Power Electronics for Electric Vehicles 2013-2023: Forecasts, Technologies, Players

Introduction

“In 2023 over 142 million electric vehicles will be made - the traction inverter is key.”

The market for electric vehicle inverters, both hybrid and pure electric, will grow from around $10billion to an estimated $18billion from 2013 to 2023 as discussed in this new report. The demand for inverters and electric power conversions is already well established in the automation and industrial control industries which are also growing at considerable pace, therefore the addition of a significant complimentary emerging market will create new sectors for existing inverter and power electronic component suppliers as well as create opportunities for new players, particularly those with specialist electric vehicle knowledge and those able to develop added value through highly integrated electric powertrain systems.

Every electric vehicle needs at least one electric traction motor, many have two or more, and each traction motor requires an inverter to power it. The market place for electric vehicle inverters is both varied and dynamic. Inverter sizes range from a few hundred watts to several hundred kilowatts and span electric vehicle applications from electric cycles to passenger vehicles to commercial and military vehicles, all of which are expanding at unprecedented rates.. This wide market place provides scope for players to participate in the general market place and in niche areas, and indeed there no providers of inverters who cross the complete range of electric vehicles.

For sheer volumes, inverters in light electric vehicles such as electric bicycles dominate now and will remain so by 2023, with these being largely in Asia, meeting everyday personal transportation needs in large industrial cities. However, by 2023 inverters and converters in passenger vehicles will dominant by market value as high volume production is established and cost of ownership and range anxiety are reduced.

Number of traction inverters in electric vehicles worldwide 2012-2023 in thousands

Source:IDTechEx

The wide range in power and performance requirements, from small low voltage inverters used in electric scooters to large high power inverters used in hybrid and electric trucks, buses and military vehicles, creates a huge emerging market space and set of market requirements and thus an opportunity for large number of suppliers of electric vehicle power electronic systems and components to supply demand, and no real possibility of dominance by one provider.

The user demand for greater all electric range will push inverter and converter designers to optimise overall system efficiency. This, together with the requirement to reduce overall package size and system cost will result in the adoption of new materials and control algorithms and undoubtedly require a move towards higher levels of system integration.

Advances in inverter design for electric vehicles are driven by several key technologies, including power device materials, power capacitors and cooling technologies. These will assist in the realisation of step changes in performance, size and reliability over the next decade with materials such as Silicon Carbide and Gallium Nitrate among the most notable. These are unlikely to be in commercial high volume electric vehicle applications until much later in the decade due to issues around packaging and reliability. However, the benefits they offer indicate that they will be the most likely devices of choice by 2023. This report details state of the art in inverter design and highlights these technology trends.

The high performance enjoyed by electric powertrains is often also considered a potential danger as faults in any part of the system can result in near instantaneous torques being developed at the vehicle wheels, which can result in unsafe conditions unless properly considered. Therefore, functional safety is becoming an increasing important and often mandatory requirement for electric powertrain systems and must be considered at early product design and component selection stages, frequently resulting in fault tolerant and dual redundancy designs.

This report will be a great benefit for industrialists, investors, market researchers and others interested in the huge expanding electric vehicle market for power electronics technology. It will also provide an essential guide to those studying or involved in the supply of associated technology and to support industrial and government initiatives. The report is suitable for the non-technical reader, but has sufficient detail to inform those readers requiring more subject depth.

IDTechEx offers independent market research and advice in selected emerging technologies to companies across the value chain, to support them in making essential strategic business decisions. Content expertise and IP in our chosen specialisms is available through provision of regularly-updated reports, advisory services, bespoke consulting services and events. Our technology experts are respected, high profile and well-connected in their fields.

Table of Contents

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

• 1.1. Market Forecasts
• 1.2. Global value market for vehicle traction drives
• 1.3. Concern in Europe

2. INTRODUCTION

• 2.1. History of the Electric Motor and Motor Control
• 2.2. AC Vs DC
• 2.3. Direct Drive or gearbox
• 2.4. Comparison with a parallel market
• 2.5. Technologies and trends in the key components used in electric traction drives
  • 2.5.1. The Power Module
  • 2.5.2. DC Bus/Snubber capacitor
  • 2.5.3. Analog sensors
  • 2.5.4. Position/Speed Feedback
  • 2.5.5. Control DSP
  • 2.5.6. Isolated Gate drive circuit
  • 2.5.7. Switch Mode power supply
  • 2.5.8. Power Distribution within the inverter
  • 2.5.9. Digital Communications
  • 2.5.10. EV AC drive frequency converter control Hungary
• 2.6. Examples of news in 2013
  • 2.6.1. Nanotechnology for the power components
  • 2.6.2. Meidensha advances energy management
  • 2.6.3. Volvo new integrated motor and battery charger
  • 2.6.4. EV go slow hits SiC power devices

3. ANALYSIS OF 73 TRACTION MOTOR/INVERTER MANUFACTURERS

4. ANALYSIS OF INVERTER COMPONENT MANUFACTURERS

5. COMMENTS FROM AUTOMOTIVE WORLD 2012

• 5.1. Toyota
• 5.2. Volkswagen
• 5.3. Ford
• 5.4. Toyota - Power Electronics
• 5.5. Fuji Electric
• 5.6. Renesas
• 5.7. Nissan

6. TYPES OF TRACTION MOTOR DRIVE IN SUMMARY

• 6.1. Mechanical Considerations
  • 6.1.1. Shapes of motor drives
  • 6.1.2. Size and number of motor drives
  • 6.1.3. Drive position
  • 6.1.4. Cooling Systems
• 6.2. Functional Safety and High Availability

7. MARKET FORECASTS

• 7.1. Inverter/Controller forecasts of numbers
• 7.2. Global value market for vehicle traction drives
• 7.3. System design
• 7.4. Influence of motor type on inverter design
• 7.5. Influence of battery voltage and motor performance requirements
• 7.6. Summary of Inverter component technology trends
  • 7.6.1. Power Modules
  • 7.6.2. Higher switching frequencies
  • 7.6.3. Heat recovery
  • 7.6.4. Snubber capacitors
  • 7.6.5. Communications
  • 7.6.6. Power distribution
  • 7.6.7. Functional safety

APPENDIX 1: REFERENCES AND WORKS CITED

APPENDIX 2: IDTECHEX PUBLICATIONS AND CONSULTANCY

• 1.1. Number of traction inverters in electric vehicles worldwide 2012-2023 in thousands
• 1.2. Vehicle numbers (thousand) 2012-2023
• 1.3. Number of traction motors in multi-motor vehicles 2012-2023 and percentage of all vehicle traction motors rounded
• 1.4. Proportion of electric vehicles with more than one motor 2012-2023
• 1.5. Number of electric vehicles with more than one electric motor 2012-2023 in thousands and percentage of all electric vehicles rounded
• 1.6. Average number of motors per multi-motor vehicle 2012-2023
• 1.7. Proportion of electric vehicles with one motor 2012-2023
• 1.8. Number of electric vehicles with one electric motor ie number of motors in single-motor vehicles in thousands 2012-2023
• 1.9. Price of traction inverter to vehicle manufacturer in $k per vehicle 2012-2023
• 1.10. Traction inverter market value $million paid by vehicle manufacturer 2012-2023
• 2.1. Typical Electric Motor Applications
• 2.2. Motor types, applications and advantages
• 2.3. Comparison of key requirements in the industrial automation and automotive markets for inverters/controllers
• 3.1. Analysis of 73 traction motor/inverter manufacturers
• 4.1. Analysis of Inverter Component Manufacturers
• 7.1. Number of traction inverters in electric vehicles worldwide 2012-2023 in thousands
• 7.2. Vehicle numbers (thousand) 2012-2023
• 7.3. Number of traction motors in multi-motor vehicles 2012-2023 and percentage of all vehicle traction motors rounded
• 7.4. Proportion of electric vehicles with more than one motor 2012-2023
• 7.5. Number of electric vehicles with more than one electric motor 2012-2023 in thousands and percentage of all electric vehicles rounded
• 7.6. Average number of motors per multi-motor vehicle 2012-2023
• 7.7. Proportion of electric vehicles with one motor 2012-2023
• 7.8. Number of electric vehicles with one electric motor ie number of motors in single-motor vehicles in thousands 2012-2023
• 7.9. Price of traction inverter to vehicle manufacturer in $k per vehicle 2012-2023
• 7.10. Traction inverter market value $million paid by vehicle manufacturer 2012-2023

• 1.1. Typical e-powertrain components
• 1.2. On-going Development of Hitachi automotive inverters
• 1.3. Toyota Prius 2010 electronic control unit showing bed of IGBT chips
• 1.4. Number of traction inverters in electric vehicles worldwide 2012-2023 in thousands
• 1.5. Inverter market value $ million paid by vehicle manufacturer 2012-2023
• 1.6. The new MAN hybrid bus from Germany showing the power inverter and the use of a supercapacitor (ultracapacitor) instead of a battery, putting different demands on the power electronics
• 1.7. Example of modern vehicle inverters from Phoenix international, a John Deere Company as exhibited ant eCarTec Germany October 2012. The large unit bottom left is used in the MAN hybrid electric city bus which uses supercapacitors
• 2.1. Families of power semiconductor
• 2.2. Latest power semiconductors by frequency of use
• 2.3. Overview of traction inverter
• 2.4. IGBT Power module exposed
• 2.5. Figure of Merit for successive generations of Mitsubishi IGBT
• 2.6. Schematic drawing of Semikron SKiN Technology
• 2.7. Comparison of 2nd and 3rd generation Toyota Prius power module
• 2.8. Hitachi pin fin liquid cooled power modules
• 2.9. Hitachi IGBT Module with pin fin baseplate used on Chevrolet Volt
• 2.10. Double sided Cooling - Denso Lexus LS600h
• 2.11. Potted film capacitor
• 2.12. Volumetric transition of metalized polypropylene film capacitors
• 2.13. LEM Hall-Effect current sensor
• 2.14. Contactless current sensor IC
• 2.15. Block Diagram of Freescale' s Qorivva MPC567xK
• 2.16. Analog Devices iCoupler Technology
• 2.17. Potted film capacitor for traction applications
• 2.18. Deployment of power conditioning subsystems
• 2.19. Distribution of SiC device market 2010-2020
• 7.1. Number of traction inverters in electric vehicles worldwide 2012-2023 in thousands
• 7.2. Inverter market value $ million paid by vehicle manufacturer 2012-2023
• 7.3. Make-up of EV component manufacturers
• 7.4. Power and voltage requirement for energy storage systems

Power Electronics for Electric Vehicles 2013-2023: Forecasts, Technologies, Players published by IDTechEx Ltd. in May 1, 2013. This report consists of 149 Pages and the price starts from US $ 3495.

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