On the road without converters
Stellantis is working on new battery technology that will make the powertrains of electric cars more compact, cheaper and more efficient. This is not about solid state technology or some other alternative composition of the battery cells themselves, but about a new integration of the peripherals needed to convert electricity from the grid into forward motion. What’s up with that?
The powertrains of electric cars usually work the same and consist of several parts. Alternating current (AC, or alternating current) comes from a charging station and is led to the battery pack via a charger (an inverter) in the car. The converter serves to convert the alternating current into direct current (DC, or direct current); There is no alternating current in a battery. The electric motor of a car does need alternating current again, so even if the EV battery starts to discharge again – in other words: the EV starts moving – it has to be converted, which requires a second inverter. This process is shown schematically in the video at the bottom of this article.
Both the battery, the inverter and the charger have their own place in the car and are separate parts that are also produced separately. Stellantis’ new IBIS (Intelligent Battery Integrated System) technology should put an end to such a multi-part layout. This ensures that each battery cell (that is one of the often several equal parts that make up a battery) can handle alternating current itself and also without the intervention of a separate inverter that can channel power to the electric motor.
Exactly how those ‘intelligent battery cells’ work remains unclear, but Stellantis indicates that they make a separate charger and inverter superfluous. As a result, the electric powertrain and charging technology not only take up less space in the car, but also make the powertrain more efficient, reliable and cheaper to produce, says Stellantis.
‘To be found in Stellantis cars before 2030’
The new type of battery cells of the IBIS technology is not only suitable for electric driving, but would also be more suitable for the vehicle to gridtechnology, where you can use an electric car to feed power back to your home or the energy grid. They would also be more useful for static energy storage in solar parks, for example. Towards the end of this decade, the battery packs in Stellantis’ production cars should be equipped with IBIS cells. The group does not yet specify concrete efficiency improvements in figures.
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl