{"id":24655,"date":"2022-06-15T12:04:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-15T16:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=24655"},"modified":"2022-06-15T12:04:00","modified_gmt":"2022-06-15T16:04:00","slug":"1136182_future-evs-simplify-save-weight-dropping-onboard-charger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=24655","title":{"rendered":"Will future EVs simplify and save weight by dropping the onboard charger?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canada-based Hillcrest Energy Technologies aims to replace EV onboard chargers with a more streamlined system.<\/p>\n

The company earlier this month filed a patent application for a new bidirectional charging architecture based around a high-efficiency inverter, according to a press release from the company. This eliminates the need for an onboard charger, it claims.<\/p>\n

\"Hillcrest<\/p>\n

Hillcrest Energy Technologies universal bidirectional charging architecture<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

As we’ve emphasized before\u2014and often confused by consumers\u2014when you buy a Level 2 “charger”<\/a> you’re essentially buying a cable with some smart safety features built in. The conversion of the electricity from AC to DC current happens in the vehicle, in the onboard charger.<\/p>\n

Hillcrest’s solution would instead put the vehicle’s inverter to use, reducing cost, complexity, and weight, the company claims. Since it’s not unusual for onboard chargers to lose 12-14% of the energy inputted<\/a>, there could be an efficiency benefit as well.<\/p>\n

\"Porsche<\/p>\n

Porsche Taycan charging<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Hillcrest also claims its system will allow EVs will 800-volt architecture to DC fast charge on 400-volt chargers without the need for a booster.<\/p>\n

This technology is still in its early stages, however. Hillcrest said it was only completed initial “proof-of-concept lab testing,” with further development work planned later this year and validation testing with a yet-to-be-named partner in 2023.<\/p>\n

\"Volkswagen<\/p>\n

Volkswagen bi-directional charging pilot program<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

As major automakers like Volkswagen<\/a> decide how to deploy bidirectional charging, this could also potentially be an inexpensive solution. It could also be more compact versus the setup, for instance, in the Ford F-150 Lightning<\/a>, with dual onboard chargers adding up to 19.2 kw.<\/p>\n

This isn’t the only strategy aiming to update the extra baggage of onboard chargers. Texas Instruments is aiming to dramatically downsize them<\/a>. In 2020 the company once known for its calculators began marketing new transistors it claimed could double the power density of onboard chargers, allowing components to be reduced 50% in size.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Canada-based Hillcrest Energy Technologies aims to replace EV onboard chargers with a more streamlined system. The company earlier this month filed a patent application for a new bidirectional charging architecture based around a high-efficiency inverter, according to a press release from the company. This eliminates the need for an onboard charger, it claims. Hillcrest Energy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24656,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-cars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}