payload architecture to support a range of regular missions for astronauts (writes Nick Flaherty). The company plans to offer a fleet of these Flexible Logistics and Exploration (FLEX) rovers to support a sustained human presence on the Moon and Mars. The FLEX’s four-wheel crab […] More…