Global NEV Cutting-edge and Innovative Technologies

The World New Energy Vehicle Conference was held in Boao, Hainan from July 1st to 3rd, 2019. To better understand the latest NEV technology advancement, promote their applications, and enhance NEV collaboration between China and the world, WNEVC awarded the “Cutting-edge and Innovative Technologies” at the Plenary Session.

More than 30 renowned experts and scholars from the technical fields of new energy vehicles were involved in the selection process of Global NEV Cutting-edge and Innovative Technologies that were voluntarily declared by enterprises or nominated by experts of the Committee on Science and Technology.

More than 100 innovative technologies and more than 50 cutting-edge technologies were collected in the selection. After the final evaluation, 8 innovative technologies and 8 cutting-edge technologies were selected as "Global NEV Cutting-edge and Innovative Technologies in 2019".

Innovative Technology

5G&C-V2X IoV Connectivity Technology of Huawei Technology Co., Ltd.

5G+C-V2X IoV communication technology developed by Huawei enables the development of intelligent connected cars in the 5G era. The 5G high-throughput and low-latency features can support smart cars to obtain road data such as high-precision maps faster; C-V2X can support direct communication between vehicles and infrastructure, other vehicles, weak traffic participants, etc. The technology is implemented on self-developed 5Gautomotive communication modules MH5000 and 5G chipset Balong5000. It is world’s first 5G chipset to support C-V2X IoV technology.

High power density stack design technology of Toyota Motor Corporation

The Toyota MIRAI is the world's first mass-produced fuel cell vehicle, which uses a fuel cell power density of 3.1kW/L., representing the highest level in the world. MIRAI uses Pt-Co alloy and the catalytic activity was increased by 80%. Reduces the size of the fuel cell stack and improves the size and weight of the fuel cell through advanced stack structure and control means. Compared to the previous version, the MIRAI stack current density is increased by 1.4 times.

High Energy Density and Fast Charging Technology for Lithium Ion Power Battery of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited

In this technology, graphite negative electrode material is used to produce fast charging batteries, which utilizes channel optimization and “fast ion ring” technology, and creates a high-speed channel on the surface of graphite, thereby greatly increases the intercalation speed of lithium ions in the graphite negative electrode. It can achieve 80% SOC in 10~12 minutes, With modulating the designing parameters such as capacity excess coefficient and crystal orientation of the positive and negative electrode plates, and applying the mechanical design of battery unit, the battery management system and the thermal management system at the same time, it optimally matches the chemical system and battery design parameters, and the system with graphite achieves fast charge while preserving properties such as high energy density and long life.

E-Motor Controller based on SiC MOSFET of Tesla Inc．

Motor control technology is the key to high-performance drivetrain design. Tesla developed and produced a high-power motor controller based on SiC MOSFET which has the characteristics of high switching frequency, high thermal endurance and low losses. This technology makes the motor more compact and lighter further, and thus reduces vehicle cycle energy consumption and increases the mileage of a single charge. It is already used in mass production for Tesla Model 3 all-electric vehicles.

NISSAN e-POWER: 100%Electric Generation by Engine,100% Electric Motor Drive

NISSAN e-POWER technology achieves a better fuel economy by utilizing the BEV control tech. & parts tech., changing the specifications & settings of E/G for power generation, and optimizing the battery capacity & power as well as power generation control strategy. e-POWER employs a technology that the drive system is completely separated from the E/G. With no need to consider the running cycles, the best fuel economy operating point of E/G can be selected.

Expanded Polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) Reinforced Ultra-thin Proton Exchange Membrane of W.L. Gore & Associates., Inc.

Currently reinforced ultra-thin proton exchange membranes have been adopted by all mass produced FCV models. ePTFE reinforced ultra-thin proton exchange membrane of W.L. Gore & Associates., Inc., characterized by the unique membrane reinforcement, ionomer and additives’ selection and advanced manufacture technologies, has achieved the best balance of performance, durability and total cost ownership. It is believed it will be a dominant technology utilized in the mass commercialization of FCVs.

Key Technology of High-Efficiency and High-Power Wheel Motor Drive System of BYD Auto Industry Company Limited

The key technology of high-efficiency and high-power wheel motor drive system of BYD Auto, including the advanced and innovative technologies of highly integrating motor and driving axle, directly cooling the motor core, distributed precision control and multiplexing and fusion based on IGBT, contributes to solve the technological difficulty of achieving full size low floor on buses, which is firstly invented in China and has been widely applied on the 100% electric city buses.

eDrive Technology of BMW AG

Highly-integrated eDrive technology developed by BMW AG has an extremely compact design. Electric motor, transmission and power electronics are highly integrated into a single housing. Thanks to the modular design system of electric powertrain components, which enable to produce both electric motors and high-voltage batteries of various sizes, performances and structural shape. It could be equipped with different drive system variants, including plug-in hybrid drive system or battery-electric solution. This fresh package of technology brings considerable advances in terms of performance characteristics, operating range, weight, packaging space and flexibility.

Cutting-edge Technology

Autonomous Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is a kind of high-resolution imaging radar. Its basic principle is that radar uses the motion of vehicle platform to synthesize echoes from different locations, so as to create a large antenna aperture, thereby improving the azimuth resolution to millimeter level. With the rise of autonomous driving, this technology can be applied to high-resolution mapping and automatic parking assistant and other automotive fields.

Solid-state Lithium Battery

Solid-state lithium batteries achieve a huge improvement in energy density, safety and cycle life. A stable interface is formed between cathode and solid electrolyte, which suppresses the growth of lithium dendrites. Based on the exploitation of strong solid electrolyte and inert interface, high-voltage cathode materials and lithium metal anode can be applied in the solid-state batteries, the energy density of which can be promoted while improving safety, and the economy and environmental performance of new energy vehicles will be improved.

Fundamental Data Cloud Control Platform for ICV

The Fundamental Data Cloud Control Platform for ICV adopts three-layer technology architecture including edge cloud, regional cloud and central cloud. It solves the technical bottleneck in sensing range and cooperative control and realizes full factors connected sensing andV2X cooperative control improving traffic safety, traffic efficiency based on big data driving group decision, so that the ICV and ITS will fuse deeply.

High Power Density Silicon Carbide Motor Controllers for Electric Vehicles

SiC has advantages of high temperature, low conduction resistance and high frequency, which is applicated to achieve high power density, high efficiency and low cost of inverter. To achieve SiC high-density inverter, there are three main scientific issues, including carrier transport mechanism of high temperature SiC chip, multi-physical coupling mechanism of SiC module packaging, and electromagnetic interference generation and propagation mechanism of inverter. Furthermore, key technologies need be broken through, such as carrier transport enhancing technology of SiC device, SiC planar double-sided cooled packaging technology and integration method of SiC motor controller.

Lightweight Technology of 3D Braiding CFRP Composites for Automobiles

3D braiding technology can manufacture fiber preformed components from fiber roving directly. Compared with traditional 2D method, 3D braiding reduces the cutting, laying and preforming processes, for which manufacturing steps and the relevant manufacturing cost can be reduced significantly. The application of 3D weaving technology will have significant impacts on automotive structural design, body parts processing and vehicle manufacturing.

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Engine Technology—High Specific Power Stack for Fuel Cell Vehicle

Fuel cell stack is the core component of the fuel cell system, which decides the power performance and cost of the engine. A fuel cell stack with higher specific power will realize higher automotive power. Furthermore, higher specific power will reduce the cost of fuel cell stacks. These factors will accelerate the coming of commercialization era of the fuel cell vehicles.

Distributed Electric Drive System Technology

Distributed electric drive systems usually adopt multiple in-wheel or wheel-hub motors instead of the centralized drive system of traditional electric vehicles. With advantages of short powertrain, high efficiency, compact structure, convenient chassis layout, distributed electric drive systems create a great development space for vehicle modularized and serial development and interior design, can significantly improve vehicle active safety, driving performance and energy efficiency through electronic control technologies, such as torque vectoring control, hybrid brake strategy and so on.

Wireless Charging Technology for Electric Vehicles

Wireless charging technology for electric vehicles can charge an electric vehicle in a non-contact manner based on electromagnetic induction principle. The application of this technology is usually to install two coupling coils on the ground end and the vehicle end, and the transmission of energy from the transmitting end to the receiving end is realized by the magnetic field coupling between the two coils. The wireless charging of the electric vehicle avoids the direct electrical connection between the vehicle charger and the ground terminal power source, and has the characteristics of easy operation, high safety and strong environmental adaptability.