Page 18 - NEW Armstrong Book - 2

Power SiC in
the EV Era:
Fasten Your
Seat Belts
By Ezgi Dogmus and Ana Villamor
O ver the past few years, tech developments in the power electronics market have generated considerable hype. One trend that has been trumpeted the loudest is the
development and market penetration of silicon carbide compo- nents. How did we get here, and how will this trend evolve?
followed by consumer and renewable sources.
However, applications in electric and hybrid-electric vehicles (EV/HEV) are the main drivers of power electronics market growth, with massive market potential — along with high demand for continued technological innovation — predicted in the coming years. The EV/HEV sector is also a noticeable driver of other power electronics end markets. This is the case for renewable energy, which is boosted by clean-driving trends and rising electricity consumption. More grid lines need to be deployed to sustain the larger amounts of energy required. Similarly, more energy storage systems need to be deployed to better distribute the energy to the grid. The grid must also reach newly installed EV charging stations outside cities, enabling many cars to be plugged in simultaneously with acceptable charging times.
Of course, SiC has huge potential in all the applications we have just named. Ideally, the highest performance is required in all the different systems, and higher efficiency can be achieved by using SiC instead of traditional silicon components. However, there are still device cost barriers and some technological challenges to overcome. That raises a number of questions: In which applications are there sufficient volumes to decrease costs? In which applications do we find the most technological innovation? In which applications is high performance required within severe space constraints?
The answer in all cases is EV/HEV, EV/HEV, and EV/HEV. Hybrid and electric vehicles are the application that will enable SiC to become more reliable and more affordable. EV/HEV is the base application from which SiC can spread to other, “more conservative” power electronics markets.
Key factors driving power electronics include optimization and expansion of electrical power conversion, fueled by electrifica- tion trends in transportation, CO emission reduction goals,
2
the development of clean electricity sources, and industrializa-
tion. There’s a direct link between reducing CO2 emissions and the efforts to achieve a cleaner environment, and the same can be said for electrification and industrialization. If we consider the specific applications driving the market, we could say that today, the big power electronics markets are still industrial,
4