Toyota has developed a new semiconductor that will improve the fuel efficiency of their hybrid technology by 10 percent — from Automotive News:

The new semiconductors eat up only a tenth of the energy of today’s chips and enable the PCU to be 80 percent smaller, Toyota engineers said today at a briefing.

The technology has the potential to deliver 10 percent better fuel efficiency because less energy is lost when the battery powers the car’s electric motor or when the regenerative brakes recharge the battery.

The silicon carbide semiconductors will be applicable to hybrid or all-electric drivetrains and can be mated to lithium ion or nickel-metal hydride batteries, Toyota said.

Current test vehicles equipped with the new semiconductors are seeing a 5 percent increase in fuel efficiency. Toyota is looking to commercialize the technology by 2020, but the new technology is expensive:

Currently, silicon carbide semiconductors cost “an order of magnitude” more than silicon semiconductors. And because silicon carbide is one of the world’s hardest materials, it is difficult and costly to process into wafers, Hamada said.

“There are still enormous technical barriers,” he said, adding he would be satisfied with achieving only 70 percent of his energy efficiency and miniaturization goals by 2020.

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I would not have considered chip power was a major component of the power used in moving a car…

dv said:

I would not have considered chip power was a major component of the power used in moving a car…

Yep, they convert the battery DC power into the AC power the electric motor uses. I’m a bit sceptical of the percentage improvement they’re claiming though.

My cute little car is fine just the way she is.

dv said:

I would not have considered chip power was a major component of the power used in moving a car…

I was thinking the same thing. But when you consider that the power runs through the chip twice (once into the batteries, and once out) then maybe they are within an order of magnitude.

Spiny Norman said:

dv said:

I would not have considered chip power was a major component of the power used in moving a car…

Yep, they convert the battery DC power into the AC power the electric motor uses. I’m a bit sceptical of the percentage improvement they’re claiming though.

You may be a bit sceptical, I’m very sceptical. A bog standard variable frequency drive has an efficiency of around 94%.

dv said:

I would not have considered chip power was a major component of the power used in moving a car…

They actually mean the power electronic switching device, normally an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT).

sibeen said:

dv said:

I would not have considered chip power was a major component of the power used in moving a car…

They actually mean the power electronic switching device, normally an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT).

I see

>>power electronic switching device, normally an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT).

Phoaw.

they could achieve higher efficiencies by simply making the car half the weight

wookiemeister said:

they could achieve higher efficiencies by simply making the car half the weight

What would you lose first? The chassis?

dv said:

wookiemeister said:

they could achieve higher efficiencies by simply making the car half the weight

What would you lose first? The chassis?

don’t use steel

wookiemeister said:

dv said:

wookiemeister said:

they could achieve higher efficiencies by simply making the car half the weight

What would you lose first? The chassis?

don’t use steel

Use plastic? Make the whole car one big crumple zone?

Carmen_Sandiego said:

wookiemeister said:

dv said:

What would you lose first? The chassis?

don’t use steel

Use plastic? Make the whole car one big crumple zone?

its possible, using aluminium would be one potential replacement

if you could create some very cheap renewable power to power the refining process you could most likely use aluminium

Maybe just drive it at very low speeds in areas where there are no other vehicles, pedestrians, or objects.

Carmen_Sandiego said:

wookiemeister said:

dv said:

What would you lose first? The chassis?

don’t use steel

Use plastic? Make the whole car one big crumple zone?

Carbon fibre chassis, aluminium panels. That’d cut 100 – 200 kg out of the car. Maybe new technology batteries will also weigh less.

dv said:

What would you lose first? The chassis?

JFTR, they don’t have a chassis in the traditional sense, they are all monocoque constructions these days.

And yes, the steels are nearly all very high strength/light weight alloys.

Spiny Norman said:

Carmen_Sandiego said:

wookiemeister said:

don’t use steel

Use plastic? Make the whole car one big crumple zone?

Carbon fibre chassis, aluminium panels. That’d cut 100 – 200 kg out of the car. Maybe new technology batteries will also weigh less.

may have problems from a life cycle perspective, carbon fibre doesn’t strike me as eco friendly, steel can rust, aluminium can be easily recycled

If i built a chassis out of aluminium, to the same dimensions as the original steel one, would it be likely to hold the weight of the body and engine without distorting?
How about torque factors? would it twist more than metal?

….a chip that does power switching/control…can’t be improvements in Ron…..so must be other?

stumpy_seahorse said:

If i built a chassis out of aluminium, to the same dimensions as the original steel one, would it be likely to hold the weight of the body and engine without distorting?
How about torque factors? would it twist more than metal?

The monocoque works rather like combining an egg shell with a truss bridge, it you can imagine that – It’s a tension and compression diagonal bracing. Any material that has the right properties would serve the purpose, until you crashed two of them together.

unless the motor voltages are so low that Ron of what’s presently available is substantial.

stumpy_seahorse said:

If i built a chassis out of aluminium, to the same dimensions as the original steel one, would it be likely to hold the weight of the body and engine without distorting?
How about torque factors? would it twist more than metal?

Aluminium alloys are typically more flexible than steel ones (all things being roughly equal) so no, not a good idea.
You’d need to construct the chassis/body in a slightly different style and also most likely add an internal roll cage to stiffen it all up.