CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine - Issue 47 JAN/FEB 2020

THE TECH CONTENTS

22 Semiconductor packaging considerations

22

28 BMS validation testing 34 Silicon-dominant anodes Enevate says its new silicon-dominant technology is ready for EV production

34

current events 10

Fujitsu’s new high-capacity power relay features arc extinguishing plate Northvolt aims to source 50% recycled battery material by 2030

11 12

Swindon to launch electric powertrain for low-volume sports cars Copper use in vehicle wiring harnesses expected to surge GROB invests in new EV motor production facility

14

12

Infineon’s new 900 A IGBT chip offers 30% less static loss DOE announces Energy Storage Grand Challenge

15 16

Vitesco’s new compact transmission for PHEVs EA Elektro-Automatik’s new bidirectional power supply unit NCC to integrate composite materials into e-drives

17 18

ON Semiconductor’s new power modules for high-voltage inverters Delta-Q introduces new module for its Stackable Charging System Webasto launches modular battery system

15

19 20

Pierburg creates modular AC compressor with integrated electronics Gentherm and GM find microclimate system reduces energy use up to 69% EU approves €3.2-billion project to create more sustainable Li-ion batteries

THE VEHICLES CONTENTS

52 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E

52

An electric crossover with “the soul of a Mustang”

current events 44

Hummer to be reborn as GM electric pickup truck

44

Volvo unveils heavy-duty concept EVs for construction

45 46

Rivian raises $1.3 billion in funding China will not cut EV subsidies this year Volkswagen acquires 20% of Chinese battery maker Guoxuan

47

Hyundai and Kia invest in UK EV startup Arrival, will develop EVs together IKEA deploys electric delivery truck from SEA Electric

48

Sweden to develop plan to phase out fossil fuel cars California and 7 other states commit to faster heavy-duty electrification

49 50

45

New Cadillac EV to be based on flexible battery architecture Netherlands takes “largest order” title with 259 BYD e-buses Tevva adds lease and purchase options to subscription service

51

Turn any vehicle into an EV with Electric GT’s crate motor conversion kit

IDENTIFICATION STATEMENT CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine (ISSN: 24742341) January/February 2020, Issue #47 is published bi-monthly by Electric Vehicles Magazine LLC, 2260 5th Ave S, STE 10, Saint Petersburg, FL 33712-1259. Periodicals Postage Paid at Saint Petersburg, FL and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine, Electric Vehicles Magazine LLC at 2260 5th Ave S, STE 10, Saint Petersburg, FL 33712-1259.

47

THE INFRASTRUCTURE CONTENTS

70

70 Auto charging

ROCSYS automates charging stations with soft robots

74 Electrify America Q&A with Chief Operating Officer Brendan Jones

current events

74

62

Tesla activates Trans-Canadian Supercharger route ClipperCreek sells 90,000th charging station

64

IONITY buys 324 chargers from ABB for second-phase expansion New Jersey enacts a raft of pro-EV measures

65 66

Wallbox’s bidirectional DC home charger turns heads at CES EVBox launches new generation of fast and ultra-fast chargers FSG and ChargePoint create turnkey solutions for commercial market

64

67

Fastned to bring 13 new fast charging stations to Belgium Adopt a Charger helps to get EV charging installed at public amenities

68

LS Power to acquire EVgo Connected Kerb to pilot wireless charging pads in England and Scotland

69

Michigan offers up to $70,000 in grants to install EV fast chargers EVmatch pilots MUD charging solution with two Vermont utilities

65

Publisher Christian Ruoff Associate Publisher Laurel Zimmer Senior Editor Charles Morris

Contributing Writers Brandy Dykhuizen Jeffrey Jenkins Michael Kent Tom Lombardo Charles Morris John Voelcker

For Letters to the Editor, Article Submissions, & Advertising Inquiries Contact: Info@ChargedEVs.com

Associate Editor Markkus Rovito Account Executives Jeremy Ewald Technology Editor Jeffrey Jenkins Graphic Designers Deon Rexroat Kelly Quigley Tomislav Vrdoljak

Contributing Photographers Nicolas Raymond Christian Ruoff Cover Images Courtesy of Ford Motor Company Enevate Special Thanks to Kelly Ruoff Sebastien Bourgeois

ETHICS STATEMENT AND COVERAGE POLICY AS THE LEADING EV INDUSTRY PUBLICATION, CHARGED ELECTRIC VEHICLES MAGAZINE OFTEN COVERS, AND ACCEPTS CONTRIBUTIONS FROM, COMPANIES THAT ADVERTISE IN OUR MEDIA PORTFOLIO. HOWEVER, THE CONTENT WE CHOOSE TO PUBLISH PASSES ONLY TWO TESTS: (1) TO THE BEST OF OUR KNOWLEDGE THE INFORMATION IS ACCURATE, AND (2) IT MEETS THE INTERESTS OF OUR READERSHIP. WE DO NOT ACCEPT PAYMENT FOR EDITORIAL CONTENT, AND THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED BY OUR EDITORS AND WRITERS ARE IN NO WAY AFFECTED BY A COMPANY’S PAST, CURRENT, OR POTENTIAL ADVERTISEMENTS. FURTHERMORE, WE OFTEN ACCEPT ARTICLES AUTHORED BY “INDUSTRY INSIDERS,” IN WHICH CASE THE AUTHOR’S CURRENT EMPLOYMENT, OR RELATIONSHIP TO THE EV INDUSTRY, IS CLEARLY CITED. IF YOU DISAGREE WITH ANY OPINION EXPRESSED IN THE CHARGED MEDIA PORTFOLIO AND/OR WISH TO WRITE ABOUT YOUR PARTICULAR VIEW OF THE INDUSTRY, PLEASE CONTACT US AT CONTENT@CHARGEDEVS. COM. REPRINTING IN WHOLE OR PART IS FORBIDDEN EXPECT BY PERMISSION OF CHARGED ELECTRIC VEHICLES MAGAZINE.

Sponsored Events APEC March 15-19, 2020 New Orleans, LA

Adhesives & Bonding Expo March 24-26, 2020 Novi, MI

MARCH 24 – 26, 2020 NOVI, MICHIGAN, USA

Save the Date

BONDING MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGIES FOR March 30–April 2, 2020 | Loews Royal Pacific Resort | Orlando, FL INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS

International Battery Seminar

Adhesives & Bonding Expo is North America’s first free-to-attend event connecting bonding technology providers with a wide range of end user markets. During 3 days of37 networking, this exhibition allows engineers to find solutions in assembling materials to build complex structures or devices and generate optimum mechanical properties for specific applications.

for two world class events

March 30-April 2, 2020 September 10-12, 2019 Orlando, FL

ADVANCED BATTERYFEATURES TECHNOLOGIES FOR CONSUMER, AUTOMOTIVE & MILITARY APPLICATIONS SHOW INCLUDE:

120+ globally recognised exhibitors displaying cuttingedge bonding solutions, manufacturing technologies, REGISTER BY materials and services DECEMBER 20 TO 3-Day conference exploring technology trends,SAVE markets 2020CONFERENCE UP TO and applications to solve manufacturing challenges and PROGRAMS: $400! unlock opportunities 

Novi, Michigan, USA R&D STREAM Two

exclusive attendee networking receptions with drinks and canapés PLENARY KEYNOTE

Next-Generation Battery Research

PRESENTATIONS on the exhibit floor highlighting the latest innovations,2019 solutions and Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry The Li Battery: From its Origin to Enabling an developments in the bonding industry

Global Supply for Battery Raw Materials  Chain Live product demonstrations Lithium-Ion Development & Commercialization

EV Tech Expo Europe

NORTH AMERICA

April 28-30, 2020 Stuttgart, Germany The largest showcase of advanced

battery technology in North America

MANUFACTURING STREAM



Electric Economy

M. Stanleyconnecting Whittingham, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Professor, Complimentary B2B meetings service you Member, National Academy of Engineering, Director, NECCES on a one-toEFRC one basis SUNY at Binghamton at Binghamton,

businesses High Performancewith Batteryother Manufacturing Global Supply Chain for Battery Raw Materials Lithium-Ion Development & Commercialization

APPLICATIONS STREAM

An Unavoidable Challenge for Ni-Rich Positive Electrode Materials for Li-Ion Batteries Jeff Dahn, FRSC, PhD, Professor of Physics and Atmospheric Science, NSERC/Tesla Canada Industrial Research Chair, Canada Research Chair, Dalhousie University

REGISTER FOR YOUR FREE PASS NOW

Advances in Automotive Battery Applications

The Fast-Changing World of Battery Applications

Bob Galyen, Chief Technology Officer, Contemporary WWW.ADHESIVESANDBONDINGEXPO.COM Amperex Technology Ltd. (CATL)

Grid-Scale Energy Storage

Battery Power for Consumer Electronics

The industry’s leading global hybrid electric vehicle manufacturing tradeshow and conference InternationalBatterySeminar.com EnerTech ENGINEERING STREAM

Battery Safety

Battery Management Systems

An Intrinsically Flexible Li-Ion Battery for Wearable Devices Avetik Harutyunyan, PhD, Chief Scientist and Research Director, Materials Science, Honda Research Institute

Organized by

Cambridge

CWIEME Berlin May 26-28, 2020 Berlin, Germany For more information on industry events visit ChargedEVs.com/Events

_B 1115

9 AT1

What’s new on the EV scene: semiconductor packaging, a promising battery technology, challenging new charging rules

Bonding and Welding of Battery Modules with one machine type

There’s an endless supply of interesting topics to cover in today’s EV industry, from new powertrain tech to innovative infrastructure solutions to evolving regulations. We talk to people from every corner of the EV world, and each one has a fascinating story about their perspective on this rapidly evolving industry.

Among the topics that we cover in this issue, here are some tidbits that I found particularly interesting.

Here’s why Tesla transitioned to a semi-custom power module design for Model 3’s inverter As Tesla tends to do, instead of choosing one of the standardized off-the-shelf semiconductor package options, it opted for a new approach to module design for the Model 3 inverter. By combining the attributes of a plastic package semiconductor with those of more classic industrial modules, Tesla created a form factor tailored for its EVs, rather than the “one size sort of fits most” technology.

Our in-house electrical engineering guru, Jeffrey Jenkins, explored Tesla’s methodology in a broader article about semiconductor packaging considerations. I first met Jeff in 2008 when we were working on projects designing power electronics for EV conversions. He’s a rare combination: a brilliant engineer and an excellent writer. Read more on page 22.

A novel battery technology that is actually ready for use in EVs?

We write about a lot of announcements of novel battery discoveries and they tend to share one thing in common: prototype-scale production. For the most part, any new battery breakthrough you read about is nowhere near ready for large-scale production and use in EVs. It’s like the new drug discoveries you hear about in the news—they may show a lot of promise in the lab, but there are still years of work ahead to make sure everything works as intended.

That’s not to say there aren’t tremendous improvements happening to production-scale battery tech. These are largely incremental, however—small design changes to different parts of a battery which all add up to substantial progress year-over-year. Enevate, on the other hand, claims to have a novel silicon-dominant anode design, which uses no graphite, and is ready for prime time. Read more about Enevate on page 34.

California does right by drivers while working with industry on compliance timeframe

 Established line integration and automation solutions  PiQC for wire bond and welding process monitoring (patented)  Hesse Customer Solutions: Prototyping, sample bonding, production service from small series to standard production, online training, production support and process optimization

www.hesse-mechatronics.com

Late last year, there was a bit of alarm in the EVSE world as California implemented some new EV charging rules, including a ban on time-based billing.

Many EV drivers consider time-based pricing to be inherently unfair, because many factors can affect charging speed. When you’re billed by the kWh, on the other hand, you know exactly what you’re paying for. Compliance with all the details in the new rules is going to require quite a bit of work by the charging industry. However, Electrify America COO Brendan Jones says there is no need to panic—the Golden State understands the logistics challenges and is working with companies in the industry to craft a reasonable solution. “California did the right thing in terms of providing the requisite lead time to get this done,” Jones told us. “The industry is moving in this direction, and I think the customers want to see it that way.”

Jones holds the record for most-interviewed EV exec by the Charged team.

Considering his leadership roles at Nissan, EVgo and now Electrify America, there are few people who have as much practical EV industry experience. Read more about the challenges that Jones and company are tackling as Electrify America expands its charging network at an incredible speed on page 74.

Christian Ruoff | Publisher

EVs are here. Try to keep up.

Image courtesy of Fujitsu

Image courtesy of Northvolt

THE TECH

Fujitsu’s new high-capacity power relay features arcextinguishing plate Fujitsu has launched the FTR-E3 series, a 150-amp power relay that offers a minimum mechanical life of 300,000 operations and minimum electric life of 30,000 operations. The new automotive-grade relay is intended for use in EV battery junction boxes, fast chargers, solar and industrial inverters, and the DC line of energy storage systems.

Measuring 45 mm long, 69 mm wide, and 63 mm high, the FTR-E3 series is a 1 Form X relay that features an arc-extinguishing plate for arc suppression, eliminating the need for hydrogen gas and polarity in the main contact circuit, according to the company.

The FTR-E3 series is available in 12 VDC and 24 VDC models. It offers 2,500 dielectric strength, 1,000 MΩ minimum insulation resistance, and an operating temperature range of -40° to +85° C.

10

Northvolt’s battery recycling program aims to source 50% recycled material by 2030 Swedish battery maker Northvolt is launching a new program, Revolt, that is devoted to recycling lithium-ion batteries.

It plans to bring a pilot recycling plant online in Västerås, Sweden, in 2020, next to its existing manufacturing plant. The plant will handle NMC and NCA Liion chemistries. It will serve as a platform for developing and validating the recycling process, and will target an initial recycling capacity of 100 tons per year.

Northvolt’s ultimate goal is to source 50% of materials in new cells from recycled materials by 2030. To meet the target, it is planning a phased build-up in capacity. The first block will be operational in 2022 with capacity to recycle approximately 25,000 tons of battery cells per year.

Over the last two years, Northvolt has been developing methods for key processes required for recycling lithium-ion batteries. For example, Northvolt and researchers at Sweden’s Chalmers University of Technology have optimized a hydrometallurgical treatment to recover valuable metals—including lithium, nickel, manganese and cobalt—from end-of-life batteries.

Peter Carlsson, CEO of Northvolt, commented, “It is clear that recycling batteries at end-of-life is critical to delivering a comprehensive model for sustainable lithium-ion batteries. With this program Northvolt will be able to recover valuable materials from cells and return them to manufacturing flows. Recycling will reduce the need for mining raw materials, improve security of supply and lower the environmental footprint of Northvolt cells by reducing mining-related emissions.”

Image courtesy of Swindon

Swindon to launch electric powertrain for low-volume sports cars Swindon Powertrain will launch an 80 kW powertrain designed for low-volume sports cars. The high-power-density system will weigh 70 kg and measure 600 mm long, 440 mm wide, and 280 mm high. Funded by Niche Vehicle Network in partnership with electric motor manufacturer iNetic and automotive specialist Code, the new powertrain is scheduled to begin production by June 2020.

Swindon Powertrain’s Managing Director Raphael Caille said, “To date, niche manufacturers have not had access to compact, high-power EV powertrains they could source in low to mid volume, leading to a vacuum of supply. Our ready-to-install ‘crate’ powertrain will accelerate EV adoption in sectors poorly served by the larger Tier 1 manufacturers and integrators.”

Image courtesy of GROB

THE TECH

Copper use in vehicle wiring harnesses expected to surge New research from the International Copper Association (ICA) predicts that the use of copper in wiring harnesses will continue to grow. According to the study, conducted by the Martec Group, the greatest drivers of the increase will be vehicle electrification and demand for larger vehicles.

The study found that by 2030, there will likely be an additional 300,000 metric tons of copper in wire harnesses each year, thanks to electrified vehicles. In the medium term, hybrids will add the most copper, while battery-electric vehicles will require more copper in the longer term (2030 and beyond).

The amount of copper used per vehicle varies widely by region—from an average of 8.9 kg in South America to 17.6 kg in North America. China surpassed Europe in 2019, driven primarily by electrified vehicles and further increases in feature content.

Developing markets, such as parts of Asia and South America, have seen the greatest growth, and that trend is expected to continue.

12

GROB invests in new EV motor production facility German machine and tool manufacturer GROB says it spent more than four years of intense R&D to establish itself as a leading technical expert in the manufacture of electric powertrain systems. The GROB product portfolio now ranges from complex stator, rotor and electrical machine assembly systems to complete electrical axle assembly systems.

The company now plans to invest around €10 million ($11 million) in its plant in Pianezza, Italy, and expand its workforce from 75 to 145. The plant, GROB’s fifth globally, will feature a 4,800-square-meter production space, as well as a showroom for GROB machine tools.

The plant is scheduled to open in spring 2020.

“With its round wire insertion technology, GROB Italy covers an important area of the various winding procedures, and perfectly supplements the winding technology of GROB-WERKE,” a GROB spokesperson said. “This has made the plant an important part of GROB Group’s electromobility expertise.”

ELANTAS is Your Solution Provider for Hybrid and Electric Vehicles Insulating Films, Impregnating Materials, Conformal Coatings, Encapsulation and Potting Resins for use in

Motors Chargers Power Electronics Battery Packs ELANTAS PDG, Inc. • 5200 North Second Street, St. Louis MO 63147 • 314-621-5700 ELANTAS PDG Olean • 1405 Buffalo Street, Olean NY 14760 • 716-372-9650 info.elantas.pdg@altana.com • www.elantas.com/PDG

To Be Reliable PowerStrip 9550

Automatic Cut & Strip Machine The PowerStrip 9550 combines the utmost in precision and performance to cover a wide range of wire processing applications. High Voltage cables used in EV applications can be measured, cut and stripped in one automated operation. All processing and functional modules can be retrofitted at a later date, making it a future-proof investment.

Modular, open system architecture offers supreme flexibility and wide application range Dynamic cutter head and powerful servo transport drives for high productivity and precision Intuitive programming with S.On Software SmartBlade™ system with cartridges and libraries for quick changeover of complete blade sets Wire Solutions for a Connected World

schleuniger.com

Image courtesy of Infineon

THE TECH

Infineon’s new 900 A IGBT chip offers 30% less static loss German semiconductor manufacturer Infineon has introduced a new version of its IGBT7 chip in its TRENCHSTOP line that boasts 30% less static loss than previous models.

The 1,200 V module provides a leading nominal current of 900 A. Infineon says this enables a 30% higher inverter output current from the same frame size compared with previous technology. While Infineon is aiming the new chip at industrial drive applications, it says that designers can also use it in commercial, construction and agricultural vehicles, as well as servo drives, solar inverters and UPS inverters.

Infineon says the TRENCHSTOP IGBT7 chip performs with much lower static losses compared to the IGBT4, and its on-state voltage is reduced by up to 30% for the same chip area. This brings significant loss reduction, especially for industrial drives, which usually operate at moderate switching frequencies. Infineon also notes that the new IGBT7 has improved both the oscillation behavior and the controllability of the IGBT. The IGBT7 is part of Infineon’s EconoDUAL 3 family, which features higher power density. The EconoDUAL 3 module comes with an improved housing for handling higher currents and temperatures. It is available with pre-applied thermal interface material (TIM) for the lowest thermal resistance and longest lifetime.

14

DOE announces Energy Storage Grand Challenge The DOE recently launched the Energy Storage Grand Challenge, which will focus on the development of new energy storage technologies. It’s part of the $158-million Advanced Energy Storage Initiative proposed in the 2020 federal budget.

The aim of the project is to develop a secure domestic manufacturing supply chain that is independent of foreign sources of critical materials by 2030. It will use R&D funding opportunities, prizes, partnerships and other programs to try to achieve the following goals by 2030: 1. Establish ambitious, achievable performance goals, and a comprehensive R&D portfolio to achieve them.

2. Accelerate the technology pipeline from research to system design to private sector adoption.

3. Develop best-in-class models, data, and analysis to inform the most effective value proposition and use cases for storage technologies.

4. Design new technologies to strengthen US manufacturing and recyclability, and to reduce dependence on foreign sources of critical materials.

5. Train the next generation of American workers to meet the needs of the 21st-century electric grid and energy storage value chain.

“Energy storage is key to capturing the full value of our diverse energy resources,” said Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette. “Through this Grand Challenge, we will deploy the Department’s extensive resources and expertise to address the technology development, commercialization, manufacturing, valuation, and workforce challenges to position the US for global leadership in the energy storage technologies of the future.”

Vitesco Technologies, the powertrain business of German parts maker Continental, has unveiled a new compact transmission for PHEVs. As a PHEV contains two separate power sources, the additional complexity can raise costs to a level that prohibits significant market penetration, says Vitesco. To solve the problem, the company has created the DHT transmission.

The DHT transmission has only four mechanical gears and no mechanical synchromesh systems, auxiliary hydraulics, or start clutch. The new transmission expands the role played by the e-motor, which no longer simply acts as a means of propulsion and energy recuperation. Instead, the e-motor handles both reversing and acceleration in first and second gear, while a starter-alternator performs the synchronization that starts the internal combustion

FTF-HV

Image courtesy of Vitesco

Vitesco’s new compact transmission for PHEVs

engine. This reassignment of functions makes it possible to reduce the number of mechanical components in the transmission, which Vitesco says saves space, weight and costs.

Vitesco also notes this reduction in parts and size makes the DHT a good choice for front transverse mounting in compact segment vehicles.

“So far it has not been possible to tap the full potential of plug-in hybrids and full hybrids for reducing CO2 emissions because the expensive powertrain of these vehicles puts them out of reach for many customers,” says Stephan Rebhan, Head of Technology and Innovation at Vitesco. “We have identified further potential here which our DHT technology for cost-effective PHEVs is designed to leverage.”

1500VDC

Battery Pack Testing

• Single or Dual Circuit Model Available • Up to 600A/450KW Per Channel • IGBT Design for 92% Efficiency

• 100% Duty Cycle Capable at Max Power • Discharge Regenerative to the Grid • 0.05% Current Accuracy with 30mSec Risetime and Zero Overshoot • Test Control and Data Management with Bitrode’s VisuaLCNTM Lab Software • Remote Binary Protocol Available for Control via 3rd Party Software

9787 Green Park Industrial Dr. St. Louis, MO 63123 - USA www.bitrode.com | Tel: +1 636-343-6112 | info@bitrode.com

NEW Member of the FTF High Power Pack Testing System Family

is an operating unit of

EA Elektro-Automatik’s new bidirectional power supply unit German power supply manufacturer EA Elektro-Automatik has released a new 30 kW bidirectional power supply unit.

EA says the new unit generates 100 percent more power than the previous version, with only a third more volume. In interconnected operation these devices can produce total power in parallel of up to 1.92 kW. The bidirectional power supply offers a working efficiency of up to 96 percent both as a source and as a drain with energy feedback, and it can be switched from source to drain with no delay.

Using the company’s EA Power Control, users can remotely control up to 20 devices, including sequencing and data recording. The device includes both analog and digital interfaces, including a five-inch touch display and a galvanically isolated analog interface.

“The requirements for programmable laboratory power supplies are continually increasing. This sharpens the competitive situation in growth areas such as eMobility,” said EA founder and CEO Helmut Nolden. “With the new devices we are currently offering the highest-performance concentration in the whole market.”

16

Image courtesy of EA Elektro-Automatik

NCC partners with Drive System Design to integrate composite materials into e-drives England’s National Composites Centre (NCC) is partnering with engineering consultancy Drive System Design (DSD) on a new project to improve the efficiency of integrated e-drives.

The 12-month project is partly funded by the UK’s innovation agency, Innovate UK, and will investigate the use of composites to enable both increased power density and a reduction in size. The project aims to balance NVH (Noise, Vibration, and Harshness) and efficiency via two parallel work streams.

The first will attempt to increase e-drive efficiency through targeted use of composite material. For example, if researchers are able to harness the NVH dampening properties of composites, the e-drive will be more tolerant to NVH inputs for the motor and transmission. With NVH and efficiency often being in competition with each other, the partners believe the increased NVH tolerance would provide design engineers with greater freedom to increase efficiency.

The second work stream will focus on the use of composite sleeves to enclose a rotor in a way that is scalable for high-volume manufacturing, which would enable e-motors with higher power density. This, in turn, would help reduce mass and size.

“Vehicle range at reasonable cost is still one of the biggest barriers to widespread adoption of EVs, so technology that can increase this through efficiency gains—without adding significantly to unit cost—are crucial,” says Markus Hose, DSD Head of Mechanical Engineering. “Vehicle manufacturers are facing increasing packaging challenges as they seek to incorporate higher-performance integrated e-drives into the latest designs, so power density improvements will offer a key competitive advantage.”

Image courtesy of NCC

THE TECH

ON Semiconductor introduces new power modules for highvoltage EV inverters ON Semiconductor has released the first two devices within its new VE-Trac family of power modules for high-voltage automotive traction inverters. Future devices in the VE-Trac family will include discrete power devices, isolated gate drivers, and wide bandgap (WBG) devices. The company says its first two devices are ideally suited for use in the main traction inverters of EVs, PHEVs and hybrids.

ON Semiconductor is introducing two different inverter platforms within the VE-Trac family: VE-Trac Dual and VE-Trac Direct.

VE-Trac Dual will be a collection of Dual Side Cool (DSC) half-bridge modules that are stackable and scalable. VE-Trac Dual can work in applications ranging from 80 kW to 300 kW. The first VE-Trac Dual device to be

released is rated to 750 V at 800 A, which ON Semiconductor says is double the capacity of competing devices.

The device is qualified under the AQG-324 European standard for power electronics, and features an embedded smart IGBT. Over the next few months, ON will release additional devices within the VE-Trac Dual platform that feature higher voltages and various current level options.

The VE-Trac Direct platform offers direct cooling for better thermal performance. The first product on this platform is housed in a six-pack configuration that will allow OEMs to achieve multi-sourcing with minimal layout changes.

Both VE-Trac Direct and VE-Trac Dual platforms are able to operate continuously at junction temperatures up to 175° C, allowing more power to be delivered within the compact footprint of the modular solution.

ON Semiconductor VP Asif Jakwani said, “These new highly integrated devices, and the VE-Trac program as a whole, demonstrate ON Semiconductor’s commitment to delivering energy-efficient innovations within the automotive space that address current challenges and help drive the rapid evolution and adoption of electric powertrains.”

www.schaltbau.com

NEW MOBILITY DC UNDER CONTROL

Innovative electromechanical components developed for the highest safety requirements.

Safe switching for the electric mobility sector.

C

US

DC Contactor Series C310

Contact us: C310@schaltbau-na.com

| Schaltbau North America | 225 Oser Ave. | Hauppauge, NY 11788 | U.S.A.

Delta-Q introduces new module for its Stackable Charging System to support AC charging Canadian charger manufacturer Delta-Q has launched its new Vehicle Charge Interface Module (VCIM) to allow its Stackable Charging System to support AC charging stations and two-way communicating electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE).

The VCIM allows the Delta-Q chargers to be used with standard EVSE by helping to negotiate the AC current limits and communicate the electrical information to the system’s “master” charger. The VCIM supports European charging standards (IEC 61851) as well as North American Level 1 and 2 charging.

Delta-Q VP Lloyd Gomm said, “OEMs will now have an option to design systems that can utilize the growing public charging infrastructure with their end products, giving users more freedom and flexibility to charge anywhere.”

18

Image courtesy of Delta-Q

Image courtesy of Webasto

THE TECH

Webasto launches modular battery system, thermal management and charging stations Automotive supplier Webasto showcased its modular battery system, thermal management system, and charging station at the recent SEMA show in Las Vegas.

The CV standard battery system is available in 400 V and 800 V versions. Each battery features 35 kWh of energy. Up to 10 packs can be used for a combined 350 kWh. The modules include desiccant cartridges to reduce condensation, thermal runaway detection sensors, and pressure equalization monitors.

The Webasto thermal management system includes active and passive cooling, electric fluid heating and heat pump configurations.

Webasto also exhibited its new TurboDX Level 2 charging station and TurboCord 120/240 V portable charger.

Mark Denny, CEO of Webasto Customized Solutions in North America, said, “With the introduction of our new modular battery system, thermal management and charging technologies, Webasto has demonstrated its commitment to vertically integrate itself within the North American commercial vehicle and automotive e-mobility marketplace.”

Pierburg, a subsidiary of German parts maker Rheinmetall Automotive, has developed an AC compressor for EVs that integrates the compressor, electric motor and power electronics into one modular, compact unit.

In ICE vehicles, the AC compressor is typically driven by a pulley and V-belt. EVs lack this mechanism, so the AC compressor is driven by an electric motor integrated into the vehicle’s high-voltage network.

For its all-in-one compressor, Pierburg says it focused on low weight and high operating efficiency. The compressor unit also includes an electronically controlled

Image courtesy of Pierburg

Pierburg creates modular AC compressor for EVs with integrated motor and electronics expansion valve for the refrigerant circuit, which can regulate the refrigerant flow by means of an electric actuator.

The design allows both air conditioning during warm outside temperatures and heat pump operation at low temperatures. Using a more efficient heat pump reduces energy use, which can increase vehicle range.

THE TECH

EU approves €3.2-billion project to create more sustainable Li-ion batteries Gentherm and GM find microclimate comfort system reduces energy use up to 69% in cold weather Gentherm, a developer of thermal management technologies, has published the results of a study it performed in partnership with GM to understand the real-world effectiveness of a microclimate comfort system in reducing energy use in EVs. The study found that Gentherm’s ClimateSense microclimate comfort system increases driving range and energy savings.

As part of the project, GM sought a 30% overall reduction in energy use without sacrificing passenger comfort.

Gentherm developed a proof-of-concept microclimate system that is based around the front two passenger seats and integrates electronics, embedded software and a thermophysiology-based control algorithm. The company then installed the two-zone system into a Chevrolet Bolt EV. The study found that: • ClimateSense provides 50-69% energy savings with two zones active, and improves overall customer comfort, in -7° C cold-weather testing.

• ClimateSense provides 34% energy savings with two zones active, and improves overall comfort, in hot-weather testing.

Gentherm President and CEO Phil Eyler said, “The proliferation of ridesharing, electrification and autonomous vehicles has created a need to redesign the interior of a vehicle. Yet, when we look at the interior cabin of today’s vehicle, the HVAC and thermal management approach has only seen minor incremental changes over the last 50 years.”

20

The European Commission recently approved a €3.2-billion research project that will address every level of the value chain of Li-ion batteries in the European market.

The Commission designed the project to support the development of innovative technologies that improve charging time, battery life, safety and sustainability.

The project participants will focus on four areas: 1. Raw and advanced materials: Develop sustainable processes for the extraction, concentration, refining, and purification of ores to generate high-purity raw materials.

2. Cells and modules: Develop new technologies that meet safety and performance requirements for both automotive and non-automotive applications.

3. Battery systems: Develop battery systems, including battery management software and algorithms, as well as innovative test methods.

4. Repurposing, recycling and refining: Design safe and innovative processes for collecting, dismantling, repurposing, recycling, and refining recycled materials.

Seven EU members will finance the project: Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Sweden. In the coming years, the countries will provide up to €3.2 billion in funding, which they hope will unlock an additional €5 billion in private investments. The completion of the overall project is planned for 2031, though each sub-project has its own timeline.

This new project is part of the European Battery Alliance, which the Commission launched at the end of 2017 with certain EU members and industrial stakeholders.

Margrethe Vestager, EU Commissioner in charge of competition policy, said, “Battery production in Europe is of strategic interest for our economy and society because of its potential in terms of clean mobility and energy, job creation, sustainability and competitiveness.”

YOUR WORLD LEADING PARTNER IN INTELLIGENT HEATING & CONTROL Heating solutions for vision systems, batteries, fluids, radar systems & much more!

Backer has over 40 years of experience providing thin flexible foil heaters to the automotive industry that began with heated side rear-view mirrors. As one of the largest automotive heater suppliers in the world, we have a vast knowledge of the demands in the transportation business.

Electrification and self-driving vehicle development has made Backer a key player in new heating solutions that are instrumental to the vehicle reliability. Our heaters integrate into various battery technologies, camera and LIDAR

HTI E V E R Y D AY¡ E V E R Y W H E R E

info@backerhti.com

systems, including the most efficient camera

Phone no: 1-847-931-1304

defrost heater on the market (patented), and

backerhti.com

radar heaters that avoid signal interference.

THE TECH

A CLOSER LOOK AT

SEMICONDUCTOR PACKAGING CONSIDERATIONS IN EVS

By Jeffrey Jenkins ne of the most critical decisions to be made at the earliest stage of designing a new power converter concerns the packages used for the semiconductors, as pretty much every other aspect of the design hinges on their physical form. This is especially true for the main power converters used in EVs—on-board chargers, DC/ DC converters and inverters—as there are tight constraints on the size (and cost, of course) allotted to each. Furthermore, any device that has direct or incidental contact with the AC mains will also need to meet some rather onerous electrical safety requirements which—as a case study below will show—can critically depend on the package used for the semiconductor switches.

O

22

The power semiconductor components most likely to be used in EVs come in two different form factors: (1) plastic types such as the TO-220 and TO-247 packages, which feature wire leads and a (usually non-isolated) heatsink tab, and which typically contain a single diode or switch (with or without anti-parallel diode); (2) modules, which typically contain several components pre-wired in commonly used configurations (e.g. a halfbridge plus a temperature sensor), all mounted on an electrically-isolated heat spreader. Modules also tend to have screw terminals for the high-power connections and pin or spring terminals for the low-power connections, making integration into a bused structure (and replacement of a damaged module) much easier. Despite the radical differences in their physical (and, often, electrical) aspects, there’s no clear distinction for when to choose a plastic package component or a module; using a rather broad brush to delineate between the two, modules are preferred if more than 50-100 A RMS must be handled, whereas plastic packages are preferred if switching frequency must be considerably above the ultrasonic range (e.g. >40 kHz). These are obviously very different criteria, nor are they mutually exclusive, but suffice it to say that if you need to switch >100 A RMS at >100 kHz, then you’re

looking at a design challenge worthy of a PhD dissertation.

There are numerous other criteria as well as exceptions to the above rules of thumb—for a notable example, Tesla was quite fond of using dozens (84!) of TO-247 switches in its earlier inverters—but it is telling that the Model 3 inverter uses what might be called a quasi-modular approach, with far fewer devices (24) of much higher individual power rating, but still in a plastic package-like form. In fact, why Tesla might have chosen a TO-247 package device at first, only to transition to a semi-custom module later on, is precisely the subject of this article.

Prior to the emergence of OEM EVs, power semiconductor modules were designed specifically for industrial applications, with the vast majority being used in 3-phase motor drives supplied by the AC mains. Consequently, the available voltage ratings were in rather coarse steps of 600 V for 208-240 VAC mains applications, 1,200 V for 440480 VAC, 1,700 V for 575-600 VAC, and so on.

Furthermore, 3-phase motors also come in rather coarse power rating steps, so the current ratings for modules were equally coarse as well. Also, industrial applications tend to be more concerned with reliability and efficiency than with minimizing size (and the noise from “singing” motors

Despite the radical differences in their physical (and, often, electrical) aspects, there’s no clear distinction for when to choose a plastic package component or a module.

Semiconductors in TO-247 and TO-220 packages

Why Tesla might have chosen a TO-247 package device at first, only to transition to a semi-custom module later on, is precisely the subject of this article.

JAN/FEB 2020

23

THE TECH

3-phase motors also come in rather coarse power rating steps, so the current ratings for modules were equally coarse as well. and transformers), so the diodes and switches inside the modules weren’t particularly fast (i.e. PWM frequency rarely exceeded 10 kHz, and was usually closer to 1 kHz, especially at 1,200 V and above). Finally, while the market for all industrial motor drives is quite large, the market for any one particular voltage/current combination is relatively small, and some combinations of voltage/ current just don’t make sense industrially. For example, it is possible to get 1,700 V modules rated for 3,500 A or higher, but for 600 V modules the highest current rating commonly available is 600 A. This is because no (sane) industrial customer is going to try running a >200 hp motor from 240 V mains!

Conversely, there is a veritable smorgasbord of devices and ratings in the plastic TO-247 (and smaller TO-220) packages, such that any practical combination of voltage, current and switching frequency can be had with judi-

Modern style industrial IGBT package

24

cious circuit design and layout (and a PCB capable of handling the current). More specifically, almost any current rating can be obtained by paralleling as many TO-247 devices as necessary…at the rate of about 20 A to 50 A per device, depending on the device technology, total losses, and how heat from said losses is removed from the junction (but note that it takes increasingly heroic measures to keep the junction temperature of a TO-247 device below 100-125° C once dissipation exceeds 50 W). For example, SiC MOSFETs have extremely low switching and conduction losses, and can tolerate operation at much higher temperatures than conventional Si MOSFETs or IGBTs, so the limiting factor on how much current can be crammed through one in a TO-247 package might very well be the ampacity of the bond-wires and/or leads. In contrast, a TO-247 IGBT with a fairly constant voltage drop of 2.2 V and comparatively high switching losses might struggle to handle 25 A, even with liquid cooling. Another factor that greatly affects the ampacity per device is that the heatsink tab on the conventional TO-247 and TO-220 packages is directly connected to the collector or drain, for IGBTs and MOSFETs, respectively, so some form of insulator will be needed between the tab and the heatsink.

Unfortunately, most materials which are good electrical insulators are also good thermal insulators, such that even extremely thin sheets of mica, silicone rubber or Kapton (aka polyimide) will add around 1° C/W of thermal resistance to a TO-247 package (and up to 3° C/W for the smaller TO-220). This resistance adds to that of the junction to case and the

Almost any current rating can be obtained by paralleling as many TO-247 devices as necessary…at the rate of about 20 A to 50 A per device.

Thermal conductivity vs resistance These two specs get tossed around a lot in power electronics, and while thermal resistance is easy to grasp—it is the thermal analog to electrical resistance, with heat in watts as current (okay, that is admittedly confusing) and temperature rise as voltage—thermal conductivity seems to be a bit trickier, mainly because of the confusing units it is given in of W/m-K (or in Imperial units of…on second thought, let’s not even go there). The key difference is that thermal conductivity describes a property of a material in general, while thermal resistance describes a specific use of that material. For example, a 200 mm2 * 1 mm thick insulator pad made of alumina (i.e. aluminum oxide, which has a thermal conductivity of 30 W/m-K) will have a thermal resistance of 0.167° C/W. If the thickness is doubled to 2 mm, then the thermal resistance will also double, while if the area is doubled then the thermal resistance will be halved. In all cases the thermal conductivity is the same, however. Similarly, if the same 200 mm2 * 1 mm insulator is made out of aluminum nitride, then its thermal resistance will plummet to less than 0.018° C/W, or 9.5x less, which makes sense given that aluminum nitride has a thermal conductivity 9.5x better than aluminum oxide.

heatsink to ambient pathways, hence the practical upper limit of 50 W dissipation per TO-247.

There are a couple of exceptions to the “good electrical insulator = poor thermal conductor” rule: aluminum oxide and nitride. The former has a bulk thermal conductivity of 30 W/m-K, while the latter clocks in at 285 W/m-K [see sidebar: Thermal conductivity vs resistance]. Both compare rather favorably to the thermal conductivity of mica at 0.3 W/m-K (or 100x to almost 1,000x worse), but aluminum nitride is an even better conductor of heat than pure aluminum (235 W/m-K), though still not as good as pure copper (400 W/m-K). Both aluminum oxide and nitride are ceramic-like materials that are hard and brittle, and also like ceramics, they are refractory (i.e. they have a very high melting point), so insulators made from them have to be relatively thick (1 mm seems to be a practical limit) com-

The inside of the Tesla Model 3 inverter with 24 semi-custom modules (and a custom DC link capacitor)

JAN/FEB 2020

25

THE TECH

with at the proverbial eleventh hour.

This discussion circuitously segues back to a considerable advantage of modules: the heatsink “tab” is already electrically insulated from the semiconductor dice, and the dice themselves are typically encapsulated in a special silicone gel, which both improves heat removal from the bondwires and does a decent job of containing shrapnel and metal vapor should things go pear-shaped.

More specifically, the usual construction of a module is a sandwich consisting of dice Cross sectional construction of TO-247 semiconductor package soldered to intermediate heat spreaders (usually of copper) to increase the area available for transferring heat (and provide a common electrical connection between dice), followed by an aluminum oxide or nitride sheet which provides electrical isolation and, finally, a single heat spreader which also serves as the mounting baseplate. Basically, the intermediate heat spreaders lower the total thermal resistance from junction to heatsink compared to a solution using multiple TO-247 components, while the silicone gel and alupared to mica (~0.1 to 0.3 mm) or silicone rubber (<0.5 minum nitride insulators provide considerable voltage mm). Even so, aluminum oxide and nitride insulators withstand rating. In fact, most (if not all) modules for are quite fragile. For example, a product I have helped industrial applications have been “recognized” by the to redesign utilizes SiC MOSFETs in a TO-247 package with 1 mm-thick aluminum nitride insulators between them and the extruded aluminum heatsink. During UL “open/short” testing (in which the UL inspector randomly opens or shorts various components, looking for potential safety issues), one of the switches exploded and shattered the aluminum nitride insulator.

This allowed excessive fault current into earth ground, which is a definite fail of the test (it is perfectly acceptable for your product to quit working during this particular test, it just can’t catch fire or create a shock hazard). Changing the fuse to a faster-acting type (read: more expensive, and more prone to “nuisance trip”) sufficiently limited fault energy to less than what is needed to rupture a TO-247 package, but Cross sectional construction IGBT module this is not the sort of thing you want to deal

A considerable advantage of modules: the heatsink “tab” is already electrically insulated from the semiconductor dice.

26

EC H P A OT BO

47

15

This is where the advanced packaging solutions conjured up for the Model 3 by Tesla and STMicroelectronics come in. major safety agencies (UL, TUV, Intertek, etc) for a given voltage withstand (or “hi-pot”) rating, which makes passing their tests a lot easier (by taking less time and costing less money).

As is usually the case, there are advantages and disadvantages to both types of packaging technology for semiconductors—there’s no such thing as a “one size fits all solution”—and so, unsurprisingly, none of the existing offerings are ideally suited to EV (or hybrid) applications.

This is where the advanced packaging solutions conjured up for the Model 3 by Tesla and STMicroelectronics come in: a new approach to module design that combines the low-cost and reduced stray inductance of a plastic package with the electrical isolation, improved thermal performance and greater current rating per device of a classic industrial module, all with a form factor tailored for EV applications, rather than the “one size sort of fits most” of yesterday’s technology.

EV | HEV | Battery Testing Solutions Satisfy design verification testing of battery cells, modules and packs, AC Level 1 and 2 EVSE, wireless chargers, on-board chargers, motor drivers, DC-DC converters, controllers, harnesses, connectors, relays, wound components, and electrical safety.

Regenerative Battery Cyclers, Simulators, and Insulation Testers

Regenerative Grid Simulators

AC DC Electronic Loads

Bidirectional DC Power

Electrical Safety Testers

Wireless Charger Testers (WPT)

Impulse Winding Testers

chromausa.com | 949-600-6400 | sales@chromausa.com

© 2020 Chroma Systems Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.

BMS Validation Testing

By Tom Lombardo

28

THE TECH

T

he battery pack is not only one of the most expensive components in an EV—it’s also incredibly complex, in some cases comprising thousands of individual cells. The tasks of preserving a battery’s efficiency, lifespan, thermal stability and safety rest upon the battery management system (BMS), an embedded controller that regulates the flow and distribution of power to and from the cells. Since rechargeable batteries are used in such a wide variety of applications, battery management systems don’t lend themselves well to off-the-shelf solutions, so engineers often design a custom BMS for each application.

There are many widely different BMS architectures and software algorithms within the EV space alone.

Each battery pack configuration and cell distribution leads to different cooling strategies, distribution of BMS cell monitoring resources and BMS architecture. Power, energy, range, life and safety are key variables that every EV manufacturer needs to optimize for its vehicles.

Furthermore, a vehicle’s target driver persona can lead to many different driving styles, and the BMS algorithms and testing will be customized for each one.

To learn more about BMS testing, Charged spoke with Peter Blume, founder and President of Bloomy, and Grant Gothing, the company’s Chief Technology Officer.

Bloomy has nearly three decades of experience in the energy storage arena, starting with fuel cells in the early 1990s and moving into lithium-ion batteries in more recent years. During that time, the company has designed and built BMS testing systems for dozens of the top EV manufacturers. It even designed one for a hybrid tank that was built for the US Army, and the cell simulation circuits designed for that project evolved into the company’s flagship product, the Battery Simulator 1200.

Why a battery simulator?

A BMS is responsible for handling a multitude of variables related to a battery’s state of charge, safety, and the health of individual cells. Simulating each cell under different conditions is the most efficient, cost-effective and safe way to accomplish designing and testing the BMS. As every first-year EE student knows, the way to simulate a battery is with a power supply, so Bloomy started out by stacking individual power supplies to represent a battery pack.

Each battery pack configuration and cell distribution leads to different cooling strategies, distribution of BMS cell monitoring resources and BMS architecture.

Given the number of cells in a typical EV battery, you can imagine how large and costly it would be to model each one with a dedicated power supply. Also, off-theshelf power supplies tend to deliver 200 watts or more, while BMS testing requires no more than 10 to 20 watts per cell. You also cannot simulate the bidirectional sink and source current flow characteristics of real cells using a conventional power supply. When racks of power supplies became too expensive and unwieldy for the job, Bloomy decided to build its own simulator.

“What we were able to do is really compress the form factor and limit the amount of power that the actual system needed, then focus on the range and accuracy that we’re looking for, which is much smaller than a typical commercial off-the-shelf programmable power supply,” Gothing told Charged. “It also had higher isolation. A lot of these programmable power supplies that we were using had 150 V, maybe 300 V isolation, whereas if we wanted to stack up a full EV pack, we would need 500 to 1,000 V of isolation. So we were able to build all of that into the prototype of our cell simulator.”

Bloomy produces all the mechanisms to inject whatever failures or conditions that the customer needs to test, using the customer’s (often proprietary) cell chemistry models. Most BMSs have similar algorithms and interfaces, but each is optimized for a particular application.

Bloomy engineers work with customers to tailor the test scenarios so they meet the requirements of their systems.

What aspects of a BMS are being tested?

We can think of a BMS as the controller responsible for monitoring and preserving a battery’s state of health (SoH), state-of-charge (SoC), and safety.

“Designers are looking for sanity checks or tuning of their algorithms that verify the state of charge,” according to Gothing. “A lithium-ion battery is great in that its voltage profile over its state of charge is very flat, but that

JAN/FEB 2020

29

THE TECH For EV applications, Bloomy says that 24 and 96 cells are the most common configurations requested by its customers. makes it difficult to predict where it is, especially over time. Our customers are trying to make sure that their BMS accurately predicts the state of charge of a battery over long periods of time. We have a hardware-in-theloop system that allows us to run models of different cell chemistries, and the customer can then, using our cell stimulators, apply all of the I/O, all of the signals to the BMS to [make it] think that it’s driving along at 60 miles an hour, then clicking into a charging station and sitting overnight, simulating all the things that an EV is doing.”

This is done in a lab setting that’s controllable, repeatable, and inherently safe, with no actual lithium batteries present. This enables BMS manufacturers to tune their algorithms to make sure that the predicted state of charge matches what the modeled cell chemistry says it should be. That allows engineers to produce a more effective BMS geared toward specific needs, and verify that their SoH and SoC algorithms can accurately predict how much life is left in a battery.

On the safety side, a BMS needs to ensure that each cell’s SoC doesn’t go too low or too high, which is dangerous, if not impossible, to simulate with an actual battery pack. “How does the BMS system react to one cell that is way out of whack or a broken wire? How does it handle that? What does it shut down? Maybe they want to be able to do a lifecycle analysis and detect, over time, how degradation can affect their algorithms,” Gothing elaborated. “There are a lot of things that are very difficult and incredibly unsafe to test using physical batteries.”

Due to manufacturing anomalies and slight differences in operating conditions, the cells within a battery don’t charge or discharge in exactly the same way. One especially important responsibility of a BMS is to maintain cell balance to ensure that these variations don’t impact the whole battery pack. A few millivolts here and there might seem small, but with numerous cells in play, minor

30

variations accumulate and become significant over time.

Simulation allows engineers to set a particular cell to a certain voltage and see whether the BMS algorithm is responding as expected.

Testing at any scale

Battery pack designers have a variety of testing needs— some want to test each individual cell, some are looking at the battery unit as a whole, and others are somewhere in between. For EV applications, Bloomy says that 24 and 96 cells are the most common configurations requested by its customers.

“If you think of a battery management system, there’s typically a series of cell monitoring units (CMUs) at a smaller level,” Gothing explained. “Maybe there’s 10 or 16 of those—and then those are communicating with the BMS or the battery control unit (BCU—different companies use different nomenclatures). The BCU is kind of interfacing with the vehicle and the rest of the world—the engine control module, high-voltage interlock contactors, heaters, chillers, and all that kind of stuff, whereas the CMUs are sitting and looking at the individual cells.

Some of our customers just want to test the BCU and a couple of CMUs, in which case we’ll provide them 24 cells of simulation plus communications and everything to make the high-level BMS think that it’s connected to 16 modules. Some customers want to simulate every single cell but not pull them up to the full pack voltage, 800 V. There’s a lot of variety, and it depends on how the

The common denominator is simulating at least one, and often all, of the modules in the system and simulating all of the I/O, all the signals that go into and out of the modules and the BMS to make it think it’s running in the real world, and be able to inject edge conditions and see how it reacts.

battery management system is architected in terms of how you can test it. The common denominator is simulating at least one, and often all, of the modules in the system and simulating all of the I/O, all the signals that go into and out of the modules and the BMS to make it think it’s running in the real world, and be able to inject edge conditions and see how it reacts.”

Temperature monitoring

Bloomy battery HIL simulators use a cell chemistry model that takes into account the initial state of charge, cell capacity, ambient temperature and other variables. Those factors are combined with the overall simulated pack current—the amount being sent to the motors—while engineers vary the pack current and outside temperature. The models then generate outputs for cell voltage, expected state of charge and temperature.

Those outputs, specifically the pack voltage and temperatures, are injected into the circuit board so it sees all of those conditions as if it were in an actual vehicle.

Bloomy said that some engineers provide a chemistry model that represents a cell with a high effective series resistance, which would cause the unit to generate more heat. The module with a defective cell is then run through an acceleration profile followed by a charging profile, which shows how the BMS responds to the increased cell temperature. Engineers examine the test results and determine whether the BMS is functioning properly, or if it needs changes to its hardware, software, or both. “Hardware is done through a validation kind of phase, what we would call non-real-time,” Gothing told us. “You’re setting I/O and making sure the hardware turns on and turns off appropriately. The real-time side of things, the running of models, is more of an algorithm-tuning exercise.”

Custom battery management systems

Although EV battery makers comprise the bulk of Bloomy’s customer base, the company also works with clients who make drones, robotics, power tools, renewable energy storage systems and other battery applications. So why do so many manufacturers create their

The BMS development lifecycle and the types of testing equipment that is performed at each stage.

Image courtesy of Bloomy

own BMS, instead of seeking out an off-the-shelf solution?

“People make a BMS to optimize performance for a particular set of conditions,” explained Gothing. “Those conditions could be the vehicle, the vehicle dynamics, the motors that are being used on it, the weight of the vehicle, all of those kinds of things. The optimization of those things could mean the difference between a vehicle range of 200 and 250 miles. If you compare that to a power tool, the difference between a drill battery that lasts two hours versus two and a half hours, that is not as compelling as an EV [application]. So the BMS design depends on the exact features you want to optimize for, and that is highly customized.”

Bloomy’s flagship product

Bloomy offers a comprehensive range of BMS automated testing equipment spanning R&D, validation and production. The heart of all of Bloomy’s BMS testing equipment is the Battery Simulator 1200, but cell simulation is only one part of the complete system. “We use

JAN/FEB 2020

31

THE TECH

National Instruments (NI) products mostly to simulate the I/O associated with the rest of the world,” Gothing explained. “Simulating pack currents, thermistor values, contactor loads, CAN or isoSPI communication—essentially all the interfaces to make the BMS think that it’s driving along. We use instrumentation, typically NI PXI instrumentation, along with our battery simulators to simulate all of this real-world I/O. And then we run models in a NI software environment called VeriStand, which is essentially a real-time engine for hardwarein-the-loop closed-loop testing. That allows us to run models like a Mathworks Simulink model to control I/O, handle communications, do everything in a fast 400 Hz or 1,000 Hz loop to continuously pretend to be the real world. From there we develop test scripts, user interfaces and reporting mechanisms, so that customers can automatically run through an Excel file of pack currents and see how the system runs or how the BMS responds. While it’s running that, they can manually set a single cell high and see how the BMS Schematic diagram of each independently programmable cell voltage isolated to 1,000 V both channel-toresponds, run test scripts channel as well as channel-to-ground­—from multiple Battery Simulator 1200 instruments—allowing more that go through and verify than 200 cells connected in series in order to simulate an EV pack up to 1,000 V. that every single cell can

32

Images courtesy of Bloomy

Bloomy’s Battery Simulator 1200 product. 12 simulated cells packaged in a rack-mountable enclosure for mounting in standard equipment racks.

The cell terminals are 4-wire cable assemblies to sense and feedback the cell voltage where they connect to the BMS.

balance appropriately, validate at what voltage each cell will balance at, and see what variations there are from cell-to-cell measurements on the BMS.” Some of Bloomy’s customers purchase an entire turnkey system, which includes the Battery Simulator 1200 (BS1200) instruments, integrated with Bloomy’s Battery Fault Insertion Units (FIU), software templates for configuring common BMS tests and the NI hardware and software.

Others purchase the BS1200 with soft front panel executable software and driver software as an off-the-shelf stand-alone product.

The company recently released Version 3 of its software, which allows customers to control and configure cell simulators from PCs, controller area networks (CANs) and other Ethernet-based systems. “The updates give the customer complete control over the battery simulator,” said Gothing. “It also allows them to combine multiple BS1200 instruments and control them at the same time. Previously our soft front panel would really only let you address one set of up to 12 cells and one of our instruments at a time. The new software allows you

Design better devices — faster. to address any number of Battery Simulator 1200 instruments at the same time from the same computer by just selecting which instrument you’re talking to. It has a graphical interface showing the current state of the 12 cells, and you can command the voltages and current limits individually for each cell. In addition, there’s now access to all of the auxiliary I/O for simulating temperatures, and it has analog outputs, voltages, and other types of functionality.”

Once a BMS passes all simulated tests, the manufacturer will conduct field testing on battery packs in a prototype EV on a test track. Bloomy isn’t directly involved in that part of the process.

There is, however, a feedback loop whereby the client gathers data from real-world testing, injects the conditions into the simulator, and compares the simulated result with the field-tested result. “This is very powerful!” said Blume.

“Engineers are able to simulate test track conditions including environmental conditions and custom drive cycles on our BMS testing equipment in their lab, and actually reproduce the same anomalies and issues that were observed on the test track.”

In addition to BMS validation, Bloomy offers simulators that test a variety of electronic controls and mechanical actuators in the transportation, aerospace, and defense industries, including complex avionics such as flight control computers and full-authority digital engine controls.

Topology optimization of a heat sink.

Engineers from Fraunhofer IAPT used topology optimization and additive manufacturing to design a heat sink, a common component in many electronic devices. The topology-optimized design was then transformed into a simulation application to automate and customize certain design tasks. Now, engineers, designers, and manufacturers companywide are able to efficiently optimize intricate heat sink geometries and prepare them for 3D printing.

The COMSOL Multiphysics® software is used for simulating designs, devices, and processes in all fields of engineering, manufacturing, and scientific research.

See how you can apply it to topology optimization and additive manufacturing processes. comsol.blog/3D-printing-optimization

THE TECH

ENEVATE SAYS ITS SILICON-DOMINANT ANODE TECHNOLOGY

IS READY FOR

EV PRODUCTION 34

By Christian Ruoff

Q&A with Enevateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Founder and CTO Dr. Benjamin Park

ntroducing silicon into automotive-grade lithium-ion cells has been a major topic in the EV industry in the past decade. Silicon is widely considered to be the next big thing in anode technology, because it has a theoretical charge capacity ten times higher than that of typical graphite anodes. Many experts see a race among battery makers to get more and more silicon into their anodes.

Replacing the graphite in a cell with silicon means that you can use less anode material, and fill up the extra space with more cathode material—effectively increasing the overall energy that can be stored within the same volume. This is due to a fundamental difference in the way that silicon “stores” lithium. A layered graphite structure absorbs lithium ions through a process called intercalation—it essentially consists of sheets of graphene that allow lithium ions to be stored between the layers. Silicon, on the other hand, can absorb more lithium ions, because

I

Practical advances in silicon anode technology have not come easily, because silicon has challenges that arise from the same attributes that make it attractive. the two elements form an alloy with a theoretical specific capacity much higher than that of graphite.

Unfortunately, practical advances in silicon anode technology have not come easily, because silicon has challenges that arise from the same attributes that make it attractive. Unlike porous graphite material, which has specific sites open and waiting for ions, when the lithium-silicon alloy forms, the structure of the anode changes, resulting in large volumetric fluctuations. For example, if a particle of silicon absorbs as much lithium as thermodynamically possible, its volume increases by about 300%. That compares to about 7% expansion observed in the intercalation of lithium into graphite.

The problem with many experimental silicon anodes

JAN/FEB 2020

35

THE TECH is that the repeated expansion and contraction during charging and discharging leads to drastically reduced cycle life. So, to use the technology in production batteries, companies have been adding only small amounts of silicon, adding incremental benefits. Basically, they’re still primarily using synthetic graphite, while attempting to increase the amount of silicon in the anode in baby steps over time.

California startup Enevate decided to leapfrog that approach. The company set out to find a way to forego graphite altogether, and build a silicon-dominant anode.

Considering that industry heavyweights including LG Chem, Samsung and Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi have invested $111 million in Enevate to date, the company appears to be onto something.

Enevate recently unveiled its fourth-generation XFC-Energy battery technology (that’s eXtreme Fast Charging), and says it is currently working with multiple automotive OEMs and battery manufacturers to commercialize its technology for 2024-2025 model year EVs. Charged chatted with Enevate’s Ben Park, founder and CTO, and Jarvis Tou, Executive VP of Marketing and Products, to learn how eliminating graphite from the equation might be the key to unlocking silicon’s potential.

Q Charged: Could you describe how Enevate’s

approach to silicon anode technology is fundamentally different from that of other leaders in the space?

A Ben Park: The first thing that’s very important to

understand is that others are using evolutionary approaches, and we’re squarely in the non-evolutionary silicon box. For example, the Teslas and the Samsungs of the world are using silicon as an additive to the anode.

So, even though they state that they have a silicon anode, it’s basically a graphite anode with a little bit of silicon added to it. There was a huge effort going on for many, many years that increased that percentage level of silicon. And the most common silicon that’s added to these graphite systems is in the form of SiO or SiOx as they call it, basically a silicon oxide.

There are a lot of challenges with this approach. First of all, it’s very expensive. Many of the SiO products are over $100 per kilogram. It’s basically an order of magnitude higher than graphite. That’s a problem. Second, it turns out these silicon-based materials have a problem with initial chromic efficiency. So, when you first build a battery, you’ll use up some of the lithium, and you don’t

36

Instead of using a graphite anode and adding silicon, we’re basically saying, “Let’s not use the graphite as an active material and only use the silicon.”

Enevate says its fourth-generation XFC-Energy technology is capable of: » achieving 800 Wh/L and 340 Wh/kg in large-format EV cells, including prismatic and cylindrical.

» pure silicon-dominant anode technology tunable with

10-60 µm thickness and 1,000-2,000 mAh/g that can be paired with NCA, NCM811, NCMA, low-cobalt, or other advanced cathode technologies.

» continuous roll-to-roll anode manufacturing process-

es capable of achieving over 80 meters per minute electrode production, over 10 GWh per electrode production line, with pure silicon anode rolls greater than 1 meter wide and longer than 5 kilometers in length, sufficient for high-volume gigafactory production, among other features.

» lower anode material cost (dollar per kWh) than conventional and synthetic graphite.

» transformative performance improvement, with

five-minute charge to 75% of battery capacity, and, when paired with a high-nickel cathode, capable of over 1,000 cycles using an EV drive cycle test and operation at temperatures of -20˚ C and below.

get all of that lithium back. The lithium basically leaks from the cathode, and if you add more, you’ll actually decrease the energy density of the cell. And, of course, the expansion and contraction of silicon is well known, and it causes damage to the electrode, which causes performance issues in cycle life.

Companies are adding the silicon in terms of active material in roughly the 3-8% range, most recently, and struggling to get to 10%.

Our approach is fundamentally different. Instead of using a graphite anode and adding silicon, we’re saying,

Maximized Reliability with Perfectly Matched Material Solutions for Power Modules

â&#x201E;˘

Visit Booth# 1712 at APEC 2020 in New Orleans, LA from March 16-18 Connect with us on LinkedIn

www.heraeus-electronics.com

Image courtesy of Enevate

THE TECH

Enevate xfc- energy anode Graphite anode

Edge of punched double-sided finished anode with copper foil in the middle

separator electrolyte

1 layer

1 layer

cathode

Conventional Multi-Layer Cell

“Let’s not use the graphite as an active material, and only use the silicon.” As far as we know, we’re the first commercial effort to do this. I think there are now other companies mimicking our approach, but we believe we’re the first.

Q Charged: Could you explain the technical challeng-

es you overcame to make a functional silicon anode work without graphite?

A Ben Park: Within silicon, there are multiple modes

damaging the electrode. All of them are tied to expansion and contraction. So, when the silicon absorbs all of the lithium, it expands to roughly 3-4 times its original size. Obviously, that’s an issue. As you charge and discharge the battery, this causes continuous damage to the electrode and the cell. Think of it like blowing up then deflating a balloon. That’s exactly what the silicon is doing.

Now imagine that you’re trying to hold these balloons together. You can try gluing them together with a hard glue, but if you use rubber or plastic to hold them together, it won’t hold very well, because the balloons are continuously expanding and contracting. That’s what people are attempting to do with binders. Originally, people tried to use an extremely flexible binder. If we stick with the balloon analogy, it’s like trying to use a

38

Enevate's Thinner Multi-Layer Cell

We don’t use a polymer binder, because they’re too weak. We basically just have a film of material. very, very flexible rubber to hold the balloons together.

When you expand the balloons, the material between the balloons will expand and contract with the balloons.

So far that has not been a success, because unlike a balloon, which will always expand and contract similarly, silicon will expand and contract a little bit differently each time. It’s more like plating and de-plating, like what you see in a lead-acid cell, for example.

We solved this problem by, first, eliminating the binder. We don’t use a polymer binder, because they’re too weak. We basically just have a film of material. Our approach has been to create an active material piece. It’s basically one piece of powder instead of a billion powder particles held together with a polymer. That way the silicon can expand and contract within an entire rigid structure, and everything is conductive. Even if there is some cracking, it won’t lose its electrical connection to

Attractive Mobility. the rest of the material. We went away from polymers because, no matter how rigid or flexible you make a polymer, it doesn’t seem to work.

Our second unique solution has to do with the electrochemistry. If you combine silicon with graphite at all, you’re basically forced to use the silicon “all the way,” so to speak, and that contributes to the cycling problem. Because we don’t use any graphite, we have more options.

Let’s say we have a graphite anode, for example, with lithiation that occurs at around 0.1 volts and lower. What that means is that, as you charge the battery, the anode voltage will be reduced, and then you have to get the voltage to 0.1 volts and lower to have the lithium go into the anode. When you charge the battery, the voltage of the battery increases, but the voltage of the battery is basically the cathode voltage minus the anode voltage. So, as the battery voltage increases, the cathode voltage is increasing and the anode voltage is decreasing. To get the graphite to actually absorb the lithium, you have to get the graphite voltage very low—let’s say below 0.1 V to simplify. Silicon will actually absorb lithium at higher than 0.1 volt—almost all of the lithium will react with silicon at a voltage higher than 0.1 volt.

That means that, if you’re creating a system where you have both graphite and silicon, pretty much all of the silicon reacts first as you’re charging the battery, and then the graphite

E-mobility

Infotainment Autonomous driving

Passive components, sensors, power supplies, energy devices and more

Our technologies make your products better. product.tdk.com/en/automotive

THE TECH will react later. So, in a system where you’re trying to get both graphite and silicon to work, you have to utilize the silicon fully. That means that the silicon will expand to 3-4 times its size. It will be very reactive, and will cause problems. In our case, we don’t use that graphite, so we don’t have to bring the silicon to that unstable a level.

We don’t have to expand it that much, so we’re able to use silicon in a more reasonable way. We use less of it, and that’s okay because our silicon is less expensive.

By using those two mechanisms [eliminating binders and using less of the available silicon], we were able to solve the major issues with silicon. We also have to make sure our source is readily available and inexpensive, otherwise it would have zero future in the automotive industry. We’re able to use silicon sources that are much cheaper, and much more eco-friendly, meaning a lower CO2 footprint than other companies. And that is key for the automotive industry. We were very happy that our technical approach, which enabled better electrochemical performance, also enabled better price performance and more sustainability.

Q Charged: How do you control how much of the

silicon in a cell is utilized during cycling?

A Ben Park: This is just something tied to the design

of the battery. All of the lithium in commercial cells today comes in the cathode. Take a high-nickel material like NCA, for example—nickel, cobalt and aluminum. It’s a lithium metal oxide, and all of the lithium comes out of that cathode and goes into the anode, then back and forth. So, what we do, is we design the battery so that the lithium is limited by the cathodes in the battery. So, no matter how much you want to try to charge the battery, you can’t damage the anode.

Q Charged: If using it fully will expand it 300 to

400%, what would you say the expansion of the silicon in your anodes would be?

A Ben Park: On a cell level, we will typically only see

maybe 3-8%, which is within the realm of other graphite cells. The silicon itself will still expand 50-100%, depending on cell design. However, it’s actually absorbed within the electrode and the battery design, so you will never see that expansion from the outside.

We don’t have a single cell design, so it’s difficult to say exactly. We choose the cathode depending on the customer. As you know, we’re involved with quite a

40

In our case, we don’t use that graphite, so we don’t have to bring the silicon to that unstable a level. We don’t have to expand it that much, so we’re able to use silicon in a more reasonable way. few automotive efforts now. Each auto company and each battery company have their own preference in terms of cathodes. The good news is, our technology seems compatible with most of the cathodes out there.

We have our own reference design, but so far it’s been working well with our partners’ materials and cell designs, along with our help and expertise. Those include the high-nickel cathodes that you may have heard about like nickel-rich NCA, NCM811, NCMA, low-cobalt, or other advanced cathodes.

Q Charged: You’ve said that your new 4th-generation

XFC-Energy technology achieves 5-minute charging to 75% capacity with 800 Wh/L cell energy density.

What enables such fast charging?

A Ben Park: There are multiple factors that contribute

to fast charging capabilities. First of all, silicon can react faster, just as a chemical property. Think of a movie theater: if you’re trying to find a seat, it’s going to take a lot longer in a movie theater that’s almost full than in one that’s half-empty. Since we are using silicon without graphite, and we can keep a lot of the silicon empty, it’s a lot easier for the lithium to find a seat.

The second reason is that, because we can keep the voltage higher, it’s much harder to cause lithium plating, which is a huge issue for graphite cells when you’re trying to fast charge. There are other issues as well, but those are the two main reasons.

Q Charged: You’re on your fourth generation of this

technology. Have your previous generations been commercialized?

A Jarvis Tou: Our first,

second, and even third generations were originally designed for consumer electronics. We almost went to market with a cell phone manufacturer to be distributed in the US. It was fully commercialized for volume production, but we had to make a choice as a startup at that point, whether or not to launch into a production model that we would have to sustain for quite some time.

We saw this impending wave coming at us, this massive ramp of EV batteries, just dwarfing consumer electronics and everything else, so we had to ask ourselves: “Do we pivot toward EVs?” That’s ultimately what we did. We ended up not going to market in the consumer electronics space, even though it was fully commercialized. We transitioned to nickel-rich cathodes 3-4 years ago to pursue EV batteries.

Our investors directed us to focus on the EV market for the same reasons that you and I are so interested in it today— because there is this massive wave that’s just inevitable, and coming at us and dwarfing everything else.

A Ben Park: With a focus on

EVs, cycle life was the main thing that we’ve been improving with our technology. Now that we’ve shown a cycle life that’s acceptable to the automakers for the current stage we’re in, we’re focusing on a scale-up. Most of our efforts today are pushing towards scale-up and commercialization.

THE TECH Image courtesy of Enevate

Most of our improvements have been working on the process engineering to make sure everything can handle a very, very fast rate of manufacturing.

Our business model is to be a licensing company. We call ourselves a technology provider, because we often work together with the customer to implement the technologies, and we also have a significant manufacturing line where we test and collect information. Most licensing companies just have a patent, but we actually have an operational line. However, we don’t anticipate selling from the line, at least not today. Our main focus is to collect a lot of data so that we can help ramp up the larger-scale production lines, whether it’s battery manufacturers or automotive companies.

A Jarvis Tou: We spend a lot of our time and effort on

core R&D. Originally we were targeting to license to battery makers, but we found a shift in the EV industry, as carmakers are realizing the battery is not just a gas tank. It’s actually the powertrain or power plant for the entire EV. As Tesla has demonstrated, it dictates almost everything in an electric car. Weight, performance, handling, price, interior and cargo space—just about everything. And at the powertrain level, many automakers want control. They’re almost taking a page out of Apple’s playbook, which is to own the design of the battery and its supply chain, and license and build the core cell-level and material-level battery technology themselves, and use that as a differentiator. Then they can always contract different cell-makers to make the cells. Or have joint ventures, or even make the cells themselves. That’s what we see going on, and it could be a major shift in the industry.

Q Charged: What were the main attributes that you

were focusing on improving while going from thirdto fourth-generation XFC-Energy battery technology?

42

A Ben Park: We’ve made some modifications to the

cathodes, but most of our improvements have been working on the process engineering to make sure everything can handle a very, very fast rate of manufacturing. For example, everybody we’re working with demands a rate of 80 meters per minute or higher, so we had to work on all the processes to make sure we could handle that.

The fifth generation will be mainly driven by further cost and safety improvements. That’s where solid-state technology may play a role. We don’t know if we actually need solid-state to meet our internal milestones.

We’ve set very challenging goals—it’s kind of like the Holy Grail of battery safety that we’re working on for the fifth generation.

Q Charged: You’ve said that you’re working with

OEMs and battery manufacturers to commercialize your technology for 2024-2025 model year EVs. Can you tell me more about the details of that timeline?

A Jarvis Tou: New car platforms take 4-6 years to get

to production, especially from the traditional automakers. So, we’re on that timeline now—we’re currently designing for the 2024 and 2025 model years.

A Ben Park: We are also looking to release the

technology in other non-automotive markets earlier.

We call them gateway markets. It’s very critical to get the technology out there quickly, and to learn from the technology before it’s released into a very mass-market product like a vehicle. So, our current timetable for that is something like 2 years.

A Jarvis Tou: The bottom line is, we can’t take our

eye off the ball, which is the EV market. Because of the sheer volume that it presents, and because it plays to our core mission and vision statements, which center around developing innovative battery technologies to accelerate adoption of electrified mobility and help create a cleaner and more sustainable environment for everyone. And that’s why many of our investors and partners believe in us.

The Premier Global Event in Power Electronics

TM

2020 New Orleans

MARCH 15-19, 2020

Image courtesy of Volvo

Image courtesy of GM

THE VEHICLES

Hummer to be reborn as GM electric pickup truck Volvo unveils heavy-duty concept EVs for construction and regional transport Volvo points out that electric heavy-duty trucks can improve the work environment for drivers and construction workers, thanks to their low noise levels and zero exhaust emissions. The lack of noise allows operators to use e-trucks for more hours per day, which opens up new possibilities for streamlining operations.

The Swedish automaker has already introduced a handful of trucks with alternative fuels or drivelines, including the FL Electric and FE Electric, both of which are fully electric and intended for local distribution and refuse handling in urban environments.

Volvo Trucks President Roger Alm said, “We see great potential for heavy-duty electric trucks for regional transport and construction in the longer term. With our concept trucks, we aim to explore and demonstrate different solutions for the future while evaluating the level of interest in the market and in society. To increase demand for electrified trucks, the charging infrastructure needs to be rapidly expanded, while stronger financial incentives must be created for haulers who act as pioneers by choosing new vehicles with a lower environmental and climate footprint.”

44

We’ve often accused the legacy automakers of lacking imagination, but now we see that at least someone at GM has a sense of irony. The company’s first announced electric pickup truck will be called a Hummer.

GM will not be reviving the Hummer make, which choked to death in 2010, but will sell the Hummer pickup under the GMC brand.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the e-Hummer “is likely to be sold in small volumes as a rugged, jeep-like pickup truck for off-road enthusiasts,” according to “people briefed on the strategy.” It’s expected to go on sale by early 2022, and will be among the first of several large electric SUVs and pickup trucks from GM. GM will build this beast, and other electric trucks, at its Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant, which was marked for closure before the company announced plans for a $3-billion renovation in October.

GM ran an ad for the new irony-mobile, featuring NBA star LeBron James, during the recent Super Bowl.

The ad focused on the silence of the upcoming EV, and also teased some specs: 1,000 horsepower, 11,500 poundfeet of torque, and 0-60 in 3 seconds.

The e-Hummer is probably destined to be a low-volume model with a huge price tag, but nonetheless, it represents a milestone in terms of GM’s EV strategy. Until recently, most electric offerings from non-Tesla brands have been small, practical cars, which, as any marketer will tell you, hold little appeal for US buyers. Now GM is going to electrify the biggest and baddest surrogate sex organ in the auto industry.

Rivian has earned a lot of media attention since revealing a prototype electric pickup and SUV in November 2018.

Now the company has raised $1.3 billion in a recent funding round led by T. Rowe Price Associates. Amazon and Ford also participated in this round.

The recent funding follows a $700-million round led

by Amazon last February and a $500-million round led

by Ford in April. Amazon also ordered 100,000 electric delivery vans from Rivian in September.

Designed as all-terrain EVs, Rivian’s R1T pickup and R1S SUV are notable for their “skateboard” chassis, which include electric motors, batteries, controls and suspension. Each of the vehicles is expected to offer more than 400 miles of range.

Image courtesy of Rivian

Rivian raises $1.3 billion in funding

The R1T and R1S will be manufactured at Rivian’s plant in Normal, Illinois. Deliveries are scheduled to begin at the end of 2020.

Image courtesy of Nicolas Raymond

Image courtesy of Volkswagen

THE VEHICLES

China will not cut EV subsidies this year China will not make significant cuts to subsidies for new energy vehicles (NEVs) this year, Minister of Industry and Information Technology Miao Wei told a recent gathering of auto industry execs. The government-backed Beijing News confirmed that “this year’s NEV subsidy policy will remain relatively stable and there will not be significant cuts.”

China implemented a generous five-year program of NEV subsidies in 2016, but reduced them in 2019, and announced plans to phase them out completely after 2020, citing concerns that some firms have become too dependent on the funds.

This year’s subsidy cut took a bite out of monthly NEV sales, which dropped for the first time in two years. Miao said 1.2 million NEVs were sold in 2019, down from 1.3 million in 2018.

The announcement was music to the ears of automakers. He Xiaopeng, CEO of EV startup XPeng Motors, told Reuters Miao’s speech was “the best news,” and added that policy stability was crucial to the industry.

46

Volkswagen acquires 20% of Chinese battery maker Guoxuan Volkswagen plans to acquire 20% of Chinese battery maker Guoxuan, Reuters reports, accelerating the German giant’s foray into China’s growing EV market. At current prices, the 20% stake would be worth about $560 million.

Volkswagen is currently the top foreign automaker in China, and has set a goal of selling 1.5 million new energy vehicles per year in the country by 2025. The pending deal represents VW’s first direct ownership in a Chinese battery maker.

Reuters describes Guoxuan as a “mid-tier” battery maker, smaller than such industry leaders as CATL and BYD. It is based in the eastern Chinese city of Hefei, where VW is already building EVs with joint venture partner JAC Motor.

Volkswagen is currently building two new EV factories in China: one with partner SAIC that will have an annual capacity of 300,000 vehicles; and another with partner FAW Group in the southeastern city of Foshan.

“By holding a stake in the top Chinese battery makers, carmakers can gain more bargaining power on battery prices,” Shanghai-based auto consultant Yale Zhang told Reuters. “Foreign carmakers are now catching up with their Chinese counterparts on securing battery supplies in China.”

Australian e-truck builder SEA Electric has delivered an electric delivery truck to fleet service provider All Purpose Transport.

The new truck will be making deliveries for IKEA in Queensland.

SEA offers a range of 5 drivetrains for commercial vehicles from 3.5 tons to 27 tons GVM. Customers can select a new cab chassis from their preferred OEM supplier.

The new IKEA e-truck is built on a Hino 917 glider, and features the SEA-Drive 120a power system.

“The 100% electric power system offers a range of up to 300 kms (unladen),” Glen Walker, SEA Electric’s Regional Director of Oceania, told Work Truck Magazine, “saving an estimated 36 tonnes of CO2 per annum when compared to a typical diesel equivalent [and delivering] enhanced driver comfort and safety with little heat and noise, and reduced cost of total ownership.”

All Purpose Transport aims to electrify 10% of its IKEA delivery fleet by the end of 2020.

Another IKEA fleet partner, Sydney-based ANC, has had 3 SEA Electric delivery trucks on the road for the past 10 months. Work Truck reports that ANC’s three electric trucks have traveled a collective 85,000 km, an average of 185 km per day on a single charge.

IKEA hopes to make its home delivery fleet 100% electric by 2025.

Image courtesy of IKEA

IKEA deploys electric delivery truck from SEA Electric

Hyundai and Kia plan to invest €100 million ($111 million) in UK-based Arrival, and will work with the EV startup to develop new vehicles.

Arrival has sold its electric delivery trucks, which are native EVs—not conversions of ICE vehicles— to the Royal Mail and UPS. “Arrival, Hyundai, and Kia will use Arrival’s flexible skateboard platforms and technologies to create new purpose-built electric vehicles across multiple vehicle categories,” Hyundai announced. “Hyundai and Kia will leverage Arrival’s novel microfactories and software innovation while Arrival will benefit from the OEM’s global footprint and economies of scale. This will help accelerate the ‘Two Track’ strategy adopted by Hyundai, to bring zero-emissions battery and fuel cell technologies to the commercial vehicle market.”

Arrival has yet to build a production vehicle, and no details of its powertrain have been made public. The company says it will start testing prototypes in the UK early this year, and begin production in 2021. Hyundai has not mentioned a timeline for its collaboration with Arrival, but did note that the startup would be able to take advantage of the giant automaker’s mass production expertise.

However, Arrival may have a more streamlined production strategy in mind. The company says its vehicles “are assembled using small footprint microfactories, located in areas of demand and profitable at thousands of units,” and that one of these “microfactories” can be brought into production in three months.

JAN/FEB 2020

47

Image courtesy of Arrival

Hyundai and Kia invest in UK EV startup Arrival, will develop EVs together

THE VEHICLES

Image courtesy of Nicolas Raymond

California and 7 other states to encourage faster adoption of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles

Sweden to develop plan to phase out fossil fuel cars Sweden’s government has appointed a commission of inquiry to offer proposals on when and how sales of new fossil fuel cars, and fossil fuels themselves, should be phased out. The group is also tasked with developing a plan to bring about the same changes in the EU as a whole.

The commission is to propose a year by which fossil fuels should be phased out in Sweden, and the measures needed for this to happen in the most cost-effective manner possible.

Sven Hunhammar, Director of Sustainability and Environment at the Swedish Transport Administration, has been named the commission’s chair. The inquiry’s findings are due February 1, 2021.

“Sweden will be the world’s first fossil-free welfare nation,” said Per Bolund, Sweden’s Minister for Financial Markets and Housing. “The transport sector is responsible for a third of Sweden’s emissions of greenhouse gases, and thus has a significant role to play in the climate transition.”

48

California is joining with 7 other states to develop an action plan to put hundreds of thousands more zero-emission trucks and buses on the roads. This new medium- and heavy-duty vehicle collaborative effort will be implemented through the multi-state ZEV Task Force, and will be facilitated by the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM).

The states joining California are Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Participating states have already introduced several programs to encourage adoption of medium- and heavy-duty EVs. California has invested nearly $1 billion in cap-and-trade proceeds in a variety of demonstration and pilot projects to accelerate and promote the commercialization of zero- and near-zero-emission mediumand heavy-duty trucks and buses.

Other states are providing incentives for zero-emission freight trucks, transit buses, and school buses, and/or introducing electric shuttle and urban buses into transit fleets. Still others are allocating Volkswagen settlement funds toward medium- and heavy-duty electrification.

Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Katie Dykes said, “Many communities in Connecticut are located near major trucking routes, ports, and other trucking hubs and are particularly vulnerable to the harmful health impacts of air pollution from diesel trucks. As the federal government continues to ignore the public health of our citizens and the impacts of climate change, state leadership in pursuit of decarbonizing the transportation sector is needed now more than ever.”

New Cadillac EV to be based on flexible battery architecture Speaking at a recent event for investors, GM President Mark Reuss confirmed that the company will unveil a new Cadillac EV in April, and predicted that Cadillac will offer “mostly electric vehicles by the end of this decade.”

The e-Caddy will be the first model built on GM’s next-generation electric architecture, which Reuss described as a flexible platform that will enable the production of a wide variety of models with different sizes of battery packs.

The new architecture “allows us to use as many battery packs as the vehicle specifications call for,” said Reuss. “Six for a smaller EV, or we can go up to 8, 10, 12, or even 24 [modules] stacked on top of each other.” He compared the system to an ice-cube tray: “You can put in as much water to make as many cubes as you need.”

“One of the biggest advantages this approach gives us is how much possibility we can dial into any one program,” Reuss continued. “The system allows us to be as agile as the market dictates, never locked into any one thing. We can meet the market head-on, whatever it is. We can adjust on the fly if we need to. It also means we’re not spending money validating way more designs than necessary. We just swap the configuration.”

Reuss cited the upcoming GMC Hummer as “a great example” of this flexibility. It will be offered in multiple versions with different ranges and performance specs. “If a customer wants a basic package, we will have that.

If the customer wants true off-road capability, we will have that, too.”

Reuss and CEO Mary Barra also said that GM’s new EV batteries would be completely recyclable.

A flexible platform that can accommodate many different EV models sounds like a splendid idea—the market badly needs a wider selection of electric models. (VW, Volvo and others have also touted flexible platforms, but the point usually seems to be to offer different powertrain options—gas, EV, PHEV—for the same model, a much less splendid idea.)

GM has been sounding very charged lately—Super Bowl ads, beefy electric pickup trucks, healthy investments in plants for EV production. However, we’ll have to season these announcements with a teaspoon of lithium salt. Electrek’s Bradley Berman pointed out that Reuss’s remarks about EVs represented about 10 minutes out of a three-hour program of presentations (he did promise more info at an upcoming “EV Day”). And until GM reverses its stance on federal emissions standards, it will be hard to regard any of its ambitious EV plans as permanent policies.

from

Concept to Reality

Make the Leap with our new Automotive Passive Components!

Specialty Resistors • High voltage, anti-sulfuration and high power wide terminal chip resistors • Designed for automotive applications

Power Shunt Resistors • High power (up to 10W) current sensing chip resistors • Wide range of resistance values

Current Sense Resistors • Thick film, metal plate and molded chip current sense resistors • Address high temperatures, corrosion and thermal expansion

Check out our new solutions for Automotive Applications at

KOASpeerAuto.com

MORE THAN JUST RESISTORS

THE VEHICLES

The record for “largest order of electric buses in Europe” is proving to be a rapidly moving target.

In November, Volvo sold 157 e-buses to a French public transit operator, and proclaimed that this order was the largest in Europe to date. Now Keolis, a private public transport operator that manages bus and metro systems around the world, has ordered 259 buses from BYD. The new e-buses will serve the Netherlands’ IJssel-Vecht region, including the cities of Zwolle, Apeldoorn and Lelystad. Deliveries will begin next summer, and will take place in phases to allow the transit operator to gradually integrate the buses into the existing fleet.

Keolis Nederland’s order includes BYD’s 8.7-meter, 12-meter, and new 13-meter electric buses. All will be equipped with pantograph charging connectors, which enable automated fast charging en route or at depots.

BYD has delivered over 1,200 electric buses in 10 countries and 60 cities (including Charged’s home town of St Petersburg, Florida).

“It is another milestone for Keolis Nederland and the Keolis Group in developing and deploying electromobility solutions around the world, and it reaffirms our commitment to supporting public transport authorities in the transition to sustainability,” Keolis Nederland CEO Frank Janssen told CleanTechnica. “We’ve chosen BYD due to our excellent experience with their e-buses. Furthermore, we trust in BYD’s expertise as a manufacturer in developing and maintaining battery packages.”

“We have worked tirelessly with Keolis to provide a complete transport solution,” said BYD Europe Managing Director Isbrand Ho. “Delivery programs on this scale can only be achieved through excellent cooperation and by striking up a long-term partnership.”

50

After positive feedback at London’s 2019 Freight of the City Expo, Tevva Motors has confirmed that, in addition to its six-month rental scheme, it will now support vehicle leases and direct purchases of its e-truck. Series production is set to begin in 2020.

Through its Electrify initiative, Tevva offers urban distribution companies a six-month rental of a 12-ton truck. Under its rental scheme, Tevva provides trucks outfitted with its proprietary EV technology as well as training and technical support. With the subscription service, Tevva hopes to arm businesses with the proof that electrification delivers a reduced total cost of ownership (TCO) for fleets.

Powered by an 80 kWh (with range extender) or 134 kWh (without range extender) lithium-ion-phosphate battery pack, the Tevva Electrify vehicles have an electric range of around 150 km (93 miles) and are available from Tevva with multiple body options. With the range extender, the system’s integrated, cloud-based geofencing software autonomously ensures that the truck delivers zero tailpipe emissions in urban areas.

A demo fleet will kick off in mid-2020 with a group of businesses running vehicles between London and Oxford.

Tevva Sales and Marketing Director David Thackray said, “Of all the fleet directors and logistics managers I’ve spoken to off the back of FITC (Freight of the City Expo), the response has been 100% in favour. What they need—and what Tevva Electrify will give them—is the ammunition they want to be able to go all the way up to the board and the Financial Director and prove that this isn’t just clean, it also adds up. It’s not so much about overcoming uncertainty—everyone knows electrification is coming—as it is about providing evidential proof.”

Image courtesy of Tevva

Image courtesy of BYD

Netherlands takes “largest order” title with 259 BYD e-buses

E-truck maker Tevva adds lease and purchase options to subscription service

NEW PRODUCT

Turn any vehicle into an EV with Electric GT’s crate motor conversion kit

EXRAD Image courtesy of Electric GT

Conversion shops are the bespoke tailors of the EV world—maverick motorheads who craft custom creations for the wealthiest of car lovers. The California company Electric GT has created a “crate motor” that’s designed to make it easier for professional converters or even ambitious home mechanics to electrify vintage ICE vehicles.

New York Times reporter Lawrence Ulrich drove a vintage Fiat 124 Spider conversion equipped with one of the company’s powertrains. The e-Spider packs 120 hp and 173 lb-ft of torque. It makes 60 mph in about 7 seconds—3 seconds better than the gas version’s best. A 25 kWh battery pack mounted in the trunk delivers a 75-85 mile driving range. For larger vehicles, Electric GT can provide packs with up to 100 kWh of capacity (the company salvages batteries from low-mileage Teslas).

“The idea is to take something old and mix it with something new, with good design and engineering behind it,” co-founder Brock Winberg told the Times. “A lot of guys go out in a classic car that’s 40 or 50 years old, but it’s a one-way trip—they get a ride home with AAA,” added his partner Eric Hutchison. “This is for enthusiasts who love their cars but want something reliable that’s good for a weekend drive.”

Electric GT’s system is for those who love to drive. It’s designed exclusively for manual-transmission cars. A self-contained “black box” includes a motor and its control unit, and is designed to be installed under a vehicle’s hood. One quaint touch: the system is designed to resemble a vintage V-8 engine, with faux cylinder heads and orange sparkplug cables.

Electric GT told the Times that even a skillful hobbyist should be able to electrify a vehicle in only 40 to 50 hours, equipped with a basic set of tools, an engine hoist and the company’s manual. The plug-and-play components are designed for safety and simplicity. “We’re taking out all the brain work of having to be an expert in battery safety or electrical management,” Mr. Hutchison said. “You can treat it like a normal engine swap.”

Electric GT’s crate motor is sure to make conversions easier and cheaper, but they remain the domain of wealthy car lovers. System prices start at $32,500 and can exceed $80,000. Converting a classic is usually a project for someone who wants to keep a beloved old car alive, Hutchison said. “It’s the guy who says: ‘I already own three Teslas. Now, how do I get my classic Jaguar electrified?’”

High-Voltage Primary Wire Small Sizes for HV Components 0.5mm2 - 4.0mm2 20AWG - 10AWG

600V, 150C Flexible Tight Bend Radius ISO-6722-1 or SAE

Industry-Leading Proven Performance

Champlain Cable www.champcable.com sales@champcable.com 1-800-451-5162

2021 FORD

MUSTANG Images courtesy of Ford

52

THE VEHICLES

MACH-E An electric crossover with

“the soul of a Mustang” JAN/FEB 2020

53

THE VEHICLES

By John Voelcker t’s almost enough to make you think Ford plans to offer electric cars shoppers may actually want to buy.

The extended debut of the 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E electric SUV culminated in its formal unveiling in an aircraft hangar last November, just before the start of media days at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

The fact that the hangar sat next door to Tesla’s design studio in Hawthorne was, according to a smiling Bill Ford, “a coincidence.”

I

Not a compliance car

Ford invited a handful of journalists to a lengthy briefing on its then-unnamed EV at the company’s headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, a few weeks before the LA reveal. Unexpectedly, executives gave a full rundown of the twists and turns in the development process—including how radically it changed after Jim Hackett replaced Mark Fields as CEO in May 2017.

At that time, the company’s designers and product developers were midway through the creation of what the company itself called a “compliance car” to replace its outdated, uncompetitive Focus Electric hatchback.

The battery-electric Focus pretty much defined the term “compliance car.” It sold in low volumes (10,000 over almost a decade), its range never competed with the best EVs (76

54

miles from 2012 through 2016, and 115 miles thereafter), and it was available only in a limited number of regions. The tone was set at the 2011 launch, when Ford managers spent a great deal of time explaining all the reasons US drivers wouldn’t buy it—and no time on how the company planned to explain the advantages of electric cars.

Few automakers have been quite so explicit as Ford in acknowledging that it had started with a functional but unexciting EV that was intended solely to meet regulatory requirements. The difference Hackett brought during the summer and fall of 2017, the Mach-E team said, was simply to say, “Why aren’t we making it a car people will want to buy?”

“Mustang-inspired”

Over the next two years, Ford marketing materials called the future model a “Mustang-inspired, 300-mile electric SUV.” Rumors said it was to be dubbed “Mach 1,” though a backlash from Mustang enthusiasts seemed to doom that label. It ultimately evolved into “Mach-E” (with a hyphen to ensure it didn’t become “Mache”).

Two years ago, a few reporters who were shown an early model of the revised electric car described it as “literally a four-door Mustang SUV.” And that’s exactly what Ford unveiled, with one hugely important new detail: It’s not just “inspired” by the 55-year-old pony car.

Images courtesy of Ford

The battery-electric crossover utility is actually becoming a part of the Mustang model line. It’s the first fourdoor Mustang, the first all-wheel-drive Mustang, and the first Mustang powered by electricity rather than internal combustion.

It’s a bold move by Ford, and it reflects the reality that utility vehicles blending wagon or hatchback practicality with higher ride height and all-wheel drive are displacing passenger sedans across the globe.

Two-door coupes like the classic Mustang represent a waning segment, so adding an SUV to the Mustang line simply aligns the model with the auto market of the new century.

More importantly, the new model adds immediate brand recognition, sex appeal, and a performance image to electric cars—something only Tesla has done at scale so far.

“Ford has a new electric Mustang?” Ford hopes shoppers will say. “Gee, it must be fast and cool-looking. Let’s at least check that out.”

“Why aren’t we making it a car people will want to buy?

Two packs, lots of power

”

Once Ford’s product team got the OK to make a genuinely appealing electric utility, it had to become a true Mustang, with the full participation of the Mustang design and performance teams. That meant a longer nose with a more traditional (blanked-off) “grille,” and power delivered to the rear axle, not the front, for its main propulsion.

The company says the underpinnings of the electric Mustang are one of five core “platforms” or “architectures” it will use for multiple models globally. A more luxury-focused Lincoln crossover will likely be the next vehicle on the platform, though perhaps not until the 2022 model year.

The 2021 Mustang Mach-E will use a liquid-cooled battery pack offered in two capacities: 75.7 and 98.8 kWh. At the Los Angeles launch, Ford laid out five trim levels for the Mach-E. The base Select model has rear-wheel drive as standard, offering AWD as a $2,700 option. It uses the smaller battery size and comes with 18-inch wheels.

The better-equipped Premium has 19-inch wheels, and

JAN/FEB 2020

55

Images courtesy of Ford

THE VEHICLES

comes in Standard Range or Extended Range versions, corresponding to the two pack sizes.

A California Route 1 version uses the larger battery, but offers only rear-wheel drive, and it’s the one targeting a 300-mile EPA range rating—a compelling marketing advantage. Targeted acceleration from 0 to 60 mph for those models is quoted at roughly 5.5 to 6.5 seconds.

The high-performance GT variant will be the hot rod, with 20-inch wheels and 0-60 acceleration in the mid-3-second range. Its motors have the highest output, targeting 342 kW (459 hp). Other models have outputs from 190 kW (255 hp) to 248 kW (332 hp), depending on pack size and number of motors (all performance specifications are preliminary targets).

56

The company says the underpinnings of the electric Mustang are one of five core “platforms” or “architectures” it will use for multiple models globally.

Ford opened the reservation list for the Mach-E during the livestreamed launch event, with a deposit of $500 for a place in the queue. The fifth model it offered was a special First Edition version, at $61,000, which it said sold out in 10 daysâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;though the company has not revealed how many it plans to produce.

The first Mach-E models in production will be the First Edition and Premium versions, which Ford says are to go on sale in the US late this year. The Select and Route 1 models will follow in early 2021, and the GT will lag slightly, with a quoted on-sale date of Spring 2021.

US pricing starts at $44,495 for the base Mach-E Select, and ranges into the 60s for well-equipped GT versions.

Priority for Europe?

Ford hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t revealed its planned production volume, though global sales of 30,000 to 60,000 seem reasonable.

Some analysts suggest, however, that a large share of early production may go to European Union markets due

THE VEHICLES

If a Mustang can go allelectric, and offer high performance and long range in a package that’s also an SUV (more or less), anything could be possible. to stringent new limits on CO2 emissions that went into effect on January 1. To avoid fines that could run to billions of euros, manufacturers must sell more zero-emission vehicles in the EU—and fast.

Meanwhile, the US regulatory environment remains unsettled. Along with BMW, Honda, and Volkswagen, Ford agreed with the California Air Resources Board to abide by a slightly altered version of the state’s emission requirements—including increasing sales of zero-emission vehicles—so that’s likely where the largest number of early Mach-E models will appear.

Roughly a dozen other states have those same zeroemission-vehicle sales mandates, but Ford’s home state is not one of them. Michigan, in fact, remains one of the least hospitable states in which to own an EV. Challenges include sparse charging infrastructure, a lack of state

58

incentives for EV purchases, and an overt hostility to sales and service of Tesla vehicles.

Getting Michigan up to speed

But perhaps a home-grown, sexy, high-performance electric car that ticks the “AWD SUV” box could get Michigan auto-industry folks excited about electric cars.

Prompted by a boot in the backside from Tesla, they know perfectly well that’s where the global industry has to head, whether they like it or not.

If a Mustang can go all-electric, and offer high performance and long range in a package that’s also an SUV (more or less), anything could be possible—which is why the most radical thing about the Mach-E is that it’s actually a Mustang.

Old-line ‘Stang fans may grumble and spit. For them, Ford is taking great pains to point out that the electric car is an addition to the traditional lineup of Mustang coupes, not a replacement. (Translation: Just ignore it if you don’t like the idea of an EV. Or an SUV. The noisy two-doors are right over here.)

But replacing the underwhelming, almost resentfully-developed Focus Electric with a fast, appealing electric car that’s really a Mustang? That’s about as far from a compliance car as you can get.

C

M

CoolTherm® Materials

The Next Evolution in Thermal Management

Y

CM

MY

Images courtesy of Ford

CY

CMY

K

Ford provided airfare, lodging, and meals to allow Charged to bring you this first-person report from Dearborn and Los Angeles.

As electric vehicle technology evolves, so should your expectations.

CoolTherm® is the market leader in thermal management materials.

Our customizable products help electric vehicles go longer, charge faster and have higher reliability by managing heat in batteries, chargers, motors and power electronics. Ready to think differently about heat? It’s time to experience a different kind of cool. lord.com/cooltherm

THE VEHICLES

Images courtesy of Ford

Ford’s electric SUVs and pickups are on the way One of the biggest roadblocks to greater EV adoption is a lack of electric offerings in the form factors that are most popular with buyers: namely, SUVs and pickup trucks. The Mach-E could turn out to be a good first step towards filling those gaps in the market.

Ford invested $500 million in Rivian last April, and also participated in the EV startup’s $1.3-billion funding in December. Ford subsidiary Lincoln has confirmed that it is working with Rivian to develop a new EV that will be an all-wheel-drive SUV, built on Rivian’s skateboard platform. It’s expected to be launched in mid-2022.

Meanwhile, Ford is developing plug-in pickups in-house. An F-150 hybrid is expected to be revealed

60

this year, and a fully electric F-150 is in the works. Last summer, Ford released a video of a prototype e-pickup towing a million-pound train, as some rough-and-tough truck guys nodded their approval. In December, Ford confirmed that it plans to build electric and hybrid versions of the F-150 at its Michigan plants.

The electric F-150 could appear as early as 2021, but it won’t be alone in the market. Rivian says its pickup will go on sale in late 2020. Tesla’s Cybertruck and GM’s first electric truck are both scheduled to drop in fall 2021.

GM recently announced a new investment of $2.2 billion in its Detroit-Hamtramck plant, where it plans to produce several electric models.

Co-located with

europe 28–30 April, 2020 // Stuttgart, Germany

Discover the future of H/EV manufacturing and technology at the expert-led conference I’ve never experienced such e-mobility know-how and so many networking opportunities in one place.

— Peter Steinbrueck, Development Engineer, Benteler Automotive

Speaking companies include:

Key topics for 2020 include: • Industry Leader’s Panel Debate: The Future of Electric Vehicles in a Rapidly Changing Industry • Latest Developments in Electric Motor Design • Improving Efficiency in EV Transmission & Powertrain • Global Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Forecasts & Developments 6023_BAT20

PASSES AVAILABLE FROM €595

View the agenda at www.evtechexpo.eu

Image courtesy of Tesla

Images courtesy of ClipperCreek

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

ClipperCreek sells 90,000th charging station Tesla activates TransCanadian Supercharger route This may not be as momentous an occasion as the 1869 opening of the Transcontinental Railroad—but almost.

Tesla’s Trans-Canada Supercharger route, which has been under construction for over a year, is now operational, allowing Tesla drivers to take the northern route from coast to coast.

Most of the locations are equipped with Tesla’s new V3 Supercharger, which offers charging levels up to 250 kW (according to Tesla, this allows a Model 3 to add about 100 miles of range in 7 minutes). Another nifty feature of the new V3 Supercharger is that, unlike the current generation, it doesn’t split charging power between adjacent charging points. This, plus the faster charging speed, should help alleviate the long lines at heavily used stations as the new system rolls out.

Tesla also recently deployed the first V3 Supercharger in Europe, and at least one V3 station is under construction in China. The Supercharger network now includes almost 16,000 chargers in North America, Europe and Asia.

62

EVSE manufacturer ClipperCreek is on a roll—the company recently produced its 90,000th charging station, an HCS-D40P model, at its manufacturing facility in Auburn, California.

In addition to building chargers, the company is a Tier 2 OEM supplier for EV manufacturers, and provides circuit boards for the Level 1 chargers that come with new EVs. “ClipperCreek’s founder, Jason France, was building stations for the electric car industry in the 1990s. He continued to perfect his technology even after the market hiatus,” said Will Barrett, ClipperCreek Director of Sales.

“When Tesla announced they were building an electric car in 2006, the Roadster, Jason was able to secure the contract to supply the charging stations for that program.”

“Our technology is relied upon by more than 750,000 consumers and businesses worldwide,” said Jason France, ClipperCreek President and founder.

March 30â&#x20AC;&#x201C;April 2, 2020 | Loews Royal Pacific Resort | Orlando, FL

37

ADVANCED BATTERY TECHNOLOGIES FOR CONSUMER, AUTOMOTIVE & MILITARY APPLICATIONS

2020 CONFERENCE PROGRAMS:

REGISTER BY DECEMBER 20 TO

SAVE UP TO

$400!

R&D STREAM Next-Generation Battery Research Global Supply Chain for Battery Raw Materials Lithium-Ion Development & Commercialization

MANUFACTURING STREAM High Performance Battery Manufacturing Global Supply Chain for Battery Raw Materials Lithium-Ion Development & Commercialization

APPLICATIONS STREAM Advances in Automotive Battery Applications Grid-Scale Energy Storage Battery Power for Consumer Electronics

ENGINEERING STREAM Battery Safety Battery Management Systems

Organized by Cambridge

EnerTech

PLENARY KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS 2019 Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry The Li Battery: From its Origin to Enabling an Electric Economy M. Stanley Whittingham, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Professor, Member, National Academy of Engineering, Director, NECCES EFRC at Binghamton, SUNY at Binghamton An Unavoidable Challenge for Ni-Rich Positive Electrode Materials for Li-Ion Batteries Jeff Dahn, FRSC, PhD, Professor of Physics and Atmospheric Science, NSERC/Tesla Canada Industrial Research Chair, Canada Research Chair, Dalhousie University The Fast-Changing World of Battery Applications Bob Galyen, Chief Technology Officer, Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd. (CATL)

An Intrinsically Flexible Li-Ion Battery for Wearable Devices Avetik Harutyunyan, PhD, Chief Scientist and Research Director, Materials Science, Honda Research Institute

InternationalBatterySeminar.com

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

Image courtesy of IONITY

New Jersey enacts a raft of pro-EV measures

IONITY buys 324 chargers from ABB for second-phase expansion European charging network IONITY, a joint venture of BMW, Daimler, Ford, VW, Audi and Porsche, has purchased 324 new 350 kW chargers from Swiss electronics giant ABB. Purchased as part of the second phase of IONITY’s European network expansion, the chargers are scheduled to be installed in 24 countries by the end of 2020.

IONITY bought 340 chargers from ABB in 2018. To date, the venture has opened 202 charging sites in 18 countries.

Frank Muehlon, Head of ABB’s global business for E-mobility Infrastructure Solutions, said, “We have been proud to support IONITY in the initial phase of its EV charging network roll-out and are very much looking forward to our ongoing work with them to build a comprehensive, pan-European, high-power charging network.”

64

New legislation in New Jersey will make it one of the country’s most EV-friendly states, establishing new purchase incentives and investing substantial amounts in charging infrastructure.

The legislation creates a purchase rebate based on range—plug-in vehicle buyers will receive a credit of $25 per mile of electric range, up to a maximum of $5,000.

Any vehicle with a range of 200 miles or more, and a sticker price of $55,000 or less, will qualify for the full $5,000 rebate. The state already waives its 7% sales tax on EV purchases.

The law also includes several infrastructure projects, to be completed by the end of 2021, including at least 600 new public DC fast charging ports at 300 locations (at least 100 of the locations shall be on travel corridors, no more than 25 miles apart, and will offer a minimum of 150 kW of power); and at least 1,000 new public Level 2 charging stations.

By the end of 2025, New Jersey will also require: • 25% of all multi-family residential properties to provide charging in a proportion equal to EV registrations in the state; • 25% of all overnight lodging to offer Level 2 charging to guests; • 25% of all places of employment to provide at least two dedicated charging spaces for EVs; • 40% of state-owned, non-emergency lightduty vehicles to be plug-in vehicles; • 100% of New Jersey Transit Corporation bus purchases to be plug-in vehicles.

The electrification of the buses will be phased in over the next five years—10% of new bus purchases in 2020, and so on. So, we’re likely to see a substantial order for electric buses this year.

Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson contributed an op-ed to New Jersey’s Star-Ledger in which she pointed out the advantages of electric buses and called for the new law to be passed.

Bidirectional charging encompasses several applications that can be collectively referred to as V2x (vehicle-to-grid, vehicle-to-home, maybe someday vehicle-to-brain). It’s expected to play an important role in tomorrow’s electrified, connected transportation ecosystem, but to date it exists only in pilots, most of them involving commercial fleets. That’s why the new Quasar bidirectional EV charger from Barcelona-based Wallbox, which appears to be the first commercial V2x product aimed at the home market, caused such a buzz at the recent CES trade show.

Wallbox’s Quasar is a DC charger that can send electricity from a vehicle’s battery back to the grid or power a home. It’s compatible with solar and battery storage systems, and comes with an energy management platform that’s controlled by a mobile app (iOS and Android).

Douglas Alfaro, the North American head of Wallbox, is a Tesla alum who spent several years on the automaker’s Supercharger team. The Quasar uses your EV’s battery to do many of the things a storage solution such as Tesla’s Powerwall does: store solar energy for later use; provide backup power in an outage; and, theoretically, offer balancing services to the grid.

The Quasar is about the size of a typical home charger, and is expected to retail for about $4,000. So, it’s much more expensive than a Level 2 home charger, but cheaper than a Powerwall. It charges an EV using DC power (the version Wallbox demonstrated requires a CHAdeMO port, but a CCS version is in the works), but it is not a home version of the DC fast chargers found at highway rest stops (no residential electrical system could provide the power levels used by those commercial systems). The Quasar’s charging level is 7.4 kW (configurable from 6 A to 32 A), a level that’s typical of current Level 2 chargers.

The new charger is UL-listed, comes with a 25-foot cable, and features WiFi, Ethernet, Bluetooth and cellular communications.

“Quasar is the first charger for the home to allow bidirectional charging,” said Wallbox co-founder and CEO Enric Asunción. “To provide a sustainable future, we have to ensure the energy we use is clean. As bidirectional charging offers us the possibility to store energy from

Images courtesy of Wallbox

Wallbox’s bidirectional DC home charger turns heads at CES

renewable sources for later use, it will help us to move towards this future.”

“At Wallbox, we believe cutting-edge technology should be simple, user-friendly, and intuitive,” said CTO Eduard Castañeda Mañe. “We work hard at packing in intelligent and cutting-edge features while maintaining a smart and compact look. Quasar is a result of breakthrough innovations in materials science in order to get a much higher power in a smaller size. We also have special advances in areas like our inverter in order to make it so efficient in such a small area.”

JAN/FEB 2020

65

Image courtesy of ChargePoint

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

Charging station manufacturer EVBox revealed its new fast charger, the Troniq 100, and the redesign of its ultra-fast charger, the Ultroniq, at the recent CES trade show. The Troniq 100 and Ultroniq offer power outputs of 100 kW and 350 kW respectively.

Image courtesy of EVBox

EVBox launches new generation of fast and ultra-fast chargers

The new fast and ultra-fast chargers also offer: • Retractable cables • LED lights • Wheelchair accessibility • Larger touchscreens than prior models • 200 A of power for the Troniq 100; 500 A for the Ultroniq The Troniq 100 is scheduled to be available globally by Q2 2020. The Ultroniq is scheduled to be available by Q3 2020.

66

FSG and ChargePoint create turnkey charging solutions for the commercial market EV charging network ChargePoint has partnered with FSG Smart Buildings to develop turnkey design-to-delivery charging solutions for the commercial market, including system design, installation, commissioning and project management. Drawing on its history as an electrical service powerhouse, FSG plans to utilize its extensive network of employees and subcontractors to execute this large-scale project.

The collaboration hopes to address a nationwide shortage of charging opportunities by designing solutions from the ground up—working to create, install, commission, and implement from a single source. Smart building and EV markets are evolving at an equally fast pace, and it’s only natural they should start developing hand-in-hand.

“Electric mobility is quickly becoming a fixture in the world of smart buildings,” says ChargePoint VP of Sales Adam Cook. “Partnerships like this help empower commercial businesses with the tools they need to join the change.”

Image courtesy of Fastned

Fastned to bring 13 new fast charging stations to Belgium The Belgian region of Flanders is about to become a whole lot friendlier to EV drivers. Fastned, a growing charging network operator, plans to add 13 new highway fast charging stations to its network.

The new stations, featuring charging levels up to 350 kW, will be constructed at current highway parking facilities throughout the Flemish provinces of Limburg, Brabant and Antwerp. They’re part of a 15-year agreement Fastned reached with road agency Agentschap Wegen & Verkeer.

This move will further extend Fastned’s reach, which already includes 114 fast charging stations dispersed throughout Germany, the Netherlands and the UK. All of the company’s stations are open to customers 24/7, and accept payments using either the Fastned app or a credit card.

Adopt a Charger helps to get EV charging installed at public amenities Public chargers are popping up at more and more locations.

The sites are usually chosen for practical and/or financial reasons—areas of high traffic that are convenient to businesses such as restaurants and shopping centers.

That’s a good thing, but there’s also a need for charging stations at public places such as parks, museums and beaches, and in many cases, the local governments and other organizations that run these sites don’t have the financial resources to install and maintain chargers.

That’s where Adopt a Charger comes in. This nonprofit organization works to help put more public, fee-free chargers in service by lining up sponsorships. Sponsors—corporations, organizations and individuals—donate funds, which are used to cover the costs of installation, operation and maintenance for at least 3 years.

Adopt a Charger currently sponsors dozens of public chargers in 9 states. One recent project installed 6 new charge points at state parks in the Los Angeles area, thanks to a team effort by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the California Energy Commission and the California Department of Parks & Recreation.

Adopt a Charger’s mission is simple: to serve the EV driving community, raise awareness of plug-in vehicles, and inspire others to consider electric transportation.

As author Nelson Henderson put it, “The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.”

To adopt a charger in your community, or to make a one-time donation, visit Adopt a Charger’s website: www.adoptacharger.org.

JAN/FEB 2020

67

Image courtesy of EVgo

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

LS Power to acquire EVgo Utility holding company LS Power will acquire charging network operator EVgo from Vision Ridge Partners.

EVgo operates more than 750 charging sites with over 1,250 fast chargers across 34 states. The transaction is expected to close in early 2020.

David Nanus, Co-Head of Private Equity at LS Power, said, “This acquisition provides LS Power the opportunity to support the continued expansion of EVgo’s unmatched charging infrastructure platform, already present in 66 metropolitan markets, and invest further in the company’s growth as the market for EVs continues to expand.”

Cathy Zoi, CEO of EVgo, said, “We have enabled 80% of Californians and more than 100 million Americans to live within a 15-minute drive of an EVgo fast charger, numbers that will increase as we continue to build across the country. Today’s news means that we can accelerate access to fast charging as we grow our network as part of the LS Power platform.”

68

Connected Kerb to pilot wireless charging pads in England and Scotland Charging station manufacturer Connected Kerb, in partnership with Munich-based Magment, will begin trials of a new wireless charging system in Greater London, the English Midlands and Scotland this year. The company will install its induction pads on residential streets, at car parks and at taxi ranks.

On-street charging is a hot topic in London, where an estimated 78% of residents have no private parking.

Various companies have proposed solutions, including a startup called char.gy, which makes a charger that can be installed in lamp posts.

“Induction charging will become the norm over the coming few years, and for good reason,” said Connected Kerb Chief Executive Chris Pateman-Jones. “It’s comparable in performance to traditional charging, however, it’s more convenient and even more simple. Also, induction opens up electric vehicles for disabled people, who are currently excluded from EVs by trailing cables and accessibility.”

Pateman-Jones also claims that “vehicle manufacturers are increasingly including induction charging technology in their new models.” (He didn’t name any OEMs that have announced plans to offer induction charging features.)

Image courtesy of ABB

Michigan offers up to $70,000 in grants to install EV fast chargers The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) is offering grants of up to $70,000 for the installation of DC fast chargers. Successful applicants must be registered in a local utility-sponsored charging program, and can use their grant money for charger site preparation, equipment installation, networking fees, and signage.

The grants are financed by the $9.7 million allocated to Michigan from the Volkswagen diesel emissions settlement. Each EGLE grant is expected to cover up to one third of the total cost of a project.

The EGLE grants are available to any public or private organization in Michigan, or those outside Michigan that have a presence in the state, as well as experience installing and maintaining charging stations. Proposed projects must be within five miles of 75 locations selected

by EGLE. Applications can be submitted online.

“Our grants, along with funding from our utility partners and host sites, will continue to expand the support network needed for a seamless EV user experience across our state,” said Jack Schinderle, Director of EGLE’s Materials Management Division.

EVmatch pilots MUD charging solution with two Vermont utilities The mission of California-based startup EVmatch, a charging solution provider that was profiled in the last issue of Charged, is to make charging stations more readily available to EV drivers. The company offers two solutions: a peer-to-peer sharing platform that makes private chargers available to the public; and a subnetwork platform, which allows a customer to create a small EVmatch network within their property. This enables multi-family dwellings, such as apartments or condo associations, to easily process payments and make reservations.

EVmatch is now testing its subnetwork platform through pilot projects with two Vermont utilities: Green Mountain Power and the Burlington Electric Department.

“EVmatch presented a solution that is of particular relevance to our customers,” said Burlington Electric Department General Manager Darren Springer. “We serve 17,000 residential customers, 60% of whom are renters.

This platform offers an affordable and logistically simple way for property owners to make EV charging available to multi-family residences.”

Burlington Electric currently has 15 charging stations in the Burlington area. The EVmatch pilot will create 16 new charging stations in 2020, with a focus on multi-family residences.

The EVmatch platform works for those customers by offering a manager (property owner or homeowner association) an app-based program that allows residents to reserve and pay for charging time. Because the platform runs on WiFi, it’s less expensive than alternatives that run on cellular and use RFID technology for payments.

The property owner can also choose to make the chargers available to the public when not being used by residents, for example, during the work day, and to charge different rates to residents and the public.

Green Mountain Power already has two EVmatch-enabled charging stations in operation at a condo complex near Mount Snow.

JAN/FEB 2020

69

THE INFRASTRUCTURE Image courtesy of ROCSYS

AUTOMATES CHARGING STATIONS

WITH SOFT

ROBOTS

70

R

OCSYS founder Crijn Bouman is no stranger to innovation. A self-described “entrepreneur at heart,” Bouman has led two Netherlands-based startups in cleantech, software, and electronics. When his first EV fast charging equipment company Epyon was acquired

by ABB almost a decade ago, he stayed on as Head of Product Management for its charging portfolio for about six years. Eventually, the siren song of a new startup caught up to him, and he left ABB to steer back onto an entrepreneurial course.

Bouman began collaborating with co-founders Joost van der Weijde and Kanter Van Deurzen in 2019, and the foundations for ROCSYS were quickly laid. The startup recognized that the next generation of EVs would need fully automated charging stations, and set to work developing what he refers to as the “2.0 version” of charging infrastructure—a robotic arm guided by computer vision that can work with any charging station. “It doesn’t make sense to have to manually plug it in while the vehicle can just park itself,” Bouman told Charged. However, he admits that automated charging stations for self-driving consumer EVs are still a little further out on the horizon for ROCSYS. “At the moment, there is already a significant need for automated charging in professional fleets, where there is a reason for automation. So you can think of harbors, logistic fleets, industrial fleets…where plugging in by the driver is impossible, inefficient or impractical.”

By Brandy Dykhuizen

“

It doesn’t make sense to have to manually plug it in while the vehicle can just park itself.

”

Safe harbors The Dutch have a long history of improving the efficiency of ports and logistics centers, and ROCSYS plans on continuing that tradition with its automated charging technologies. Many ports, industrial areas and logistics operations already use automated guided vehicles. Container carriers, cargo trucks, shuttles and various types of logistics vehicles can now zip around facilities with minimal human interference. Some of these vehicles, however, rely on sources such as pantographs to deliver power. “With the current industry standard CCS connector, we can deliver up to 400 kW of charging power with a robot, which is a one-on-one equivalent to the pantograph charging system, and we will exceed 1 MW soon with new plug standards coming to market,” says Bouman. In an environment rife with moving parts, many of which weigh several tons, dispensing with extraneous wires and rails could improve safety.

JAN/FEB 2020

71

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

These robots are inherently safer, and are designed to be able to be pushed away by hand if someone accidentally winds up between the robot and its target.

Automated charging tech can help streamline an overall logistics workflow and reduce human error, but ROCSYS robots take safety even further. “Another aspect which is quite important is that if you have a robot within a public area, it needs to be intrinsically safe,” says Bouman. “If there is a person stepping in between the robot and the vehicle, you must be sure that [it] cannot harm the person.”

According to Bouman, traditional robots are very unsafe due to their strength, and the fact that they are positioncontrolled. ROCSYS chargers implement soft robotics technologies. These robots are inherently safer, and are designed to be able to be pushed away by hand if someone accidentally winds up between the robot and its target.

Benefits of AI Soft robots are flexible and adaptable, their design is based more on living organisms than a traditional robot. Bouman and his team of engineers have combined these traits with sensor tech to achieve a safer system that can also account for human error. For instance, if a human places her hand between the robotic charging arm and the port, the robot will make contact but is physically unable to hurt the human. Bouman likens it to an elastic system: “You can just push it back, and that’s actually the core of the technology. It has a lot of benefits, being low-cost and safe, and it also has the possibility to deal with unexpected situations.”

The robotic charging arms combine AI software with computer vision, in which the robot draws information from a camera in order to home in on the precise location of the vehicle. From these relative coordinates, it can determine where to place the plug—a slightly slower version of how our brain processes the images it receives from our eyes. “It’s very much like a human would insert the plug,”

72

says Bouman. “It just looks where you have to go, then moves closer to the area where it needs to be by recurring observation and adjustment.”

Compatibility and communication One of the primary design principles driving the team is universal compatibility. “We are aiming to make it compatible with any charger on the market. So basically, the only integration you need to do is mount the plug to the robot, and the robots can deal with the rest.” Bouman seeks to make a product that is both retrofittable to existing charging sites and usable with any new greenfield project. “Maybe at some point we would develop a special integration with a charger supplier or so. But at the moment we’d like to be charger-supplier-agnostic, so it should work with any charger.”

As it stands, the system does not require advanced communication with the vehicle. The robot can determine where to go and effectively connect the plug without a direct exchange with the car. However, a communication protocol is already in the pipeline. This would enable the vehicle to park in a given location and automatically open the cover to its charge port, further streamlining the charging experience. The Tesla Model 3 already uses radio frequency communication to talk to the charging arm, and other manufacturers are starting to do the same. Tesla

Images courtesy of ROCSYS

“

We are aiming to make it compatible with any charger on the market.

”

did, in fact, release a video way back in 2015 of its own automated EV charging device, but has yet to release any further updates or information on that project.

A turnkey solution ROCSYS isn’t limiting its reach to the charging arm. In the future, professional fleets and public charging operators will both be looking for a combination of robots,

infrastructure and services to set up an efficient charging system. While the company is focused primarily on getting the robot market-ready, its ultimate goal is to deliver a completely automated charging experience. “A conceptual analogy would be a car wash-like scenario where you have an input, where you drop off the vehicles, and the output, where the charged vehicles exit,” explains Bouman. He aims to achieve this through a fully automated charging site, blending charging stations with multiple robots in one location.

So how, exactly, does ROCSYS propose to serve multiple parked cars from one position? Bouman admits there are some logistical puzzles: “It’s not like an R2-D2 type of robot, which is driving [around] the parking garage.

Basically, there’s a rail system in the ground where the robots can move along a row of vehicles.” This helps to optimize charging operators’ assets. “If they are installing a 350 kW charger, it’s a $100,000-plus investment per charger. So they want this equipment to be running all the time, every time.” By taking the driver—who is likely to occupy a charger for longer than necessary by catching up on emails or running an errand while his vehicle is still plugged in—out of the equation, ROCSYS can improve the charging station’s top line. Chargers hooked up to a central infrastructure can immediately unplug when the vehicle reaches a set limit, and move on to the next car.

Bouman hopes to offer a system in which each charger could consistently run at the highest possible rate, rather than wasting time while it waits for human intervention.

Bouman’s philosophy? “To make sure that every asset is utilized to the max.” The way he sees it, from container carriers to carparks, a turnkey EV charging solution is just an automated arm’s length away.

JAN/FEB 2020

73

Image courtesy of Electrify America

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

Q&A

WITH

ELECTRIFY AMERICA’S CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER BRENDAN JONES 74

By Charles Morris

t would be understandable to be a bit skeptical about Electrify America—after all, it was founded by decree of a court, as atonement for VW’s diesel-related dirty deeds. However, by all accounts the company is taking its mission to increase EV adoption by building a first-class charging network quite seriously, and is setting a fine example of how a nationwide network should be designed.

EA’s network was designed from the beginning to be future-proof—the company will invest its $2-billion budget over 10 years in 4 cycles, learning from each cycle before deciding how to proceed with the next, and taking advantage of the inevitable advances in charging technology This future-oriented stance embodies the visionary, risk-taking culture that created the modern EV industry, but it hasn’t made for a problem-free rollout. EA was embarrassed by some highly-publicized customer service issues, but the company responded with cooperation and openness—it invited our colleague Tom Molough-

I

“

Q Charged: In Cycle 1, EA focused on highway infra-

We’ll be able to reprogram the chargers to eliminate the perminute pricing across the entire portfolio for California, hopefully with no physical changes...

”

ney to its HQ, and he wrote a no-holds-barred piece for InsideEVs—and it seems eager to address the problems, and bring its service up to the highest standard.

EA might have avoided some of these early issues if it had taken the easy route and set modest goals. Instead, EA’s leaders have chosen to implement the newest and most forward-looking technologies—for example, installing 350-kilowatt charging stations, even though cars that can take advantage of this much power won’t be on the roads in significant numbers for a few years. “We deliberately selected the most challenging road because 50 kW is the past,” CEO Giovanni Palazzo told Tom. “We wanted 150 kW to 350 kW. That decision challenged the industry because the product simply was not there.”

The company has also made a point of being inclusive, testing every single new EV model to make sure all of its stations will deliver a good charging experience to all drivers.

Many of the challenges stem from the sheer speed at which Electrify America is moving—it installed its first DC fast charger in May 2018, and now has 315 stations with nearly 2,000 charging posts in operation. Cycle 2 of the investment plan began in July 2019, and will continue for another 2 years—when it’s done, EA will have 800 locations with 3,500 chargers.

EA’s rapid success is largely down to the highly skilled team it has assembled. COO Brendan Jones is one of the most experienced execs in the EV infrastructure space, having been a Director at Nissan, a VP at EVgo, and a board member at the Roaming for EV Charging Association and the Electric Drive Transportation Association.

He recently spoke with Charged about the electrified road ahead.

structure, installing fast chargers along the country’s major travel routes. We understand that, in Cycle 2, the focus will shift to urban charging sites.

A Brendan Jones: The only one of the big routes we

didn’t cover was the Northerly route. What we’re doing right now is adding some regional routes and some gap fills, [but] we’re focusing over 75% of the allocated funds [for Cycle 2] in metros across the country—we’re in 28 metros. All of that investment is 150 kW and above.

Some of the metros are getting 350 kW, if the station has proximity to a highway.

We’ve deployed faster at a higher [charging] speed than any company in the history of EV charging in the US, which was quite an accomplishment. But that accomplishment may come with some complexity [in terms of] managing multiple manufacturers, multiple chargers, new levels of charging that no one has seen before, with a plethora of new product coming on the market from OEMs. All of that is a bit of a challenge, but it’s a challenge we have a plan for.

Q Charged: What about Level 2 chargers?

A Brendan Jones: We did do some Cycle 1 investments

in L2 chargers, primarily in multifamily dwellings and in workplaces. We’re doing a little bit different take on L2 chargers for California and the 50 states in Cycle 2. In California, we have an obligation to [invest in] charging that serves rural communities on an L2 basis. And we’re figuring out methodologies with CARB in California, on how to make home charging more accessible through a variety of tools and services, that we’ll have more details on in the coming months.

Q Charged: California has implemented some new regulations—pricing rules that require operators to charge by the kWh, not by the minute, and a requirement that most public chargers have credit card readers. These requirements are bound to require major changes in the industry.

A Brendan Jones: They provided enough lead time

on it, and we have the programmers and our network specialists well in front of it. So, from Electrify America’s perspective, we will meet it, no problem. All of our char-

JAN/FEB 2020

75

THE INFRASTRUCTURE gers already have credit card readers on them.

We’ll be able to reprogram the chargers to eliminate the per-minute pricing across the entire portfolio for California, hopefully with no physical changes to the chargers, just software changes to the backend system.

And [that] sets us up for when other states convert— we’ll be able to do that. The industry is moving in this direction, and I think the customers want to see it that way.

It’s more transparent in the end to the customer. California did the right thing in terms of providing the requisite lead time to get this done, and we’re in a very, very good position to meet that challenge without limitation.

Q Charged: The only real reason for charging by the

minute in the first place was that some states don’t allow selling by the kilowatt-hour. Is that situation changing?

A Brendan Jones: Not all the states have converted yet—there’s a few stragglers out there—but with this initiative in California, we will build the ability to convert wherever we need to. I think some states are going to come around and do it this way because consumers are going to want it. Some of the other states, I don’t know— it depends on what their priority [is] on EVs in general.

But down the road, I see [per-kWh pricing] as the unit of measure as EVs get up to five, six, seven, eight, ten percent market share across the nation. California is already at five and six, so it makes it easier for them to be the leader on this. But they’ve always been a leader in EVs as a whole, so they’re just leading on this one as well.

Q Charged: EA works with four different charging

station manufacturers—Swiss giant ABB, Portugal’s Efacec, South Korea’s Signet EV and California-based BTC Power. It was an arrangement born of necessity, because EA was determined to provide 350 kW DC charging stations, and no single vendor could provide the needed volume—more than 2,000 chargers—in a short period of time. It sounds like the experience of working with four companies has been mostly positive, but will EA be narrowing the field in the future?

A Brendan Jones: We’re still working with the four.

We’ll have an announcement later if we’re still buying from all four of them. But we’d maintain relationships with all four, of course, for continuity of service and parts

76

“

The more open the manufacturer is to the addressability of that charger from the network, meaning you can solve a lot of charging issues over the air, the better...

”

supply and technology updates, even if we’re not buying chargers from some of them anymore. But definitely, the goal as we move forward is to get more efficient, and to commonize platforms so that you’re not managing a multiplicity of chargers in the long term.

They’re all four good partners. We made a decision at the beginning to commonize the [user display screen], which is referred to as the HMI [Human-Machine Interface]. No matter if it’s a BTC, an ABB, an Efacec or a Signet charger, you have the same look and feel on the screen. That took a lot of collaboration, and a lot of complexity with the manufacturers to commonize everything on the HMI front. But we believe that, long-term, that was the right move for the customers, so they don’t get a different look and get confused, depending on the equipment. While it’s different manufacturers, the look and feel and process is identical across all of them.

Q Charged: What tips would you give to a charger

manufacturer? How can they make a better product, from the network standpoint?

A Brendan Jones: The more open the manufacturer is

to the addressability of that charger from the network, meaning you can solve a lot of charging issues over the air, the better, because most things today, including cars, are very software-driven. The more firmware and software upgrades you can do over the air, the more cost-effective it is to service those chargers and to provide a better charging experience.

Chargers aren’t that different than gas pumps—they have a lot of parts inside them. A lot of these parts are electronic, and they’re subject to the same environmental issues out there—wind, heat, cold, precipitation. You walk into gas stations, you see one, two or sometimes three pumps that are out of order. All of them need to be

serviced. The advantage that we have in chargers is that, as we move forward working with charger manufacturers, we can have a lot more addressability, fix a lot more of those problems over the air, without having to roll a truck and without having a disabled unit out there. That’s the goal. [The four suppliers] are all doing pretty good on this, and we have a window into the chargers, so we can do our diagnostic work and resolve problems before they happen.

Q Charged: You must work with many different util-

ities. What are some of the challenges of getting the required power on site?

A Brendan Jones: We’re fortunate that [although] there

are over 2,500—some say 3,000—utilities across the US, we’re only dealing with around 200 to 230 of them in our installations. We have a concentration in California of chargers that are going in the territories of PG&E, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric.

There have been challenges with PG&E—but you might imagine that when you’re dealing with rolling blackouts, to prevent fires, a lot of the folks are working on those. Some of them may be the same people that you’re waiting for to energize the charging sites. With that, you have to take a deep breath. What they’re doing is for the public good, so we support it. We work closely with them.

The utilities are, today, very engaged in the EV infrastructure space. They have been very, very good partners to Electrify America, overall. In certain cases, we wish they would move faster, because we’re moving at a pretty breakneck speed, but by and large, they’re attentive to what we ask for. When we ask to have meetings to clarify certain [issues], they do.

When we first started installing chargers in the US, we just stuck a charger wherever we could, and we typically put that charger on host power. A lot of times, when we first began doing DC fast charging, if we installed two chargers, that was the exception—most of the time it was one. If you look at where we’re at today, we’re building much bigger stations. Instead of being on host power, we’re asking the utility to bring in a new transformer.

We’ve increased the complexity, but we’ve also increased the sustainability, and we’re future-proofing the installation. As we’ve upped our game, we’ve also asked the utilities to up their games.

So, they’re being good partners, but everybody has to catch up with the speed and the power needed to serve the vehicles that are coming on the market today, tomorrow, and into the foreseeable future. We’ve seen announcements coming from Rivian [about a pickup] that has over a 400-mile battery on it—that’s going to need a lot of energy to charge.

Q Charged: Every EA charger provides dedicated

power, without power sharing, so the maximum load of a fully built-out site could theoretically be as much as 1,900 kW (8 times 150 plus 2 times 350). That’s a lot of juice!

A Brendan Jones: We commit to every OEM that their vehicle will receive dedicated power. So even if that station’s full, we don’t curve back, we don’t throttle back, we don’t power-share. The largest investor in the EV space is the OEM. They put more capital—in the hundreds of billions of dollars—in this space than anyone else. And when they go to sell that car, they need to tell that customer, ‘You can charge at this rate at this charger.’ If we power-share, then that customer promise goes down the drain. So we dedicate every charger, and that requires a bigger level of commitment with the utility, a larger transformer and a future-proof charging station, where you have the requisite power modules to be able to service each one with dedicated power.

Q Charged: Demand charges—extra, and potentially

enormous, fees that utilities charge commercial customers for using energy at peak times—are the bane of the charging industry. Mitigation strategies, such as

“

If we power-share, then that customer promise goes down the drain. So we dedicate every charger, and that requires a bigger level of commitment with the utility, a larger transformer and a future-proof charging station...

JAN/FEB 2020

”

77

adding battery storage, can shave the fees, but demand charges are still a major factor that network operators have to take into account. In 2019, Southern California Edison announced a moratorium on demand charges for five years. EA must have been happy about that.

Image courtesy of Electrify America

THE INFRASTRUCTURE

A Brendan Jones: That was a great move—we certainly

hope that they make that a permanent position. It makes the economics of charging for the public sustainable for the long term. What we do, and what every other charging company does, is absorb demand charges internally. Because if we pass the demand charge on to the customer, it would be $125 to $140 to begin charging a car, if you charge during peak demand. So, with Southern California Edison waiving [demand charges] for a period of five years, that makes the economics lots more sustainable, and we can plow more money into capital investments and build more chargers. For the industry as a whole, it’s a very bright move for the sustainable future of the EV. Because eventually, if demand charges stay where they are today, the sustainability on the charging side becomes a question. Not that it can’t be done, but it’s much harder to get done.

Q Charged: What are some major lessons you’ve

learned working with the site hosts?

A Brendan Jones: Lots. We learned a lot by making a

lot of mistakes. When we deal with a site host, first we have to give them a commitment that we’re going to take care of everything for them. We don’t want to be on their power because we don’t want to interrupt that site’s ability to expand their own footprint in their operations.

We want to make sure we bring in power for them instead of being on host power. When you do that, they see [charging] as a convenience to their business as opposed to a burden on their business. So, that’s one big lesson learned.

Also, make charging more meaningful and aesthetically pleasing. You’ve got to have an eye towards quality if you want to attract quality sites. The better you build it, with more quality and aesthetically pleasing elements [the more you can] sell it as an amenity to the site owner.

If you look at Walmart and Target and then look at the buying demographic [of] some of the EV drivers that are

78

out there, they’re getting a new customer that they might not have ever seen before. Some of our site owners are very enthusiastic about that, especially when you consider some of the new vehicles that are coming out.

We’ve got an interesting relationship with Bank of America, because a lot of their locations are within previously established retail areas, and they can have [drivers] come to charge [and] use the B of A for banking services, and also have other things to do while they are parked. Bank of America’s done a great job on placement of their banks in [high-traffic] retail areas.

Customers are drawn not just for banking services but for other purposes, and that convenience factor that B of A established with their customers works to our advantage as well, so it’s a big win-win.

These are some of the nuances when we’re looking at sites: Do you have everything a customer wants? Do you have a well-lit area? Does it have 24/7 access? Are the sightlines and safety good? And as you might imagine, banking services, because they have ATMs, are very particular about the way they place their centers, and the way they light their lots. So that was a big win for us.

The Ohio Turnpike was the same thing—they had great concessions as a site host on the turnpike. The customers come in, they hook up to charge and within one minute, they’re inside the concession, using the bathroom and getting some food.

We don’t place chargers around the back—it’s front and center. Feel safe where the charger is, good sightlines,

“

Now the quality of the site host is premium and the customer experience is premium. That’s what we focus on.

Place chargers in locations that our drivers want to go to, not that they are forced to go to because that’s the only place to charge.

”

good light. And where some of our site hosts are a little light on lighting, we do lumens tests. We’ll go in there and add additional lighting around the chargers, so that it’s bright all the time for the customers.

Don’t put a charger where the customer doesn’t have anything to do, or doesn’t feel comfortable going. At the beginning we installed chargers like that because we were mostly focused on managing how things got in the ground. Now the quality of the site host is premium and the customer experience is premium. That’s what we focus on. Place chargers in locations that our drivers want to go to, not that they are forced to go to because that’s the only place to charge.

Q Charged: In the frontier days prior to Electrify

America, a lot of chargers got installed wherever it was cheap and easy. But you had already been through all that, and by the time you got started you had a much better idea about the best places to locate charging stations.

A Brendan Jones: Yeah. We learned a lot in the lessons

of the past and focused on the EV driving public and where these chargers need to be.

The visibility of those chargers is [also] key because when you see it, then you get range confidence: ‘Hey I can fill up in a multiplicity of places.’ I mean, you can see them on the app, but when you see them with your eyes, just like when you move into a new neighborhood

and you drive around and see the gas stations, we want people to move into a new neighborhood and see the chargers.

Highway chargers are easier to put in than metro chargers. Metro chargers, the logistics is making sure that you’re reducing the size of the equipment and the efficiency of the space so that you can put two, three, four, even five chargers into a densely populated metro area. And we’ve made a lot of progress on reducing the size of our installations. For every logistical problem we have, we keep coming up with new solutions, and I’m not talking just Electrify America, the industry keeps being innovative and bringing positive change.

Q Charged: What about those poor souls who live in

urban locations, and have no assigned parking spaces?

A Brendan Jones: We need more public charging and

more accessibility. The ideal state [is like] a three-legged stool. In the ideal case you get all three: home charging, workplace charging and public charging.

On the public [leg], that’s where we need to make sure that it’s fast fueling, so that we get them in and out. And that’s why we adopted 150 kW and above, to make sure that they’re not spending a lot of time on that public charger. If they don’t have [charging] at home, we make it as quick as we can for them, and they can get fueled up and get on their way.

Q Charged: Plug and Charge (based on the ISO 15118 standard) will be introduced in 2020, enabling charging with no need for a credit card or an app to initiate a charging session. Drivers will simply pull up and plug in (as Tesla owners do at Superchargers), and the station will identify the vehicle and automatically bill the customer’s account for the session. How’s the implementation of that coming along?

A Brendan Jones: EA is 100% committed to Plug and

Charge. All our hardware is capable. I can’t tell you who we’re working with, but we’ve made a significant amount of progress, and as long as an OEM wants to put in that feature, EA can enable it for that car. We will enable every vehicle they bring to us—we will make sure the charger can do it.

JAN/FEB 2020

79

Don’t miss our upcoming EV tech webinar

Next generation circuit protection in EVs March 11, 2020 at 1:00pm EST The vehicle electrification era is here, bringing with it a wave of innovative technologies and exponential advancements. However, there are important safety implications to be considered as power, voltages, and charging rates are increasing. To learn more about next-generation circuit protection in EVs, tune in to this webinar presented by Eaton. The session will be hosted by guest speaker Kevin Calzada, Global Product Strategy Manager, eMobility.

In this presentation, we will review: • Market drivers for EV adoption and how those relate to trends in electric vehicle voltage and current • Critical considerations in safety, voltage levels, coordination, and actuation speed—with contradicting design requirements • Circuit protection options for the next generation of electric vehicles Hosted by:

To register visit: www.ChargedEVs.com/March-11-Webinar

Advertiser Index ABB 84

EA Elektro-Automatik

Adhesives & Bonding Expo 83

ELANTAS 13

Odawara 21

APEC 43

Electronic Concepts

Parker-LORD

59

Backer HTI

EuroGroup 2

Pi Innovo

45

Bitrode 15

EV Tech Expo Europe

Schaltbau North America 17

Champlain Cable

Hesse 8

Schleuniger

Chroma 27

Heraeus Group

37

TDK 39

ClipperCreek

Intl Battery Seminar

63

TE-Expo 81

KOA Speer Electronics

49

TTI

21

51

57

COMSOL 33

6

19

61

Maccor 41

For more info about advertising visit: www.ChargedEVs.com/Advertise

13

9, 11

ChargeExpo.com

Colocated with the 23rd Annual EUEC 2020

USA’s Largest Energy Utility Enviroment Conference

CALL FOR

o.com

E-MOBILITY, BATTERY & FLEET April 20-21, 2020 | SAN DIEGO, CA

PAPERS & EXHIBITS

EV CHARGING, BATTERY & ELECTRIC FLEET

TE-EXPO.com T E RANSPORTATION

LECTRIFICATION

A PRIL 20-21, 2020 | S AN D IEGO, CA

POST CONFERENCE GOLF AT

TORREY PINES

2 Days J • • • • • •

200 400 1500 Exhibitors Speakers Delegates K

CHARGING

EV, DC FAST CHARGING E-MOBILITY INFRASTRUCT WIRELESS CHARGING AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE EV EQUIPMENT SUPPLY E-GRID, SOLAR CHARGERS

• • • • • •

L

BATTERY

FUEL CELLS, LI-ION, H2 BATTERY TESTING & CERT ADVANCED BATTERY OEM COMPONENTS CALIBRATION & SAFETY CABLE, CAPACITOR, INVERTER

• • • • • •

TE & AFV

M

TRANSPORTATION ELECTRIFICATION ALTERNATE FUEL VEHICLES ZEV, AFV, BUS & TRUCKS PHEV, PHEV, HYBRID, FLEET FUEL MGMT, GAS CYLINDERS CNG, LNG, RNG TECHNOLGIES

• • • • • •

FLEET FLEET MGMT EV STRATEGIES E-MOBILITY, LDV/MDV/HDV TRANSIT BUSSES, TRUCK, FLEET OFF ROAD, AIRPORT, EV TECH BUS FLEET CARBON EMISSIONS UTILITIES IN SUSTAINABLE ERA

EXHIBITING COMPANIES & SPEAKERS INVITED FROM 2019 CHARGE & TE-EXPO SEAL METHODS INC. SANTA FE SPRINGS, CA

April 20-21, 2020, SAn Diego, CAliforniA

Legacy automakers love EVs. Legacy automakers HATE EVs. eneral Motors is sounding very charged these days. The company says it plans to focus on pure EVs, skipping the transitional technologies of hybrids and PHEVs—that’s why it discontinued the Chevy Volt. An idled factory in Lordstown, Ohio may soon be producing electric trucks, and GM has plans for a battery plant in the area. The infamous Hummer will become an electric truck, the first of several electric SUVs and pickups to come. Most recently, GM committed to an investment of $2.2 billion in its Detroit-Hamtramck plant, where it plans to produce electric and autonomous models.

Is this the same GM that just celebrated the launches of its largest fossil SUVs ever (the 2021 Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban have each put on weight), and said that it will use the enormous profits from these behemoths to fund its EV investments? The same GM that sided with the Trump administration in the fight to water down federal emissions standards? Yes, it is.

In 1997, Toyota produced the pioneering Prius, a technological tour de force that has sold over 10 million units.

The latest version, the Prius Prime, earned a raft of rave reviews, and was the second-best-selling plug-in vehicle in the US in 2019. Is this the same Toyota that now insists that hybrids and hydrogen vehicles are superior to pure EVs, and that was forced by Norway’s Consumer Authority to pull ads depicting its Lexus NX hybrid as a perpetual motion machine? Affirmative.

In 2010, Nissan launched the LEAF, which went on to become the best-selling EV in history (Tesla’s Model 3 may have taken that title by the time you read this). Is this the same Nissan whose global product strategist recently announced a new line of hybrids that would offer drivers “the complete EV-drive feel without being in an EV,” and said that charging an EV is “a hassle” that is “not so friendly” for “female LEAF drivers?” The same.

In 2013, BMW brought us the i3, a ground-breaking EV that has since racked up respectable sales in Europe. Today, the i3 is overdue for an update, and an exec from a certain Bavarian brand recently said that there are “no customer requests” for EVs, and that he expects diesel engines to be around for another 20 years. Was it a BMW exec who made these remarks at an event where the company announced its plans for 25 new electrified models? Ahem… yes it was.

What’s going on here? Do these legacy automakers believe in EVs or not? Are their electrification programs a massive case of greenwashing? Are their plug-in models mere halo vehicles, to be trotted out for the press, then hidden behind the monster trucks when car buyers show up?

Charged readers are familiar with the “if we build them,

G

By Charles Morris they won’t come” strategy, which involved producing compliance cars, refusing to market them, then using low sales as ammunition to lobby lawmakers to water down regulations. Are the automakers still playing that game?

No. Their current electrification efforts are broad and deep, and in some cases, we’d even call them visionary. The men (and one woman) in the corner offices may once have hoped EVs would fade away, but that car has left the paddock. They know what’s coming, and they know they need to be a part of it. Some of them still seem to be playing a double game, however, and there are several reasons for this.

For one thing, there have always been pro-EV and anti-EV factions within every automaker, and the relative influence of these parties shifts over time. Ford’s recent push into electric SUVs and trucks began soon after the advent of new CEO Jim Hackett. Nissan’s loss of interest in EVs has roughly paralleled the spectacular decline of EV advocate Carlos Ghosn (conspiracy-minded observers have even speculated that his persecution was orchestrated by evil oil interests).

BMW’s transition from an EV leader to an EV laggard coincided with several changes in the executive suite.

Another factor is government regulation. Automakers look at the regulatory map and plan their investments accordingly. In China and Europe, it’s become apparent that pro-EV policies are here to stay (despite ongoing lobbying efforts), so automakers are getting on with the business at hand. In fact, some are wisely starting to put other parts of the electric ecosystem in place, building out charging infrastructure and working to establish a European battery industry.

In the US, an ongoing showdown between the oily federal administration and more EV-friendly state governments makes the regulatory future unpredictable. Much will depend on the outcome of the upcoming election. If the feds continue their brown policies, the automakers will remain wary of investing in electrification here in the US. If greener views prevail, the steps they’re taking today could be just the beginning, and building out a new, clean energy/transport system could power a new manufacturing boom. None of these companies is interested in leading a revolution—their goal is to be “fast followers,” waiting to see which way the market goes and then adapting quickly. For the near future, their strategies will look less like seizing opportunity than like damage control.

Fortunately, governments aren’t the only pace cars on the track. An upstart power is going after the old guard on all three automaking continents. Competition from Tesla will increasingly force the dinos to push ahead with electrification, regardless of efforts by the various defenders of the status quo to hold it back.

MARCH 24 – 26, 2020 NOVI, MICHIGAN, USA

BONDING MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGIES FOR INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS Adhesives & Bonding Expo is North America’s first free-to-attend event connecting bonding technology providers with a wide range of end user markets. During 3 days of networking, this exhibition allows engineers to find solutions in assembling materials to build complex structures or devices and generate optimum mechanical properties for specific applications.

SHOW FEATURES INCLUDE: 

120+ globally recognised exhibitors displaying cuttingedge bonding solutions, manufacturing technologies, materials and services



3-Day conference exploring technology trends, markets and applications to solve manufacturing challenges and unlock opportunities



Two exclusive attendee networking receptions with drinks and canapés



Live product demonstrations on the exhibit floor highlighting the latest innovations, solutions and developments in the bonding industry



Complimentary B2B meetings service connecting you with other businesses on a one-to one basis

REGISTER FOR YOUR FREE PASS NOW WWW.ADHESIVESANDBONDINGEXPO.COM

—

Trust to the highest power with experienced partners who know infrastructure at scale.

Vehicle electrification at scale won’t be driven by guesswork and wishful thinking. Scale will be about carefully choosing technology partners who value reliability, safety and experience. Scale happens when market leaders collaborate across disciplines and commit to a better, cleaner and more competitive future – with healthy operations and optimized cost of ownership paving the way for every enterprise. With 135 years of electrification excellence and a decade developing interoperable, redundant and reliable EV charging solutions, ABB is the bankable choice for sustainable mobility solutions. abb.com/evcharging