Car companies, starting with Volvo last summer, have laid out plans to electrify entire lineups of vehicles. But the fine print makes it clear that the coming decade and beyond will focus not just on massive battery packs powering electric motors, but also on adding a little extra juice to the venerable internal combustion engine.
Increasingly, that juice will arrive in the form of new electrical systems built to a 48-volt standard, instead of the 12-volt systems that have dominated since the 1950s. Simpler than Prius-type drivetrains and less expensive than Tesla-scale battery power, the new electrical architecture both satisfies the demands of cars made more power hungry by their gadget load and enables the use of lower-cost hybrid drive systems.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/08/business/electric-cars-48-volts.html
(Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Monday February 26 2018, @03:18AM
If you're not careful with cars (specifically: spark plugs) you can get some very memorable jolts from them.
12 vs 48V? Meh. I'd actually prefer the lower amperage fuses/breakers that come with a 48V line, 20A (common in 12V systems) can cook a wire quickly, 5A is quite a bit more tame.
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