19 Future technologies Stamford explored some of those efficiency gains while at Jaguar, whose electric racing team recently became Formula E World Champions, and he says: “Some of the racing stuff is really interesting still, as the competition keeps driving progress – both in Formula E and Formula One. At Jaguar, I had a good review of their Formula E systems and made a few suggestions around the application of some of the technology in the racecars. “The power electronics and motors are all open for development in Formula E, and it is really an energy formula, so it’s all about using the joules sensibly and efficiently. They have to be very careful how and when they apply the finite energy through the race, and that is a strategy discussion that encourages efficiency development, because if you’ve got the best technology and waste the least energy, you are in a better position to use the finite battery energy for performance.” Achieving that, says Stamford, is not only the key to better efficiency, but also a great way to reduce the cost of EVs and accelerate their transition into the mainstream. However, that is not the only area of development he sees as being important in the coming years – with system redundancy, battery health transparency and range acceptance all taking high priority on his industry to-do list. “Autonomous driving is on the way, so we need to avoid the potential for single-point failure modes that can take out all the systems on the car,” he explains. “That will be crucial, and to do that we need to think how the high-voltage systems are architected to give redundancy, ensure they are always available, and have a suitable backup system or fail-safe if a problem happens when you have your feet off, hands off and eyes off the controls. “We are at the point now where EVs are just about reaching a cost parity with ICE, but the resale value is still hurting EVs, and I feel battery health needs to be more transparent. You could have a car that has done 10,000 miles, but has a battery that is at the end of its life, or a car that has done 100,000 miles and has a good battery that will last for a long time, and you just don’t really know by reading the odometer. Providing transparency of battery health will help, but I think that will scare quite a few companies. “When it comes to range, adding battery to increase range costs weight, dollars and volume. So, I wonder, have we got to an acceptable range number now? And the key thing is about being able to charge quickly when necessary. Ultimately, that is more cost-effective than adding extra battery capacity, because driving around with an expensive battery that you don’t use the majority of the time is not sensible. That’s an interesting development area. “Batteries will keep evolving too. They improve by about 3.5% every year and I think that will continue. My view is that solid state batteries will come in and follow a very similar evolutionary trend to the existing NCM cells. Solid state cells do have more packaging potential if you can reduce the safety zones, which will allow much tighter physical integration, lower weight and improve energy density, putting more energy into a fixed volume within the car.” Ultimately, Stamford believes the benefits of EVs will truly start to be felt once the entire electrification of our day-to-day world takes shape, led by the passenger car market, followed by the high environmental-impact two- and three-wheeler applications, and then moving more into heavy-duty applications. Charging infrastructure is still an Achilles heel in the adoption of EV technologies and Stamford believes DC charging will dominate in the near future, even for home charging. Eventually, with solar panels on rooftops and heat pumps powering indoor climates, the car will not just be a car; it will also take on the function of a power source. Developing the infrastructure to make this possible is, arguably, top of the priority list. “You potentially have two sets of 100 kWh batteries on your drive, and the technology is now able to export that energy to support the home and grid,” he says. “That will allow smart energy management in the house, and as we move to the green energies of wind and solar, which are not consistent in their availability, EVs will play a major part in balancing all those things in a more cost-effective way. And that’s going to be the real revolution.” E-Mobility Engineering | January/February 2025 The drive system of the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG E-CELL (Image courtesy of Mercedes-Benz)
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjI2Mzk4