Canadian startup eLeapPower battery tech picked by China's Chery Automobile Co.

'The plan is not to do three or five and see how it goes. It’s all or nothing,' eLeapPower's CEO Russell Pullan says

The eLeap Inverter Can Boost EV Charging Speed by Tossing Out the Onboard Charger

Canadian tech firm integrates an EV motor’s copper winding into the inverter circuitry, saving cost and weight of an onboard charger and voltage converter.

Slow charging speed is a major buzzkill for electric vehicles. But what if we told you a big, heavy, expensive piece of electronics was partly to blame for slowing your EV's charging rate, and that a Canadian tech startup figured out an extremely simple solution that allows an EV to charge faster and operate more efficiently by ditching that pokey onboard charger? That's exactly what eLeapPower is proposing with its integrated inverter technology.

What's an Inverter?

Your battery stores DC power, but your EV motor requires AC power to accelerate or regeneratively decelerate, and your level-1 or -2 EV charger dispenses AC electricity. It's the inverter's job to convert between the two, using transistor switches that periodically reverse the direct current polarity to send sine waves of current to the motor or rectify the sine waves into solid plus-or-minus polarity.

An onboard charger happens to include much of the same equipment as an inverter, essentially acting like an inverter that's receiving a constant stream of "regenerative braking" energy and converting it to DC power for the battery.

There are obvious downsides. These onboard chargers currently in market are about the size and weight of a backpack filled with sand, and they're only designed to accept a set amount of energy, so it might take overnight to recharge a battery. The latest EVs that are capable of higher 800-volt charging may also require a voltage converter to step up or down between 400 and 800 volt charging—that's yet another big hunk of power electronics to add to the equation. So what's the solution?

Integrated Inverter Does It All

Enter eLeapPower, leveraging research conducted at the University of Toronto, which appears to be the the first to have figured out how to do what engineers have long believed should be technically feasible: To utilize the EV's electric motor's windings in conjunction with the existing inverter to then also function as an onboard charger, thus reducing the amount of equipment required.

They do this by splitting the inverter in half—with each division charging a half of the battery pack. The electric motor's stator coil is also wired between the inverter's split electronics. This allows the new integrated inverter to utilize the existing inductance of the motor stator's copper wire windings, which serves as a de facto limit to the charging power. That would mean a 200-kW motor can charge at a rate of 200 kW.

So for example, replacing the 6.6-kW onboard charger from a Nissan Leaf with an eLeapPower Integrated Inverter would allow the car to accept the maximum rate currently possible from the North American Level-2 infrastructure, which is 19.2 kW (80 amps at 240 volts), thus improving the Leaf's charging time by a significant margin. As a bonus, the Integrated Inverter is inherently bi-directional as well, so it supports vehicle-to-grid or -home power sharing from the EV battery's stored energy.

Lower Cost and Weight

The guts of the Integrated Inverter are not materially different from those in today's inverters, so any net difference in supply or material cost and weight there will be negligible. Obviously all of the cost and weight of an onboard charger and (where necessary) the 400-800-volt converter plus their associated wiring are simply lined out of the bill of materials. Removing the assembly stations for these parts realizes a further manufacturing cost savings. In all, eLeapPower reckons the total power electronics cost of an electric vehicle could be halved.

Better for the Motor, Battery

We fretted that leveraging the motor windings for double duty like this might risk "wearing them out" quicker, but no, we were reassured, the split inverter can result in smaller voltage switching with gentler changes in voltage experienced by the motor. And the highest power DC fast charging might actually be slightly better for the battery when running the incoming power through this Integrated Inverter, because that allows the battery monitoring system (BMS) to keep tabs on individual cell voltages during charging, potentially spotting trouble that would have been missed were power was instead routed directly into the battery via a voltage converter (which the eLeap system also eliminates).

Efficiency Gains

Wiring the motors in tandem with the inverter like this can allow the vehicle to regenerate energy down to lower speeds than is possible with today's separate inverter setup. eLeap Power claims its simulations suggest the Integrated Inverter could boost power electronics efficiency by a significant 12 percent.

This potential energy savings earned eLeapPower a $3 million award from Bill Gates, because that organization reckoned the technology could save 0.6 gigatons of CO2 by 2040.

DC Microgrid Ready

Fleets with access to onsite wind, solar, or other green energy source often have a local microgrid, perhaps with on-site battery storage, and these microgrids generally store DC energy. The eLeapPower Integrated Inverter can directly charge the battery from such microgrids, greening the fleet just that tiny bit more by eliminating losses that might come from converting that energy to feed the main grid, and then converting it again via a charger.

Coming to Market in 2023

Thanks to several successful funding rounds, the product is fully developed. China's Chery Automobile Co. Ltd has signed a contract to outfit 15,000 of its delivery vans with the eLeapPower Integrated Inverter starting this year, produced by Chinese Tier I supplier Hasco.

Beyond the cars, here's the best of CES

The transportation-related innovations we liked best at CES melded big visions with technology that will be ready for customers in the near term. Here's a look at the best from Las Vegas.

The drive for innovation often hits speed bumps

Transportation technology appeared tangible at CES. But the plodding nature of development means it might still be a decade away, or longer.

New EVs and Self-Driving Cars Among the Highlights at the Consumer Electronics Show

Last year the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was turned into a virtual ghost town by the Omicron Covid variant, but in 2023 it was back with massive crowds. Automakers were also back unveiling new models, charging technology, and plenty of autonomous vehicle activity.

One of the most significant introductions came from Stellantis: the company’s belated entry into the world of the electric pickup truck, following Ford with the F-150 Lightning and General Motors with the Silverado EV. The concept Ram 1500 Revolution, introduced by Ram CEO Mike Koval Jr., was a prototype, so there was no range, battery size, or acceleration figures, but RAM hopes to get it to 400 miles. 

The 1500 Revolution features “saloon” doors, which means removing the B pillar and hinging the rear door at the back. The wheelbase has been stretched four inches, which allows room for a third row of jump seats in the crew cab configuration. “It’s a corner office that rolls quietly onto the job site,” Koval said. Using pass-throughs, the truck (with a powered tailgate) can haul something 18 feet long. It has 28 inches of display on two screens, one of which is detachable. 

The Revolution is definitely a work truck, and it includes “shadow mode,” meaning it can follow a farmer around on his or her rounds. Also on the Stellantis stand was an electric concept, the Inception, from the company’s European Peugeot brand. Americans last saw Peugeots for sale in 1991, so this very European take on a knock-your-socks-off electric concept was somewhat exotic and introduced Stellantis’ idea for a steer-by-wire system that has the driver controlling the car from a square screen. 

The Inception is a squared-off coupe with some hints of Tesla’s Cybertruck, and has actual specifications that suggest a production version could be coming. It’s in supercar territory, with 680 horsepower, twin electric motors, and zero to 62 miles per hour in less than three seconds. The huge 100-kilowatt-hour battery enables nearly 500 miles of range. Also at CES was the electric Dodge Charger Daytona SRT Concept, which produces vroom-vroom “exhaust” noises to keep muscle car fans happy. 

Volkswagen also revealed the ID.7 electric in Las Vegas, a larger EV sedan (derived from the ID Aero concept) with 435 miles of range (in the larger battery size) and a very sleek 0.24 coefficient of drag. The vehicle was shown camouflaged, with a full reveal scheduled for the second quarter of the year. A station wagon variant is possible. 

At CES, Sony originally showed its own car as a showcase for infotainment, but now it’s in a partnership called Sony Honda Mobility with a new brand, Afeela. The car shown at CES is loaded with a total of 45 cameras, radar, and sensors. This is one of the “software-defined vehicles” that were ubiquitous at CES this year, and this one features the Snapdragon Digital Chassis. 

A major trend was the revitalization of a seemingly stalled technology—the shift to self-driving cars. Luminar, a leader in the field, showed off new automotive models that will feature its LiDAR scanning technology to aid autonomous driving—the Volvo EX90, the Polestar 3, and a Chinese car from SAIC. Luminar CEO Austin Russell showed equipped Teslas repeatedly stopping to avoid hitting dummies on scooters. 

Early LiDARs are massive installations that sit on the roof of the car, but Israeli company Opsys, which will also be working with SAIC, revealed a smaller and more efficient solid-state (no moving parts) lidar that will be available for mass production in the second quarter of 2023. 

One of the bigger announcements was from Mercedes-Benz, which is making the leap from Level 2 autonomy (the driver paying attention behind the wheel, only on highways) to Level 3 (still on highways but with the driver able to check messages and view entertainment). 

Mercedes Chief Technology Officer Markus Schäfer initially focused on electrification—the company already has eight EVs—and is launching “a worldwide roaming network of a million charging points.” That means 400 fast-charging sites in North America, with 2,500 individual charge points. North America will be developed early, with the first sites open this year, he said. Europe and China are to come. 

Mercedes cars already have enhanced Level 2, which is being extended to all models. But it is soon to be the first automaker globally to introduce Level 3. Drive Pilot is already in Europe, but Schäfer said that it has also been approved in California and Nevada. With Bosch as a partner, Mercedes is also exploring Level 4 with the Intelligent Park pilot program—leave your car at a parking garage, and it will shuffle itself off to a space, then come back when called. 

With Level 3, the driver need not always have eyes on the road, and that (along with the deployment of the new dashboard-wide Hyperscreen) helped push Mercedes to develop new in-car entertainment options, said Magnus Ostberg, chief software officer at the company. That includes video streaming that could accompany an EV charging session, and high-end Burmester sound systems enhanced by Dolby Atmos that produce “Concert Hall on Wheels” music options, curated by Mercedes. 

When will automakers finally get the driver out of the business of driving? It’s a big question, and some intriguing answers came from Ziv Binyamini, CEO of startup Foretellix. Using its proprietary software, the company simulates millions of possible bad scenarios that would occur in a world of self-driving cars, and validates its clients’ ability to avoid them. As Binyamini pointed out, an approach like that can provide results faster than many billions of road mile testing. Volvo is an investor. 

Binyamini thinks Level 3 autonomy will happen quickly, first in trucking and mining, but the Level 4 and 5 “robo taxi” scenario (the focus of failed self-driving company Argo AI, backed by Volkswagen and Ford) is still very difficult. “Full self-driving is 100 times more complex than Level 2,” Binyamini said.  Still, companies like Waymo and GM-backed Cruise are pushing forward with ride services in cities like San Francisco—though not without numerous glitches. 

Cool tech for EVs abounded at CES. ZF, best known for transmissions, unveiled the heated seat belt. John Deere showed autonomous crop planting equipment. Canada’s eLeapPower is trying to get automakers to adopt its smart inverter, which it said eliminates the need for an onboard charger, saving both money and a lot of weight—up to 70 pounds. Toyota Boshoku’s models for robo-taxi interiors offered everything from air cushions to fight motion sickness, to wheelchair access, airbag-equipped seats that check passenger health, and drone delivery of food orders.