Vitesco presented innovations for the vehicle electrification market at the 35th International Symposium on Electric Vehicles (EVS), in Oslo, which took place from June 11th to 15th.

In Oslo, the German automotive company presented for the first time its drive motor optimized for the higher ranges of electric cars in the future. The so-called externally excited synchronous electrical machine (EESM) does not require the use of rare earth metals and is designed specifically for high range, faster highway driving and therefore for future electric vehicles with long range autonomy.

Event in Oslo

Oslo is the meeting place for all the big names in automotive electrification. The company presented the highlights of its current portfolio there, as well as innovations for the future requirements of electromobility — for particularly efficient electric driving.

Permanently excited synchronous machines (PSM) are now standard in vehicle electrification. This is due to the high efficiency of these electric motors in city traffic or on medium lanes. Permanent magnets based on rare earths are installed in the rotor of PSM motors.

Meanwhile, however, the general conditions for electric drives are changing: the ranges of battery electric vehicles are becoming longer and longer, and on real long-distance routes with fast highway driving, externally excited synchronous machines (EESM ) demonstrate its advantage. Especially at high speeds they are more efficient than PSMs.

Using coils instead of magnets

Instead of magnets, the rotor shown here uses coils. In addition to efficiency at high speeds, this offers the advantage of avoiding permanent magnet prices, which have already reached a 10-year high. In addition, the facility's CO₂ footprint is reduced by the portion attributable to rare earth mining, which can have a positive impact on the product sustainability throughout its life cycle.

A Vitesco Technologies is therefore preparing a portfolio expansion that will make EESM technology available for its already successful shaft drive, including power electronics. The company has many years of field experience with this technology, and therefore has a certain advantage in development and industrialization.

In a second presentation focus on the EVS Symposium, Vitesco Technologies will present systems and solutions that make electric driving even more efficient. These include, in addition to the integrated electric spindle drive:

• battery management to monitor its state of charge, increasing safety and battery life;
• power electronics, a key component of any electrified drive as it supplies power not only to the electric motor but also to the high voltage battery;
• thermal management for greater range and comfort and faster charging;
• high-voltage box, as central electronics for electric vehicle charging technology, as well as for in-vehicle energy supply;
• master controller, which provides as a small server everything an electric vehicle needs to drive.

“With our portfolio, we are clearly focusing on global and scalable platforms for electrified vehicles. This is where we see growth, and this is also where the potential for sustainable and increasingly CO₂-neutral mobility of the future lies,” says Thomas Stierle.

Glass inverter with high resolution measurement technology

Another highlight is a vehicle that works as a rolling test bench. Here, inverter function can be monitored in real time — thanks to highly sophisticated measurement technology. From this “glass inverter”, selected values ​​such as current flows, efficiencies and losses are transmitted to the Vitesco Technologies Cloud.

Among other things, this attraction shows the know-how of measurement technology from previous development work on high-efficiency silicon carbide (SiC) inverters, with which Vitesco Technologies will enter series production from 2023.

O EVS Symposium established itself as a premier event for vehicle electrification, spanning from micromobility to heavy duty, public transport systems, aviation and maritime. The organizer himself speaks of the largest symposium on electric mobility in the world.