Innovations in EV Powertrain Design: A Modular Approach

The Helios H2020 project explores the shift from internal combustion engines to electric motor vehicles which brings notable benefits, such as reduced environmental impact, higher efficiency, and lower greenhouse gas emissions. The powertrain, consisting of the batteries and traction inverter, is crucial in electric vehicles.

by  Sergio Busquets-Monge, Professor - Electronic Engineering Dept. - UPC

A recent study explores the advantages of a powertrain design that integrates a modular battery bank with multilevel NPC traction inverter topologies, compared to a conventional two-level design. Key findings include potential reductions of up to 55% in inverter losses, 65% in motor ac-voltage harmonic distortion, and 75% in rms common-mode voltage. These advancements highlight significant improvements in modularity, complexity, battery-pack state-of-charge balancing, and overall reliability.

The results have been published in open access and they can be consulted through the Zenodo community of Helios project: https://zenodo.org/records/7545465

Stay tuned to the HELIOS project for more updates on cutting-edge developments in electric vehicle technology.