Ricardo, Partners Developing Truck Drive Unit

Ricardo is leading a program which it says will advance the next generation of clean, energy efficient, electric on-highway trucks.

Funded by the US Government’s Department of Energy (DOE), Ricardo is leading partners from government, academia, and private industry to deliver a high-power, high-efficiency, silicon carbide inverter and integrated compact electronic drive unit (EDU) for a Class 8 truck. The program’s priority is to have this dual axle truck in demonstration within 12 months in the Port of Long Beach.

Ricardo says the development of the 800V, silicon carbide inverter will achieves 98.5 percent operating efficiency, exceeding the DOE phase 1 program targets of 92.5 percent.

The core partners include:

• FREEDM Center from North Carolina State University (providing support for power electronics design, analysis and testing)
• PolyCharge America (delivering their NanoLam™ capacitor technology)
• Danfoss Silicon Power (supplying the SiC Power Modules aiding in delivery of a volumetric power density in excess of 50kW/L).
• Meritor ePowertrain, featuring an integrated electric motor, novel three-speed gearbox, and vehicle integration.

“We always view our role through the end-user, providing the right products to help customers achieve their goals,” said John Bennett, CTO, Meritor, in a prepared statement. (Cummins recently announced that it would be purchasing Meritor). “For the electric drive unit, we’re demonstrating that a three-speed transmission has better ‘startability,’ acceleration and shifting at high speeds. It pairs perfectly with Ricardo’s development of a high-efficiency inverter that lessens the customers’ carbon footprint, with direct correlation to lower operating costs.

“This high-level project required a collaboration across government, academia and private industry and the experts have aligned perfectly to accelerate innovation and hasten the time to market.”

Said Yansong Chen, SVP of marketing, technology and strategy for Ricardo North America, in a statement:

“Pressure is steadily increasing for lower greenhouse gas emissions from heavy trucks, exemplified in California’s clean energy and clean transport policy which is generally regarded as a leading indicator of global environmental policy. As the demand for cleaner propulsion solutions in trucking grows, Ricardo expertise in developing and integrating electric vehicle solutions for customers around the world will make a huge difference in setting a new standard for electrification through this significant project.”

Source: Ricardo