UK-based laser manufacturer Luxinar is launching CO2 laser sources and femtosecond lasers that can shape battery cells and refine electronic components.
Luxinar’s battery cell applications include cutting separator foils and cutting and notching electrodes. Its battery module and power train applications comprise EV battery casing ablation and busbar isolation stripping and trimming, in addition to electric motor hairpin coating removal.
Automotive prismatic cells are frequently wrapped in a self-adhesive PET heat shrink film, which may need selective removal to add heat management components or complete removal to rework non-conforming cells in the production cycle. The film also needs to be removed when the battery is recycled. Using non-contact laser processing allows partial or full automation of the process and handling cells of different shapes and sizes in large volumes. Luxinar’s OEM 45iX CO2 laser process removes the need for harsh solvents and intensive mechanical effort to remove residue, according to the company.
“The versatility and precision of our laser technology makes various battery production tasks economically viable,” said Christian Dini, Luxinar’s Commercial Manager for Central and Northern Europe.
California-based eVTOL aircraft developer Archer Aviation recently performed successful battery pack drop tests at a National Institute for Aviation Research lab in advance of similar upcoming for-credit certification tests with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The tests were part of the development program for the electric propulsion system of Archer’s Midnight, a piloted, four-passenger aircraft designed for back-to-back air taxi flights.
The battery packs were dropped from 50 feet at 100%, 30% and 0% states of charge to validate the safety and durability of their design under extreme impact conditions. They functioned properly after each drop. Archer credits its design choice of cylindrical cells in the battery as a crucial factor in the success of the tests, which are considered among the most challenging hurdles to FAA certification.
“This accomplishment highlights our dedication to not just meeting but exceeding safety standards,” said Alex Clarabut, Archer’s Battery Lead. “It is a critical step toward our goal of ensuring that Midnight will be among the safest aircraft in the skies.”
Competition is good, but standardization is good too. As Tesla’s North American Charging Standard gradually becomes a true standard, drivers of Teslas and other EVs have more and more options for charging their NACS-capable EVs.
The latest alternative to a Tesla-branded charger comes from EV charger manufacturer Emporia. The company’s new NACS Level 2 EV Charger “combines power, design, and functionality comparable to a Tesla charger at a more affordable price.”
The Emporia NACS Level 2 Charger is compatible with the Tesla charge port door, so users can conveniently open the door via a button on the connector. The charger comes with a wall-mounted holster for cable storage.
Emporia chargers are designed to be durable, and are suitable for both indoor and outdoor installations. Users can manage charging using Emporia’s mobile app, which enables them to customize charging settings, monitor progress, and manage schedules remotely.
The Emporia NACS Level 2 Charger seamlessly integrates with the Emporia energy management ecosystem, which enables users to automate energy usage, charge during optimal off-peak hours, and prioritize the use of excess solar power for charging.
Emporia’s recently-launched installation marketplace offers free estimates based on the client’s location, partnerships with vetted installers and special pricing.
“This is a very exciting time in the EV charging industry,” said Emporia CEO Shawn McLaughlin. “As one of the first manufacturers to market with an NACS charger since Tesla published the specification, Emporia is at the forefront of providing cutting-edge solutions. Most car manufacturers have announced they will adopt this standard within the next 2-3 years.”
With Tesla’s “Full Self Driving (Supervised)” package working much better and more naturally, our goal is to do a weekly video using it and trying to document how it is progressing (or not — whatever the case may be this time around). I may switch to doing live videos for … [continued]
One thing I keep seeing in the online EV FUD machine lately is how terrible EVs are on tires. Because they’re heavy and they produce so much torque, they say, EVs go through tires way faster than ICE vehicles. The estimated tire life keeps shrinking as the story spreads, with … [continued]
Japanese electric systems manufacturer Nidec has begun production at its newly upgraded facility in Cleveland, Ohio.
The expansion includes new manufacturing lines for Nidec’s DC fast EV chargers and power conversion systems for battery energy storage systems. Nidec aims to expand its battery storage installed base and EV charger deployments that support energy distributors, companies, and municipalities throughout Europe into the US market, having received third-party certification to meet US safety standards.
The company expects to add more skilled positions at the Cleveland facility as it expands its local supplier base to meet growing domestic EV charging and energy storage demand over the coming years.
“The advanced technology Nidec manufactures here in Cleveland keeps the US on the leading front of the global energy transition because we can support new energy installments within the US, for the US,” said Ali Karvar, President and General Manager of Nidec Conversion, Americas.
Austrian technology firm Easelink and Dutch manufacturer NXP Semiconductors have jointly developed a positioning system for automated EV charging based on ultra-wide band (UWB) technology.
The system integrates UWB—a wireless technology that securely, precisely, and efficiently estimates the relative positions of two electronic devices—to help bring a vehicle into the optimal position for fully automated charging using Easelink’s Matrix Charging.
During automated Matrix Charging, the connector is lowered from the vehicle underbody near the front axle onto the charging pad in the parking space, enabling the built-in UWB modules to measure the distance between the two in real time using time of flight measurements. The exact charging position is shown to the driver on a display inside the vehicle, and the charging process starts immediately after confirmation by clicking on the charging symbol.
As part of the eTaxi Austria automated charging project, Matrix Charging pads were installed directly at taxi stands in late 2023. These charge the EVs automatically, without the need for taxi drivers to leave their vehicles or make extra trips to charging points. The project will eventually see 60 Hyundai Ioniq 5 and VW ID.4 e-taxi models equipped with Matrix Charging, with access to 60 charging pads across eight locations in Vienna and two locations in Graz.
“We are working together to seamlessly integrate our UWB technology into intelligent, precise, and efficient mobility applications. The extensive application portfolio ranges from digital car keys to position detection for intelligent and automated charging of electric cars,” said Michael Leitner, GM of Smart Car Access at NXP Semiconductors Austria.
In collaboration with the Electric School Bus (ESB) program of Dominion Energy, a regional utility headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, Daimler Truck North America subsidiary Thomas Built Buses (TBB) has announced that the state has now surpassed 1.5 million electric school bus miles driven.
Also partnering in the program is Virginia bus dealer Sonny Merryman. The dealer aims to have a total of 224 TBB Jouley units delivered by the end of the school year. Dominion’s ESB program, launched in 2019, is the largest utility-led initiative of its kind in the US. It has a current fleet of more than 135 buses operating in 25 Virginia districts.
The program has helped school districts overcome technical and financial hurdles of electric school bus adoption. The company has supported a number of districts in applying for the 2023 EPA Clean School Bus Program and is also planning to soft-launch the deployment of school bus V2G technology this summer.
The ESB program “goes beyond providing financial support; it forges partnerships in training, utility engagement, service and maintenance, and other program components,” according to Whitney Kopanko, Director of Marketing and School Bus Sales, at Sonny Merryman.
Automotive company Sumitomo Rubber has developed a new simulation technique called Tire Aerodynamic Simulation, which is used in the process of tire development to visualize the airflow around the tire of a running vehicle
This simulation will help to develop a tire shape that optimizes aerodynamic performance and contributes to lowering the electricity consumption in a next-generation EV tire to be launched in 2027. In EVs, which cause almost no energy loss due to heat, around 34% to 37% of the energy loss is attributed to the tires, if rolling resistance is included with air resistance.
Also, the company claims to have developed a new simulation technique that changes the shapes of the lettering and fine texture on the sidewall while they are rotating with the pattern. In comparison with the results of a wind tunnel experiment, which was conducted with an actual vehicle to confirm the accuracy of the simulation, the EV tire with a decreased airflow trend behind the tire and less unevenness on the sidewall showed lower air resistance values than a standard tire.
“Adopting this technique yields improved tire performance with maximized aerodynamic characteristics, leading to reduced aerodynamic drag and electricity consumption for an EV,” the company stated.
Polarization in DC Contactors for high-voltage electric vehicle applications.
Littelfuse offers both polarized and non-polarized high-voltage (HV) DC contactors or relays to meet a wide range of electric vehicle (EV) application requirements. Appropriate for the majority of HV EV applications, DC contactors with polarization offer a significant advantage in terms of electric cycle life. HV relays are designed with magnetic blowouts and gas-filled contact chambers, which allow them to make/break at higher voltages. This application note discusses these design elements and the functionality of polarization in HV DC contactors.
Polarized HV Contactors vs. Non-Polarized HV Contactors
Both polarized and non-polarized contactors allow current to flow in either direction. Polarization, however, greatly improves the make/break capability and cycle life in HV relays.
Polarized relays have magnetic blowouts that optimize the arc quenching when the current is flowing from the positive (+) input to a negative (-) output. This leads to the best quenching of the arc and the longest electric cycle life of the relay. If the relay opens on a circuit with the current reversed, it has significantly reduced cycle life. For this reason, contacts are marked as positive (+) and negative (-) on polarized relays, and proper installation to ensure the correct current flow is imperative.
Non-polarized relays have magnetic fields that are balanced to quench the arc with current running in either direction. The magnets cannot be placed as effectively, which causes greater arcing, and therefore, greater wear and shorter cycle life. The greater arcing in non-polarized contactors leads to about a 50% reduction in electrical cycle life from polarized values.
How Magnetic Blowouts and Gas-Filled Chambers Improve the Cycle Life of an HV DC Contactor
When an AC relay opens, the arc will extinguish quickly, as the voltage naturally passes through the 0V point multiple times per second. For DC relays, on the other hand, the only thing that quenches the arc is resistance as set by the distance from the input to the output through the media in the contact chamber.
Effectively extinguishing the electrical arc requires:
Media Resistance – Inert gas inside the contact chamber provides a higher ionization energy media. For an arc to propagate and move through this gas, it needs to expend more energy than it would if it were moving through air.
Distance – To lengthen the distance an arc must travel, we use a combination of double-opening contacts and magnetic blowouts.
Double-opening contacts effectively double the opening distance based on the same motion of the moving contact bridge.
Magnetic blowouts effectively lengthen the opening distance by forcing the path of the arc to the outer edge of the contact chamber along magnetic field lines created by permanent magnets in the contact area. The magnetic field lines interact with the arc by charge, so the arrangement of the magnets determines how effective the magnets are in extending the path of the arc.
Polarized magnets with the correct direction of current flow get the most displacement of the arc and the highest amount of quenching, as they have the best alignment of the field lines and the arc. When the current direction is reversed the magnetic field lines do not line up well, and the arc displacement is significantly reduced leading to longer arc duration and more damage to the contacts.
Non-polarized magnets are a compromise. when the current direction is correct to the polarization, the magnetic fields don’t line up as well compared to polarized magnets, but they line up better than polarized magnets when the current is reversed. While the electrical cycle life is reduced by about 50% from the polarized relay in the optimum situation, it is much better in the situation where the opening takes place with the current reversed.
Choosing Polarized vs. Non-Polarized HV DC Contactors
As noted, polarized and non-polarized contactors allow current to flow in both directions. Choosing a polarized HV relay or a non-polarized relay comes down to understanding the make/break and electrical cycle life considerations of an application.
The electrical cycle life is usually defined at a set voltage and rated current. In the life of a vehicle, though, most contactor cycles are low or zero current. Therefore, full voltage and current cycles are rare, and a relatively lower number of full voltage and current cycles is very common for HV contactors.
Even in applications that require short durations of current flowing back through the contactor, as is the case with regenerative braking, the current flows in the primary direction most of the time. Since a switch event during regenerative braking would be very rare, the risk to the system would be very low.
While non-polarized HV contactors may be appropriate in a few cases where current flows frequently in the reverse direction, a polarized DC contactor is more often the best choice for HV EV applications of greater than 350V.
