When Do We Get the Electronic Battery Switch?

Abstract

The battery pack of an electric or a hybrid vehicle is stacked to dangerous voltages up to 400 volts. It has to be disconnected during parking, for maintenance and very quickly in case of an accident. Special high voltage relays are State-of-the-art. As these components are easily damaged, expensive, heavy and bulky, a solution based on pure semiconductors is desired.

This paper describes the benefits of a purely solid state battery switch. They provide the potential for increased reliability and more than a thousand times faster switching time in the case of an external short circuit. The weight could be reduced to a third from 3 kg to 1 kg, and the volume could be reduced over 79 from 7 liters to 2 liters. Despite the enormous performance gain, the production costs are likely to be similar or slightly lower.