| Abstract |
The efficiency of the electric powertrain has a direct influence on the cost and range of electricvehicles, which are the two key factors hindering the public acceptance of electric vehicles (EVs).Inverters, as an important component of the electric powertrain, have a high efficiency at full load, butan unsatisfying performance at partial load due to the bipolar characteristics of IGBT. To improve thepartial load efficiency, this paper proposes to use multilevel inverters composed of low voltageMOSFETs to replace six-pack IGBT inverters in EVs. The proposal is justified by a detailed analysisbased on a BMW i3 vehicle model and an accurate model of semiconductor losses in ANSYSSimplorer. Moreover, a cost comparison proved that the multilevel inverter using common low voltageMOSFETs is the best option among all the solutions considering the current costs of the components. |
