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40 EE|Times EUROPE — Power Electronics

OPINION | POWER ELECTRONICS
within a few years. Eliminating cobalt will
What’s Next for significantly reduce battery production costs,
which today are about 30% to 40% of the total
cost of making an electric car.
The battery is the main element of an elec-
Electric Vehicles? tric vehicle: More cells provide more charging
capacity, which means longer distances to
travel before needing a recharge. The use of
By Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio wireless solutions in battery management
offers designers the ability to lighten the load
of an electric vehicle and balance the electrical
The automotive industry is undergoing a sea change from the charge while meeting the highest functional
internal combustion engine (ICE) to an all-electric power platform safety standards to improve reliability.
supported by wide-bandgap materials. The shift to power electronics Each cell must be monitored to maximize
based on gallium nitride or silicon carbide is occurring because the battery performance. Because a typical EV has
theoretical limits of silicon MOSFETs have been reached for many 100 cells or more, the ability to remove bulky
power systems. Battery charging is the first high-volume market to and heavy cables improves system reliability.
demonstrate GaN adoption, and SiC devices are increasingly used in Wireless approaches eliminate the potential
high-voltage power converters with strict size, weight, and efficiency for failure in wiring exposed to vibration,
requirements. humidity, and other problems. This makes
CES 2021 showcased many updates to power electronics solutions and devices. Even in its access to the batteries themselves for mainte-
new, all-virtual format, the event was an opportunity to engage with peers and explore the nance more straightforward.
strides being made with GaN and SiC to accelerate our world’s electrification while reducing our Wireless battery management systems
CO footprint. The use of new materials will allow us to reduce energy losses with significant (wBMS) have a pivotal role in electric vehi-
2
energy savings. cles’ powering process. Eliminating wires,
With e-mobility becoming increasingly important, environmentally friendly battery technol- connectors, and high-voltage isolation parts
ogy is no longer an option but a necessity. The business of manufacturing a battery is a bit like can substantially boost the overall reliability
orchestrating a symphony: A lot of complex processes are required to achieve a cohesive whole. of the system.
Evolution in this segment has been constant. The brief history of modern electric cars has seen The use of wireless solutions in battery
lithium-manganese oxide (LMO) batteries used in Nissan’s first-generation Leaf, lithium- management offers designers the ability to
nickel-manganese-cobalt oxide (NMC) in the BMW i3, and lithium-nickel-cobalt-aluminum lighten the load of an electric vehicle and thus
oxide (NCA) in Tesla models. balance the electrical charge while meeting
One new frontier on which research is moving is the elimination of the amount of cobalt used the highest standards of functional safety to
in batteries. The stability provided by cobalt is being replaced by increasing it with nickel that improve reliability. ■
has been processed to make it comparable in physical properties to cobalt, with an aim of cutting
costs. This process thus far has yielded a chemical composition in which cobalt is less than 5% of Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio is editor-in-chief of
the total. Panasonic has said it will be able to bring high-density cobalt-free cells to the market Power Electronics News and EEWeb.

IMAGE: PANASONIC/TESLA

FEBRUARY 2021 | www.eetimes.eu