Texas Instruments (TI) has introduced a long-term collaboration with Delta Electronics to create electric vehicle (EV) onboard charging and power solutions. The companies said this work will leverage both companies’ research and development capabilities in power management and power delivery in a joint innovation laboratory in Pingzhen, Taiwan. Together, the companies said they aim to optimize power density, performance and size to accelerate the realization of safer, faster-charging and more affordable EVs.

“The transition to electric vehicles is key to helping achieve a more sustainable future, and through years of collaboration with Delta Electronics, we have a solid foundation to build upon,” Amichai Ron, senior vice president for embedded processing at TI, said. “Together with Delta, we will use TI semiconductors to develop EV power systems like onboard chargers and DC/DC converters that are smaller, more efficient and more reliable, increasing vehicle driving range and encouraging more widespread adoption of electric vehicles.”

“Delta has been developing high-efficiency automotive power products, systems and solutions since 2008 to help reduce transportation-related carbon emissions,” said James Tang, executive vice president of Mobility and head of the EV solutions business group at Delta Electronics. “Through the establishment of this joint innovation laboratory with TI, Delta intends to leverage TI’s abundant experience and advanced technology in digital control and GaN to enhance the power density and performance of our EV power systems. With more leading-edge product development and design capabilities, we aim to achieve closer technology exchange and collaboration to accelerate product development and improve product safety and quality. We look forward to furthering our technology leadership and creating a win-win situation in the rapidly developing electric vehicle market.”

According to the companies, the three phases of development for next-generation automotive power solutions include:

• Phase one of the collaboration focuses on Delta’s development of a lighter-weight, cost-effective 11kW onboard charger, using TI’s latest C2000 real-time microcontrollers (MCUs) and TI’s proprietary active electromagnetic interference (EMI) filter products. The companies said they are working together using TI’s products to reduce the charger’s size by 30% while achieving up to 95% power conversion efficiency.
• In phase two, TI and Delta said they will leverage the latest C2000 real-time MCUs for automotive applications to enable automakers to achieve automotive safety integrity levels (ASILs) up to ASIL D, which represents the strictest automotive safety requirements. Highly integrated automotive isolated gate drivers will further enhance the power density of onboard chargers, while also minimizing overall solution size.
• In phase three, the two companies said they will collaborate to develop the next generation of automotive power solutions, capitalizing on TI’s more than 10 years of experience in developing and manufacturing products with gallium nitride (GaN) technology.