Page 33 - PEN eBook May 2022

Automotive MOTOR CONTROL

150 million EVs are expected to be sold from 2025 to 2030. Assuming a typical 11-year ownership
of a car, the electricity consumption of these new vehicles is estimated to be approximately
6.6 trillion kWh. A 1% efficiency improvement in the overall EV power electronics of these cars
amounts to 66 billion kWh of energy savings. This is equivalent to the carbon sequestered by one-

third of all U.S. national forests — or more than the annual energy consumption of New York City. Autonomous GaN
Power ICs Deliver

High-Performance,

Reliable Motor Drives

By Alfred Hesener, senior director of the industrial and consumer division at
Navitas Semiconductor

Figure 5: Using vertical GaN devices can have a significant impact on the environment.
There are about 8 billion electric motors in use in the EU, consuming nearly 50% of the electricity
that the EU produces. As improving efficiency and reducing carbon footprint are key goals for
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For More Information governments and industry, multiple initiatives exist to make these motors less power-hungry. For
example, the many worldwide standards for energy labeling of household appliances impact the

design of appliances by targeting lower energy consumption and audible and electrical noises,
▶ NexGen Power Systems among others. Another example is the introduction of efficiency classes for industrial motors in
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Europe, effectively cutting off lower-efficiency motors from the market. As a result, we have seen
3,4
▶ Vertical GaN the rise of induction motors, such as brushless DC (BLDC) motors, which are smaller and more
efficient for the same mechanical power. 5,6

60 MAY 2022 | www.powerelectronicsnews.com MAY 2022 | www.powerelectronicsnews.com 61