ESTABLISHED EVS
LIKE THE TESLA OR
NEWLY INTRODUCED
VEHICLES SUCH AS
THE MERCEDES EQC
OR JAGUAR I
PACE
COMPETE AGAINST
COMBUSTION ENGINE
CARS, AS A REAL
ALTERNATIVE.
powertrain engineering
1 1
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The electric vehicle is on its way
to greater production volumes and
enjoys more and more customer acceptance.
Established EVs like the
Tesla or newly introduced vehicles
such as the Mercedes EQC or Jaguar
I
Pace compete against combustion
engine cars, as a real alternative.
These vehicles have a high driving
range (> 400 km), and very good
driving and charging performance.
Nevertheless,
this generation of premium
battery vehicles will probably
still be too expensive to make it into
comparable volumes using conventional
technology.
So, future e-vehicle prices need to
be more competitive compared to
combustion technology. The reduction
in cost, especially in the next
generation of BEVs from 2022 is
therefore the development goal for
all engineering faculties in BEVs
and PHEVs.
Integrated electric drive units
(EDUs) are already widely in use.
They integrate the electric machine,
the transmission, the differential
and in most cases the power inverter
in one easy to install unit. AVL’s
approach is to reduce the material
effort in the e-machine by reducing
its size. To maintain the required
power with the smaller machine
size the rotational speed has
to be increased. An important point
there is to avoid the use of expensive
technology in bearings, lamination,
windings and magnets.
The newly developed EDU is designed
for DC voltages of 800 V
and consists of a dual SiC inverter,
two PMSM (permanent magnet
synchronous motor) machines with
rotational speeds up to 30,000 rpm
and a dual transmission to support
full torque vectoring. Single-speed
layshaft transmissions gain the best
efficiency, simplicity and costs. Two
of them are interlaced for smallest
possible package size and integrated
in one housing. The dual inverter
with a common DC-link uses a
variable switching frequency up to
30 kHz and an interleaving strategy
to enable a small DC-link size.
The EDU delivers 300 kW and
5,000 Nm for 10 seconds. Its small
size supports integration into various
vehicles, making e-vehicles
available to a wider audience. Based
on the same technology, EDUs with
lower power and torque requirements
can be derived, offering flexibility
and versatility.