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Power Electronics for Electric Vehicles 2013-2023: Forecasts, Technologies, Players

Power electronics and key power components for hybrid and pure electric vehicles, land, water and air

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Primary author Dr Gerry Boast, Anglo EV
Co-author Dr Peter Harrop, Chairman, IDTechEx
The market for electric vehicle inverters, both hybrid and pure electric, will grow from around $2.8 billion in 2013 to an estimated $4.2 billion in 2023 as discussed in this new report. The demand for inverters and electric power conversions is already well established in the automation and industrial control industries which are also growing at considerable pace, therefore the addition of a significant complimentary emerging market will create new sectors for existing inverter and power electronic component suppliers as well as create opportunities for new players, particularly those with specialist electric vehicle knowledge and those able to develop added value through highly integrated electric powertrain systems.
 
Every electric vehicle needs at least one electric traction motor, many have two or more, and each traction motor requires an inverter to power it. The market place for electric vehicle inverters is both varied and dynamic. Inverter sizes range from a few hundred watts to several hundred kilowatts and span electric vehicle applications from electric cycles to passenger vehicles to commercial and military vehicles, all of which are expanding at unprecedented rates.. This wide market place provides scope for players to participate in the general market place and in niche areas, and indeed there no providers of inverters who cross the complete range of electric vehicles.
 
For sheer volumes, inverters in light electric vehicles such as electric bicycles dominate now and will remain so by 2023, with these being largely in Asia, meeting everyday personal transportation needs in large industrial cities. However, by 2023 inverters and converters in passenger vehicles will dominant by market value as high volume production is established and cost of ownership and range anxiety are reduced.
 
Number of traction inverters in electric vehicles worldwide in thousands*
 
*For the full forecasts please purchase this report
 
Source: IDTechEx
 
The wide range in power and performance requirements, from small low voltage inverters used in electric scooters to large high power inverters used in hybrid and electric trucks, buses and military vehicles, creates a huge emerging market space and set of market requirements and thus an opportunity for large number of suppliers of electric vehicle power electronic systems and components to supply demand, and no real possibility of dominance by one provider.
 
The user demand for greater all electric range will push inverter and converter designers to optimise overall system efficiency. This, together with the requirement to reduce overall package size and system cost will result in the adoption of new materials and control algorithms and undoubtedly require a move towards higher levels of system integration.
 
Advances in inverter design for electric vehicles are driven by several key technologies, including power device materials, power capacitors and cooling technologies. These will assist in the realisation of step changes in performance, size and reliability over the next decade with materials such as Silicon Carbide and Gallium Nitrate among the most notable. These are unlikely to be in commercial high volume electric vehicle applications until much later in the decade due to issues around packaging and reliability. However, the benefits they offer indicate that they will be the most likely devices of choice by 2023. This report details state of the art in inverter design and highlights these technology trends.
 
The high performance enjoyed by electric powertrains is often also considered a potential danger as faults in any part of the system can result in near instantaneous torques being developed at the vehicle wheels, which can result in unsafe conditions unless properly considered. Therefore, functional safety is becoming an increasing important and often mandatory requirement for electric powertrain systems and must be considered at early product design and component selection stages, frequently resulting in fault tolerant and dual redundancy designs.
 
This report will be a great benefit for industrialists, investors, market researchers and others interested in the huge expanding electric vehicle market for power electronics technology. It will also provide an essential guide to those studying or involved in the supply of associated technology and to support industrial and government initiatives. The report is suitable for the non-technical reader, but has sufficient detail to inform those readers requiring more subject depth.
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Electric Vehicle experts IDTechEx have encapsulated over ten years of research and analysis into an easy to digest electric vehicle encyclopedia. All the technologies are covered and supported with over 100 tables and illustrations and over 200 acronyms and terms are explained. This encyclopedia, worth $1,500, is given as a free PDF download when you buy this report.
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1.EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
1.1.Optimisation using new devices and integration
1.1.Number of traction inverters in electric vehicles worldwide 2012-2023 in thousands
1.1.Typical e-powertrain components
1.2.On-going Development of Hitachi automotive inverters
1.2.Vehicle numbers (thousand) 2012-2023
1.2.Market Forecasts
1.3.Global value market for vehicle traction drives
1.3.Number of traction motors in multi-motor vehicles 2012-2023 and percentage of all vehicle traction motors rounded
1.3.Toyota Prius 2010 electronic control unit showing bed of IGBT chips
1.4.Number of traction inverters in electric vehicles worldwide 2012-2023 in thousands
1.4.Proportion of electric vehicles with more than one motor 2012-2023
1.4.Concern in Europe
1.5.Zytec: Indicator of Latest Power Electronics Trends
1.5.Number of electric vehicles with more than one electric motor 2012-2023 in thousands and percentage of all electric vehicles rounded
1.5.Inverter market value $ million paid by vehicle manufacturer 2012-2023
1.6.The new MAN hybrid bus from Germany showing the power inverter and the use of a supercapacitor (ultracapacitor) instead of a battery, putting different demands on the power electronics
1.6.Average number of motors per multi-motor vehicle 2012-2023
1.7.Proportion of electric vehicles with one motor 2012-2023
1.7.Example of modern vehicle inverters from Phoenix international, a John Deere Company as exhibited ant eCarTec Germany October 2012. The large unit bottom left is used in the MAN hybrid electric city bus which uses supercapacitors
1.8.Number of electric vehicles with one electric motor ie number of motors in single-motor vehicles in thousands 2012-2023
1.9.Price of traction inverter to vehicle manufacturer in $k per vehicle 2012-2023
1.10.Traction inverter market value $million paid by vehicle manufacturer 2012-2023
2.INTRODUCTION
2.1.History of the Electric Motor and Motor Control
2.1.Typical Electric Motor Applications
2.1.Families of power semiconductor
2.2.Latest power semiconductors by frequency of use
2.2.Motor types, applications and advantages
2.2.AC Vs DC
2.3.Direct Drive or gearbox
2.3.Comparison of key requirements in the industrial automation and automotive markets for inverters/controllers
2.3.Overview of traction inverter
2.4.IGBT Power module exposed
2.4.Comparison with a parallel market
2.5.Voltage trends
2.5.Figure of Merit for successive generations of Mitsubishi IGBT
2.6.Schematic drawing of Semikron SkiN Technology
2.6.Technologies and trends in the key components used in electric traction drives
2.6.2.The Power Module
2.6.3.Wide band gap power semiconductors SiC GaN
2.6.4.Power electronics lessons from Battery Osaka, PV Expo, Smart Grid Expo Sept 3-5 2014, Osaka, Japan
2.6.5.DC Bus/Snubber capacitor
2.6.6.New high temperature capacitor for EVs
2.6.7.Analog sensors
2.6.8.Position/Speed Feedback
2.6.9.Control DSP
2.6.10.Isolated Gate drive circuit
2.6.11.Switch Mode power supply
2.6.12.Power Distribution within the inverter
2.6.13.Digital Communications
2.6.14.EV AC drive frequency converter control Hungary
2.6.15.Nanotechnology for the power components
2.6.16.Meidensha advances energy management
2.6.17.Siemens innovative new e-car inverters
2.6.18.Volvo new integrated motor and battery charger
2.7.Quadcopter drone motors and controls
2.7.Comparison of 2nd and 3rd generation Toyota Prius power module
2.8.Hitachi pin fin liquid cooled power modules
2.8.Agricultural and material handling vehicles
2.9.Hitachi IGBT Module with pin fin baseplate used on Chevrolet Volt
2.10.Double sided Cooling - Denso Lexus LS600h
2.11.Latest power semiconductors by frequency of use
2.12.Distribution of SiC device market 2010-2020
2.13.European Commission project involving design of SiC inverters for in-wheel motors
2.14.Solar boats in Taiwan
2.15.GaN Systems' complete family of GaN-on-Si power switches: 100V and 650V parts, E-mode and cascade solutions, High currents
2.16.Unique GaN systems bonding
2.17.GaN Systems comparison of advantages and weaknesses of GaN power devices.
2.18.Power vs frequency of different power semiconductor chemistries
2.19.Potted film capacitor
2.20.Volumetric transition of metalized polypropylene film capacitors
2.21.HITECA capacitor for EV power electronics
2.22.LEM Hall-Effect current sensor
2.23.Contactless current sensor IC
2.24.Block Diagram of Freescale' s Qorivva MPC567xK
2.25.Analog Devices iCoupler Technology
2.26.Potted film capacitor for traction applications
2.27.Deployment of power conditioning subsystems
2.28.Large format quadcopter
2.29.Turnigy quadcopter motor
2.30.Brushless outrunner motor in toy electric bike
2.31.Small quadcopter
2.32.Nanoflie
2.33.Coreless motor parts
2.34.Agricultural and material handling EV inverter comparison.
3.ANALYSIS OF 74 TRACTION MOTOR/INVERTER MANUFACTURERS
3.1.Analysis of 74 traction motor/inverter manufacturers
4.ANALYSIS OF INVERTER COMPONENT MANUFACTURERS
4.1.Analysis of Inverter Component Manufacturers
5.COMMENTS BY VEHICLE MANUFACTURERS AND LEADING SUPPLIERS
5.1.Toyota
5.2.Volkswagen
5.3.Ford
5.4.Toyota - Power Electronics
5.5.Fuji Electric
5.6.Renesas
5.7.Nissan
6.TYPES OF TRACTION MOTOR DRIVE IN SUMMARY
6.1.Mechanical Considerations
6.1.1.Shapes of motor drives
6.1.2.Size and number of motor drives
6.1.3.Drive position
6.1.4.Cooling Systems
6.2.Functional Safety and High Availability
7.MARKET FORECASTS
7.1.Inverter/Controller forecasts of numbers
7.1.Number of traction inverters in electric vehicles worldwide 2012-2023 in thousands
7.1.Number of traction inverters in electric vehicles worldwide 2012-2023 in thousands
7.2.Inverter market value $ million paid by vehicle manufacturer 2012-2023
7.2.Vehicle numbers (thousand) 2012-2023
7.2.Global value market for vehicle traction drives
7.3.System design
7.3.Number of traction motors in multi-motor vehicles 2012-2023 and percentage of all vehicle traction motors rounded
7.3.Make-up of EV component manufacturers
7.4.Power and voltage requirement for energy storage systems
7.4.Proportion of electric vehicles with more than one motor 2012-2023
7.4.Influence of motor type on inverter design
7.5.Influence of battery voltage and motor performance requirements
7.5.Number of electric vehicles with more than one electric motor 2012-2023 in thousands and percentage of all electric vehicles rounded
7.6.Average number of motors per multi-motor vehicle 2012-2023
7.6.Summary of Inverter component technology trends
7.6.1.Power Modules
7.6.2.Higher switching frequencies
7.6.3.Heat recovery
7.6.4.Snubber capacitors
7.6.5.Communications
7.6.6.Power distribution
7.6.7.Functional safety
7.7.Proportion of electric vehicles with one motor 2012-2023
7.8.Number of electric vehicles with one electric motor ie number of motors in single-motor vehicles in thousands 2012-2023
7.9.Price of traction inverter to vehicle manufacturer in $k per vehicle 2012-2023
7.10.Traction inverter market value $ million paid by vehicle manufacturer 2012-2023
8.LESSONS FROM BATTERY/EV EVENT MICHIGAN SEPTEMBER 2013
8.1.Comment from e-Car Tech Munich October 2013:
8.1.CrossChasm exhibiting planetary exploration EV
8.2.Sevcon motor controllers claimed to be exceptionally compact, rugged and reliable
8.3.Bosch promotion
8.4.Zytec 250 kW controller
8.5.Voltmaxx claims
8.6.Kolektor motor controller
8.7.Continental controller for hybrid vehicles
8.8.TM4 integrated controllers
8.9.Nidec switched reluctance motor controller
8.10.LSis 100 kW traction motor controller.
8.11.LSis motor controller for Hyundai Kia car
8.12.Other LSis motor controllers
9.ON-BOARD CHARGERS AND DC-DC CONVERTERS
9.1.On-board chargers
9.1.On-board charger schematic in an electric boat
9.2.A cable-based Type 1 Level 1 charger for a small car or golf car
9.2.DC-DC converters
9.3.Examples of on-board chargers: Lear, Mission Motors (small company) and at bottom Delphi, G-Power (China), bottom right Volvo 22kW 3ph.
9.4.Chroma Level 2, power 6.6kW on-board charger
9.5.Mitsubishi MiEV on-board charger and system
9.6.NLG6 Fast Charger
9.7.Approach of BYD China for buses and cars
9.8.Volvo flexible fast charger
9.9.General charging schematic
9.10.Delphi EV converter
9.11.Multiple converter need
9.12.Prodrive flexible inverter schematic showing it coping with supercapacitor voltage changing with discharge state and the input/output of the battery and the electric motors.
10.BATTERY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS BMS: A NEW ASSESSMENT
APPENDIX 1: REFERENCES AND WORKS CITED
APPENDIX 2: IDTECHEX PUBLICATIONS AND CONSULTANCY
TABLES
FIGURES
 

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In 2023 over 142 million electric vehicles will be made - the traction inverter is key

Report Statistics

Pages 187
Tables 25
Figures 57
Forecasts to 2023
 

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