eTech Learning: EV & AV Technology

In today's episode, we bring you our recent interview with James Goss an expert in electric motor design and CEO of Motor Design Ltd the leading developer of design software for electrical machine design in the high-performance automotive sector. Listen as James describes what Motor Design Ltd does, and how their software helps vehicle manufacturers design the electric motors in their new EV and h...

In this episode, we go slightly off-topic to answer some questions we have received from listeners as to what AVID Technology is, what we do, what vehicles does our technology go in, and what is the history of our company. Listen as we take you on a quick tour of AVID's history and why the company came to be in the first place. If there are any other subjects, you would like us to cover or guests...

In this episode, we look specifically at the Audi e-Tron, Porsche Taycan and Tesla Model S and examine the powertrain differences to try to get to the bottom of the range difference by covering the various factors that affect their efficiency. How have the Germans missed the target with their first EV offerings failed to beat the performance of the much older American EV with their huge resources...

In today's episode, we bring you our recent interview with Mihai Dorobantu the Director of Technology Planning and Government Affairs at Eaton. Eaton is huge global company with 99,000 employees and is a global leader in power transmission systems for heavy-duty automotive vehicles. They also have a huge non-automotive business in electrical power and distribution so they are potentially ideally p...

Today we bring you our recent interview with Uwe Müller, Program Manager at Volvo Construction Equipment. Uwe has been involved in some incredible off-highway electrification projects, such as Volvo's electric quarry project. Uwe tells us in-depth about his fascinating experiences at Volvo, including developing a 100% electric and autonomous mining site concept that has the potential to change the...

This episode of the eTech podcast is all about supercapacitors and is in response to a listener request for more information on this topic. It has taken us a while to answer it so sorry Stefan but thank you for the question! 'What is a supercapacitor, and where are they used in electric vehicles?' Link to the paper by Maxwell discussing this technology: http://www.powersourcesconference.com/Power%...

This episode of the eTech podcast is in response to a question from a listener, who asked if we could help him to understand the different terminology used in the electric vehicle world to describe electric motors. He had seen various different terms used like 'permanent magnet', 'induction machine', 'hybrid reluctance motor', 'switched reluctance' and 'partial permanent magnet' and wondered what...

There is a huge amount of legislative change going on globally relating to vehicle emissions, so in today's episode, we talk about Europe and the changes that have been made and the further changes that are coming. We have seen a lot of announcements by car manufacturers in the last 6 months relating to electrifying their products, and this is potentially great news for the environment and the mar...

Today we bring you our interview with Ben Todd, the CEO and founder of Arcola Energy. Arcola Energy is a systems engineering company and Tier 1 supplier specialising in hydrogen, fuel cells and batteries. They build systems for zero-emission vehicles and for clean energy projects. Ben tells us all about fuel cells, the various applications his company's technology is being applied to and the proje...

In this episode, we bring you a fascinating interview with Ian Goodman, an engineer and entrepreneur with over 30 years’ experience in vehicle electrification! Ian is currently the Principal Fellow of Advanced Manufacturing at the University of Warwick’s WMG and the Director and Principal Consultant at Goodman Wolfe Consulting, a specialist consulting firm focusing on Lithium-Ion Battery productio...

Today we take a look at the recent controversy brought about by Toyota's high profile advertisement campaign where they boldly claimed that their car was 'self-charging'. Listen as we take a look at their disputed claims and break them down from an engineering perspective, before taking a look at it from a marketing communications perspective. Could it be that there is a defence to their claim? Or...

Today we are excited to share with you our recent interview with Dan Caesar, the Managing Director of the amazing Fully Charged show. Despite not being an engineer, we had a great conversation with Dan about his incredible insight into the EV industry and his work with the popular Fully Charged show that covers all new clean energy and electric vehicle technology. Hear about the team's work behind...

Today we bring you our interview with Matthew Lumsden, the CEO of U.K. company Connected Energy. Matthew tells us how he got to where he is in his career and what Connected Energy do in the field of battery storage systems. Formed in 2010, Connected Energy in recent years are developing stationary energy storage systems that use second life batteries from electric vehicles. These batteries that ar...

We are proud to bring you an amazing guest on the show today, the world land speed record holder for an electric motorcycle, Dr. Eva Hakansson! In this fascinating conversation Eva spoke to us about: - How she first became interested in electric vehicles, - Her world record-breaking self built motorcycle 'The Killajoule' and how she made it - The obstacles she and her team faced - The Axial Flux E...

We bring you a fascinating conversation with Volker Pickett who has been researching vehicle electrification for 25 years and is currently the Head of Power Electronics at Newcastle University in the UK. Volker Interestingly started his career researching vehicle electrification at Volkswagen in Germany and was part of a project that saw them be the first company to use lithium-ion batteries in a...

We are excited to bring you our interview with Paul Butler CEO of the North East Automotive Alliance (NEAA). In this episode, we talk with Paul about the work of the NEAA and how it helps and supports vehicle manufacturers and suppliers in the north east of England through skill sharing. The Challenges of hiring skilled engineering talent in our area and how NEAA helps with that. The increase of s...

For this episode of the eTech podcast, Ryan Maughan is in Germany at the Electric & Hybrid Industrial Vehicle Technology show in Cologne which looks specifically at opportunities for electrification of heavy-duty and off-highway machinery. Ryan gave a presentation to his peers in the automotive industry about his experience of electrification of heavy duty machinery, in particular talking about lo...

A Happy New Year to you all! We hope you had a nice end to the year and enjoyed the winter holiday. Our 1st episode of 2019 brings you an in-depth explanation of tri-voltage powertrain architecture in electric vehicles. As EV and hybrid vehicles are becoming widespread, engineers are continuously trying to improve efficiency by using tri-voltage architecture. In this episode, we will explain what...

Several listeners of the podcast have asked what are the main reasons for the differences in efficiency, i.e. why is there a difference in the efficiency published between Europe and the USA and others have been interested to know why there is such a large variation between seemingly similar cars. In answering these questions we cover the 5 main principle sources of efficiency gains in an electric...

We are excited to bring you our interview with James Carter, a Consultant for Vision Mobility in Canada. With 2 decades of experience in the vehicle industry at Toyota and Vision Mobility, James is an expert in future mobility and electrification and we just know you will enjoy hearing what he has to say. In this chat, we discussed a whole range of topics including the future of autonomous vehicle...

For this episode of the eTech podcast, Ryan Maughan is in Germany at the 48V Power Supply Conference in Berlin giving a presentation to his peers in the automotive industry. In this presentation he gives a great overview of AVID Technology, and discusses 48V electrification in heavy-duty machinery, in particular, our experience of 48V in mild hybrid systems and for off-highway and commercial vehic...

We have been asked by a listener of the podcast to do a more in-depth piece around battery degradation, to explain the truths obscured by the myths, and what the best ways to maintain your battery are in order to keep it as efficient as possible. If there are any other subjects you would like us to cover please let us know, we would love to hear from you! Subscribe, rate and don't miss an episode!...

For this episode of the eTech podcast, we are excited to bring you our interview with Matt Boyle an expert in vehicle electrification, former President and CEO of Sevcon a British power electronics company listed on the American stock exchange and recently bought out by BorgWarner. In this episode, we talk with Matt about the electric vehicle industry, his time at Sevcon, and what new challenges h...

For this episode of the eTech podcast, Ryan Maughan answers the question, 'why are electric trucks much more efficient than diesels?' An argument started between Tesla and Daimler after Tesla announced the launch of their electric semi truck with a quoted range that when most people did the maths...seemed impossible. It seemed that Tesla might have been guilty of overselling the capability, or wer...

In this episode of the eTech podcast, Ryan Maughan talks with Dr. Colin Herron the Managing Director of Zero Carbon Futures about electric vehicles, EV charging infrastructure, the trends and what is happening in the industry, and where he sees things going. If there are any other subjects you would like us to cover please let us know, we would love to hear from you! Subscribe, rate and don't miss...