Battery capacity and long charging time are issues
MCU-based reference design for shortened charging time

The biggest concern with electric vehicles is whether they can drive long distances without running out of fuel. Electricity, of course, is the fuel for electric vehicles. The fuel issue is related to battery capacity and the availability of charging stations.

Electric vehicles, while somewhat different in form, have been around since the 1800s and faced fundamentally similar challenges to those we face today. In fact, in the early 1900s, one-quarter of all vehicles produced in the United States were electric. Demand declined because gasoline was easier to distribute and supply than electricity. It took another 60 years for the need for electric vehicles to emerge, despite environmental concerns.

Electric vehicles still face challenges, including increased battery capacity, high-efficiency motors, and public awareness of environmental pollution. Easily accessible public charging stations and fast charging remain significant challenges. To meet market demand, charging stations, including DC fast chargers, must be as widespread as regular gas stations. Furthermore, all electric vehicles must be compatible with these charging stations.

TI has joined the CharIM eV Consortium, which works to establish standards for charging battery-powered electric vehicles. This will create a common platform across the industry, enabling consumers to verify that charging stations are compatible with their vehicles.

Another important step is to reduce charging times for batteries that are getting bigger as Level 3 chargers become more widespread. TI offers several reference designs based on C2000™ microcontrollers to help charger manufacturers with their development.

TI has leveraged decades of expertise in high-voltage rectifiers used in network servers to develop reference designs for the electric vehicle charger market. The first is a Vienna Rectifier-Based Three-Phase PFC Reference Design Using C2000 MCUs. This reference design is based on TI's latest Delfino™ TMS320F28377D dual-core C2000 MCU, achieves 98% peak efficiency, and is supported by TI's powerSUITE software library. This reference design provides an AC/DC solution for Level III chargers.

The C2000 MCU-based 2-phase interleaved LLC resonant converter reference design is a DC/DC solution that converts DC output from a Vienna rectifier to a DC bus voltage suitable for electric vehicle batteries. This design also uses the TMS320F28377D MCU and supports features such as current sharing, synchronous rectification, and phase shedding.

Increasing the footprint of electric vehicle charging equipment (EVSE) is crucial for electric vehicles to become a mainstream mode of transportation. This requires common compatibility and rapid charging solutions. TI solutions enable designers to address these challenges.