SAN ANTONIO — Recently, Frost & Sullivan assessed the North American automotive electric motor industry and, based on its analysis, recognizes ePropelled with the 2021 North American Automotive Electric Motor Product Leadership Award. The company’s eDTS system includes a highly efficient electric motor that makes it possible to reduce battery size and lower the cost of electric vehicle (EV) manufacture while keeping the same driving range.
ePropelled’s Dynamic Torque Switching (eDTS) includes motor windings, a switch matrix, and software designed to deliver high efficiency and reliability. The switch matrix connects the sections of the windings in a series, series parallel combinations, or all in parallel. However, the windings are manufactured in the same manner as standard electric motor windings for consistency in quality and reliability. The switch matrix, a semiconductor switch, is custom designed to exclude moving parts and does not involve complex manufacturing processes. This is the only physical part not present in standard motors. The software component of eDTS ensures high-efficiency motor operation while the inverter drive controls the switch matrix. The inverter drive software selects the winding combination to use from the available switch maps based on the demand for the vehicle torque or power.
According to Bharath Kumar Srinivasan, an industry analyst, “eDTS controls the switch matrix and the windings with software. The standardized motor design ensures consistency in the reliability of all eDTS system components, resulting in efficiency improvements, increased driving range, and general cost reduction.”
The eDTS, unlike competing systems, can increase the range of a vehicle by at least 15% due to increased motor efficiency. It can also reduce battery size, resulting in direct cost savings and a vehicle weight reduction of 5%, which further increases its driving range. High-efficiency motors enable reduction in active materials used (copper, magnets, and electrical steel). They also allow for a reduction of up to 10% in their overall weigh, enabling further cost savings. As a result, eDTS meets target performance while reducing costs and pricing the company’s products competitively.
Based on the vehicle torque/power demand, the software in the inverter drive decides the winding combinations to use from the available switch maps, resulting in unmatched efficiency increases. Each map retains high efficiency and compares to the output performance of a particular gear when using a gearbox. Software control enables the eDTS to have multiple zones or gears within the torque and speed limits.
“ePropelled is able to offer these benefits today using existing manufacturing processes, instead of offering only potential savings or requiring complex production techniques that have not been fully developed yet,” Srinivasan explained.
ePropelled installed a 60 kW eDTS solution in a Tata Tiago EV, achieving at least 15% efficiency improvement over the standard configuration. But apart from automotive usage, eDTS is also used in passenger vehicles (PVs), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and water pumps, making it versatile. With its strong overall performance, ePropelled earns the 2021 Frost & Sullivan Product Leadership Award.
Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has developed a product with innovative features and functionality that is gaining rapid market acceptance. The award recognizes the quality of the solution and the customer value enhancements it enables.
Frost & Sullivan Best Practices awards recognize companies in various regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analyses, and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.
