EMiLE project: electric drives reinvented

By admin August 17, 2013 6:41 am IST

• ZF heads government-sponsored research project • Power electronics to be integrated directly into the electric drive • Better systems performance with lower costs
Market opportunities for electric vehicles will be enhanced if they become more powerful, more reliable and less expensive. EMiLE, a research project headed by ZF and supported with around €10 million by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), is examining how this could work. The aim is to integrate an electric vehicle’s power electronics directly into the driving machine. Efficiency and power-to-weight ratio increase as a consequence, faults are easier to identify, and volume production can be realised at significantly lower cost.
Currently, the power electronics for the electric driveline in electric vehicles is located in a separate housing which is connected to the electric driving machine by cable. This solution requires space for the electronics. In addition, the cables add to costs, increase weight and raise susceptibility to faults. Initial solutions where the electronics are attached to the motor housing already indicate that this does not have to be the case. As part of the EMiLE (Electric Motor Integrated Power Electronics) project, the consortium of partners led by ZF Friedrichshafen AG aims to take a step further: the power electronics is to be integrated for the most part directly into the driving machine.

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