While many electric bikes continue getting heavier and heavier, Propella has constantly bucked that trend with its lightweight electric bicycles. But the Propella Mini e-bike takes the brand to a whole new level with its smallest and lightest model yet.
The post Propella Mini launched as light, fun-size electric bike for space-limited riders on a budget appeared first on Electrek.
Source: Charge Forward
A village in southwest France had a problem: too few remaining local shops providing for the needs of its 130 aging and decreasingly mobile residents. To break the resulting isolation, the hamlet set itself up with a solar-recharging Renault Zoe EV that villagers take turns using to run errands in outlying towns, and voilà – affordable, safe, and carbon-free transportation available to all.
The post French village increases mobility, cuts carbon with shared EV scheme appeared first on Electrek.
Source: Charge Forward
Elon Musk is personally linked to a new massive land grab that happens to be next to Tesla Gigafactory Austin, though it might not be for Tesla itself.
The post Elon Musk is linked to a massive land grab next to Tesla Gigafactory Austin appeared first on Electrek.
Source: Charge Forward
GM’s luxury brand will enter 2022 with 560 dealerships, down from 875 at the beginning of 2021.
Source: Electric Vehicle News
Volcon appears to be shipping its first electric motorcycle model as fast as it can produce them in its Texas factory. But soon the company will have a dealership network that should make it even easier for prospective riders to test out and ride off with their own Grunt electric motorcycle.
The post US-built electric motorcycle company Volcon unveils nationwide dealership plan, stock soars appeared first on Electrek.
Source: Charge Forward
The Homtruck will offer methanol, range extender or pure electric powertrains, the latter with a battery swapping option.
Source: Electric Vehicle News
NI, formerly National Instruments, has announced two new projects for EV traction inverter validation: a new Inverter Test System (ITS) and a collaboration agreement with D&V Electronics for power-level inverter testing.
Both projects are designed to accelerate innovation for EVs by integrating tests earlier in the product development lifecycle. By simulating EV powertrains to perform hardware-in-the-loop tests of inverter electronic control units (ECU), the ITS allows test engineers to create more life-like scenarios that are not easy to reproduce accurately on the road.
Electric motors and DC power emulators can be inserted into the test workflow to enable durability and thermal testing of the inverter component at full power in a safe environment. Adding more simulation fidelity and capabilities speeds up the entire development process at a lower overall cost than field tests.
“Automotive engineers are constantly modifying simulation models based on evolving electric vehicle performance and test requirements,” said Noah Reding, Director at NI. “Advancements such as these speed up EV adoption and production innovations by eliminating inefficiencies in the testing process.”
“Traction inverters are the heart of the powertrain, and inverter design technology is changing rapidly,” said Uday Deshpande, CTO of D&V Electronics. “D&Vs innovative power emulators, combined with NI’s high-speed test platforms, will offer customers future-ready capabilities that enable coverage from component- to system-level testing in a controlled environment.”
Source: NI
Source: Electric Vehicles Magazine
Fleet charging management specialist AMPLY Power has introduced a containerized EV charging system called INRUSH. The first deployment will be with AMPLY’s long-standing customer, the Anaheim Transportation Network (ATN). AMPLY will set up a charging facility using its INRUSH charging capsules and OMEGA Charge Management System to support ATN’s fleet of 46 electric transit buses.
The INRUSH containerized charging capsule allows customers to use semi-permanent, portable charging to charge EVs from any location. The electrical switchgear needed for charging is located inside of an upcycled shipping container, which is pre-built offsite to streamline deployment.
Portable charging could be an ideal solution for operators who are unable to install permanent infrastructure on a site, for example, because of lease agreements or ongoing site transformation. When containers are removed, site restoration is minimal, as most of the equipment is located within the container. Design, procurement and installation costs for the container solution are expected to be roughly 50% less than those of traditional EVSE. The setup process takes about six months from start to finish—50% less time than with traditional infrastructure.
“INRUSH is the first ready-to-deploy solution in the industry that leverages the flexibility and affordability of modular container infrastructure,” said AMPLY co-founder and CEO Vic Shao. “This offering significantly reduces the time and resources required to get fleet charging facilities up and running, a key barrier to EV adoption. INRUSH was developed specifically to meet the needs of fleets with aggressive EV deployment goals [that] need interim charging infrastructure while planning for their permanent infrastructure, which is exactly what ATN needed.”
AMPLY Power worked closely with ATN and other stakeholders to develop a solution to provide charging capabilities on an accelerated timeline while ATN’s permanent all-electric facility is being planned.
ATN’s charging facility will include two INRUSH shipping containers, each equipped with 5 chargers capable of charging 10 buses simultaneously, including two 200 kW chargers for more power-intensive 60-foot buses. As part of its Charging-as-a-Service agreement with ATN, the facility will be supported by AMPLY’s OMEGA Charge Management System and technical support services. OMEGA integrates third-party systems that manage routes, maintenance and scheduling to guarantee 99.99 EV fleet uptime.
Source: AMPLY Power
Source: Electric Vehicles Magazine
Silicon Mobility and controls supplier G-Pulse are collaborating to design a high-power multiphase interleaving bidirectional DC-DC converter platform for electrified vehicles. The platform is based on Silicon Mobility’s OLEA control technology, together with a SiC power module, and benefits from G-Pulse’s engineering experience with automotive systems.
Powertrain system elements in electrified vehicle applications may require a wide range of DC-link voltage adaptation between the DC-Link and the battery pack or fuel cell, with a dynamic and fast response to varying power demand. The platform system is a SiC-based, 4-phase interleaving, bidirectional DC-DC converter that allows automatic boost and buck control through current sensing. It supports input voltages from 250 V to 450 V, and a typical output voltage of 750 V. This converter enables the modularization of the inverter and e-motor design, and improves system performance and efficiency.
The platform integrates Silicon Mobility’s OLEA FPCU chip and control application, which was developed with the OLEA COMPOSER model-based design framework using the OLEA LIB DC-DC functions library. The parallel-processing capability of the OLEA chip hosts current/voltage double closed-loop control with 4 independent current loops.
Combined with SiC power devices, which reduce the switching and conductive losses of the power module, high frequency control enables the downsizing of the passive elements, increasing power density, reducing voltage/current ripple, and improving stability margin. The platform is compliant with the ISO 26262 standard, and includes all required safety protection functions, including overvoltage, overcurrent, overheating and short circuit detection.
“This collaboration will allow us to integrate Silicon Mobility’s advanced controls technology, which will help us to continue our path of introducing innovative DC-DC converter systems,” says Sam Qin, Director of G-Pulse.
“We are combining advanced control technology and system knowledge to further improve the efficiency of new energy vehicles,” said Silicon Mobility VP Khaled Douzane. “It is a very exciting project to control a SiC-based DC-DC converter using high-performance OLEA FPCU technology, jointly creating a leading reference system for energy-efficient e-powertrains.”
Source: Silicon Mobility
Source: Electric Vehicles Magazine
Listen to a recap of the top stories of the day from Electrek. Quick Charge is available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn and our RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.
The post Quick Charge Podcast: November 8, 2021 appeared first on Electrek.
Source: Charge Forward
