Getting Charged up for EVs, Hybrids, and the Means to Keep them Running

­Welcome to the August issue!

As we close out the summer and Independence Day, we hope you had a great holiday (American version) and were able to go on holiday (British version).

And if you did go on holiday (especially a road trip) perhaps you availed yourself of this month’s topic – “EV, Hybrids, + Charging Infrastructure.”

We’ve been exploring electric vehicles from a number of different perspectives lately, all of them working towards solving “range anxiety” and making EVs accessible to the masses.

One of the most direct ways to push EVs into the mainstream is via the humble battery – improving its energy density is of paramount importance.

In a recent PSDcast, we covered an important deal between Hindustan Zinc Limited, India's largest and the world's second-largest zinc producer, and AEsir Technologies, Inc., a US-based company specializing in next-gen zinc battery technologies. Zinc batteries, of course, have higher energy density than their lithium-ion counterparts, high efficiency, and the components are safer and more plentiful.

This month’s Final Thought touches on a long-touted alternative to recharge stations – battery swapping – and its tempestuous history in the U.S. While the idea has struggled to break out, and influential companies like Tesla want nothing to do with it, China’s Nio has been operating a tidy battery-swap business, with 1,400 stations up and running.

Sticking with batteries, a UK startup, Nyobolt, has achieved a potential breakthrough when it successfully charged an EV from 10% to 80% in a mere four minutes and 37 seconds using a custom-built sports car and a 35kWh battery.

One of the two August articles I’d like to highlight also deals with energy storage, specifically “Enhancing Safety in EV Battery Testing.”

Elektro-Automatik’s Russell Gaubatz notes how combining high power and high voltage in battery packs with highly reactive Lithium in Lithium-ion battery cells makes 100% testing an absolute necessity in order to prevent, amongst other issues, thermal runaway.

As Russell explains it, the causes of thermal runaway “include a short circuit in battery cells, undesirable chemical reactions, and exposure to high temperatures. The result is a buildup of heat in the battery cells.”

And that can lead to catastrophic battery fires reaching temperatures of up to 1000°F.

We also feature a closer look at the semiconductor system design requirements of two of the more overlooked EVs – e-bikes and e-scooters.

In “E-Bikes and E-Scooters: A Full System Design Solution, Wall to Battery,” Marco Ruggeri and Andrew Wu with Renesas delves into the delves into the design considerations for charging, battery management, motor driver, and control systems in e-bikes and scooters.

Enjoy the August issue!

Best Regards,

Jason Lomberg

North American Editor, PSD