Operating EVs in extreme temperatures is a demanding exercise, as lithium-ion batteries generally work best between 15 and 35 C, so a four-week trial conducted throughout February 2021 above the Arctic Circle in Sweden was a severe test of a truck and its charging infrastructure (writes Peter Donaldson).
In the test, the battery-powered truck carried loads of 14 t of iron ore sludge over a 280 km round trip in temperatures down to -32 C, says Adam Holmer of power-as-a-service provider Vattenfall.
The trial was a cooperative effort between Vattenfall, Volvo Trucks and dealer Wist Last och Buss, charger manufacturer ABB and mining company Kaunis Iron. More…
Category: E-Mobility Engineering
Honda to start battery-sharing service for electric rickshaws
Honda has announced plans to begin a battery-sharing service for electric rickshaws in India in the first half of 2022, using the Honda Mobile Power Pack e: (MPP e:), its new portable and swappable battery.
There are more than 8 million auto rickshaws in India, and they are an essential means of daily transportation for people. In urban areas, they are powered mainly by compressed natural gas and have been a key challenge for electrification. More…
Flat chassis chosen for axial motors
Saiettta has used its AFT140 axial motor for a flat chassis for urban vehicles (writes Nick Flaherty). Mounted on the corners of the chassis, the AFT 140 in-wheel electric motors provide a torque of up to 140 Nm for controllable power at low speeds in urban stop-start journeys. The chassis is a flexible platform that […] More…
Webasto batteries power innovative e-shuttle
French trucking company Lohr Industries will be launching a fully electric and modular e-shuttle system called the Cristal in four French cities before the end of 2021. The vehicles will be powered by batteries from Webasto, one of the world’s largest automotive suppliers. Some German cities have also signalled their interest. More…
Device reads LV and HV in one go
A 45 V high-withstand voltage battery monitoring device for automotive designs has implemented a supply voltage-divided output for the first time (writes Nick Flaherty). Dividing battery monitoring between high- and low-voltage sources increases the safety of e-mobility designs, as it allows 12 V batteries to be monitored by the same device that monitors the low […] More…
Ground vibration testing of NASA’s X-57 Maxwell electric aircraft
Electric propulsion is spawning aircraft with diverse and novel configurations. The multiple motors, rotors, propellers and fans associated with distributed electric propulsion are shaping many complex and unusual forms in the quest to enhance lift and thrust, and to reduce drag through close aerodynamic coupling with airframes.
One of the most important processes in their development is ensuring that they don’t suffer from damaging vibration. To that end, NASA has used equipment from Hottinger Bruel & Kjær (HBK) to collect and process accelerometer data in ground vibration testing (GVT) for its X-57 Maxwell aircraft. More…
Actia Group sets up Power division
Vehicle electronics supplier Actia has announced it has set up a Power division to consolidate the various activities of the wider Actia Group relating to the design and manufacture of onboard batteries, power electronics and electrification systems for electric and hydrogen hybrid mobility. It says its experience in vehicle electronics and power management means the […] More…
Matrix aimed at seal and EMI issues
The Electrically and Thermally Conductive and Electromagnetic Interference Shielding Materials (ETEMI) project aims to enhance conventional elastomers, liquid silicon rubber and thermoplastics to address sealing and EMI issues at the same time in EVs. This is driving the development of a new class of electrically conductive sealing materials. More…
EV dynamics
How a car moves in response to the forces acting on it is a fundamental determinant of safety, comfort, energy efficiency and driver engagement, and electrification of the powertrain profoundly affects that dynamic behaviour. This influence results from differences in the vehicle’s overall mass and its distribution, when compared with IC-engined vehicles, along with the speed and precision of response inherent in electrical machines. More…
Reducing models of EV behaviour
The development of e-mobility platforms requires a complex interplay between different engineering teams for the mechanical, thermal, electrical, control and software design. ROMs from 3D design tools can be substituted for 1D system simulation models to provide more accurate and detailed results, so teams can make an informed and correct design choice earlier. More…
Validating BMS performance
Battery management systems are becoming increasingly safety-critical, as they are responsible for balancing battery cells operating at several hundred volts and maintaining temperatures within narrow working ranges to prevent thermal runaway (writes Peter Donaldson).
Gauging the performance of a BMS during r&d, validation, verification and production is therefore of vital and growing importance. Bloomy Controls’ new Flex BMS Validation System is focused on the validation part, particularly in situations where the developer needs to test more than one BMS design. More…
NeoGraf Solutions adds advanced graphene targets for energy storage markets
NeoGraf Solutions has extended its range of graphite materials with the launch of Graf-X graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) and graphene precursors (GPs) for a range of energy storage applications. More…
StoreDot announces eXtreme approach to charging
StoreDot is developing new a lithium-ion battery technology it calls eXtreme Fast Charging (XFC) that will enable an EV to charge in 5-10 minutes (writes Peter Donaldson).
At the heart of it is a silicon-dominated anode that can accept lithium ions much faster than a graphite anode (thanks to silicon’s lower resistance) but controls the tendency of silicon to swell when it accepts those ions that would otherwise generate damaging mechanical forces inside the battery, the company’s CEO Doron Myersdorf says.
The Israeli start-up is backed investors Samsung, Daimler, BP and TDK, has raised about $130 million in capital, owns around 100 patents and has 35 PhDs in its team of 120 people, with specialisms in areas including materials science, organic chemistry and electrochemistry.
Myersdorf says this number of PhDs provides a level of research power equivalent to two faculties at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, all focused on the problem of how to charge a battery quickly. More…
Battery recycling
Recycling batteries from e-mobility platforms, particularly lithium-ion and lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells, is an area of increasing focus for the e-mobility industry. More…
G-Pulse and Silicon Mobility collaborate on high-power multiphase DC-DC converter
G-Pulse and Silicon Mobility have announced that they are designing a high-power multiphase interleaving bidirectional DC-DC converter platform for EVs including those using fuel cells, batteries, hybrid electric and plug-in hybrid electric. It is based on Silicon Mobility’s OLEA control technology, and draws on G-Pulse’s engineering expertise in automotive systems. More…
ABB plans fast-charger network for electric aircraft
As with cars and trucks, electric aircraft need access to an extensive network of reliable fast chargers, and in October it was announced that ABB is to develop a megawatt fast-charging infrastructure for Lilium’s short-haul electric jet More…