Marelli has chosen the VDI “Dritev” (Drivetrain Transmission Electrification in Vehicles) International Congress, held in Baden Baden, Germany, to unveil its new 800 Volt silicon carbide (SiC) inverter platform. The benefits are many according to the Italian manufacturer. It starts with greater efficiency, i.e. it is able to extract more energy from the battery of the electric vehicle. Consequently, it increases the autonomy, and also allows faster charging times. Another very important feature is the reduced size and weight. This allows for further advantages in terms of costs and sustainability, allowing manufacturers to build vehicles with ever smaller batteries. All this is due to silicon carbide, a fundamental element to offer performance even in the presence of very high temperatures and voltage at the highest levels. This technology, very suitable for the construction of inverters, allows the conversion from direct current (DC) produced by batteries to alternating current (AC) used to operate electric motors. In addition, the thermal resistance between SiC components and the coolant is now significantly improved.
It should be emphasized that the software is developed internally by Marelli and is integrated in an ECU positioned inside the inverter itself. Obviously this software complies with all the standards required for this type of applications.
The new 800 volt SiC platform completes the range of inverters of the Italian manufacturer which already has 400 volt versions based on both IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) and silicon carbide.