Texas Instruments (TI) and Delta Electronics have embarked on a long-term partnership to develop advanced onboard charging and power solutions for the next generation of electric vehicles (EVs). This collaboration will take place in a joint innovation lab located in Pingzhen, Taiwan, where the strengths of both companies in power management and power delivery will be leveraged. The primary goal of this partnership is to optimize size, performance, and power density, accelerating the development of safer, faster-charging, and more cost-effective EVs.
Amichai Ron, the senior vice president for Embedded Processing at TI, emphasized the significance of the shift to electric vehicles in achieving a sustainable future. He highlighted that through years of collaboration with Delta Electronics, TI semiconductors would be used to develop EV systems such as onboard chargers and DC/DC converters. These systems will be designed to be smaller, more efficient, and more reliable, thereby extending vehicle driving range and promoting the broader adoption of electric vehicles.
James Tang, executive vice president of Mobility and head of the Electric Vehicle Solutions business group at Delta Electronics, noted that Delta has been focusing on developing highly efficient automotive power products, systems, and solutions since 2008 to help reduce transportation-related carbon emissions.
The development of these next-generation automotive power solutions will occur in three phases:
Phase One: Affordable and Lightweight 11kW Onboard Charger
In the initial phase, Delta will create an 11kW onboard charger that is more affordable and lighter by utilizing TI’s latest C2000TM real-time microcontrollers (MCUs) and exclusive active electromagnetic interference (EMI) filter solutions. The collaboration aims to achieve up to 95 percent power conversion efficiency while reducing the charger’s size by 30 percent.
Phase Two: Enhanced Automotive Safety Standards
The second phase will see the use of the latest C2000 real-time MCUs for automotive applications to help manufacturers achieve automotive safety integrity levels (ASILs) up to ASIL D, the highest safety standard in the automotive industry. Highly integrated automobile-isolated gate drivers will be employed to increase the power density of onboard chargers while minimizing the overall solution size.
Phase Three: Next-Generation Automotive Power Solutions
In the final phase, TI and Delta will collaborate to develop the next generation of automotive power solutions, drawing on TI’s extensive experience designing and producing devices using gallium nitride (GaN) technology. According to Luke Lee, president of Texas Instruments for Taiwan, Japan, Korea, and South Asia, the rapid advancement of electronics in automotive applications has led to more feature-rich, efficient, and safer vehicles.
This strategic partnership between TI and Delta Electronics marks a significant step forward in the evolution of electric vehicle technology, promising innovations that will benefit both the industry and the environment.
