siliconindia | |November 20189The key to win the xEV challenge is to develop processes & establishments for focused & appropriate R&D to define, create and mature world-class technology solutionsMotor & DriveNumerous types of motor drives have been used in au-tomotive applications. Permanent Magnet (PM) based drives have the best torque-weight ratio, but geographi-cally highly skewed availability of PM material poses vari-ous concerns. Induction Motor (IM) drives are among the most robust and yet, automotive grade efficiency require-ment demands specialized & costly rotor manufacturing. Switched Reluctance Motor drives (SRM) are low cost, ro-bust and free of PM. However, their torque and noise per-formance need improvement for drivability and comfort in some applications. The cost of power electronic devices such as IGBTs used for drive electronics is an issue. These drives may be subjected to frequent transient overload-ing in urban traffic and thus active thermal management and failure protection are important issues to be addressed through indigenous R&D. Vehicle Control & SoftwareThe Electronic Control Unit (ECU) deployed by OEMs is typically a black box from a handful of global Tier-I suppliers. Little R&D happens in the country. Little real-world data on traffic parameters, component ageing, fail-ure and others is available. These would enable integrated control of battery, motor and transmission to enhance per-formance of the powertrain and reduce lifecycle cost. It can also provide USPs for customer acceptance, say, by adaptive multi-mode management of vehicles (eco, sport or standard modes) depending on customer choice and vehicle configuration. ManufacturingIndian OEMs have initiated EV development, but have not met with significant success yet. Apart from a general lack of competency and experience to design customized EV subsystems, lack of a supply chain of cost-effective and quality subsystems is a major deterrent to EV develop-ment. Adopting proprietary imported technology drives-up lifecycle cost of xEV subsystems manyfold and thus indigenous product development is the only solution. The problem of cost-effective mass manufacturing to automo-tive standards is harder to solve, since it needs SMEs to adopt such manufacturing processes (like advanced weld-ing for battery packs, in-situ magnetization of Internal PM rotors and others). Centers of Excellences (CoEs) need to be developed for R&D on design and manufacturing of xEV subsystems. These also must be integrated with SMEs for training, consultation, design and engineering support.Right to Win The key to win the xEV challenge is to develop pro-cesses & establishments for focused & appropriate R&D, as well as systems approach to engineering design and manufacturing quality in the country to define, create and mature world-class technology solutions involving all stakeholders of the xEV ecosystem. Apart from facilitat-ing R&D, creating a supportive environment for inven-tions, innovation and design competencies to be nurtured and progressed is also essential. There is also a need to establish business models of investment, risk, knowledge, IP sharing for competitive and precompetitive phases, technology transfer, as well as to practice open engineer-ing, particularly in precompetitive phases. We did it in space by indigenous R&D. We now need to do it on road with xEVs!
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