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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: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday February 26 2018, @04:29PM (7 children)
Here again, you're not making much sense. They *already* use a particular amount/type of wire insulation in cars for mechanical reasons, rather than electrical, because cars are a harsh environment (lots of vibration), and the voltage is extremely low. Changing to 48V isn't going to affect that significantly. 48V is still low-voltage, and the mechanical requirements are the same.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Monday February 26 2018, @06:54PM (6 children)
And if you use a smaller gauge wire, you have to replace that with something.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday February 26 2018, @07:46PM (5 children)
Why are you so argumentative on this topic? If you use a smaller gauge wire, you just use a smaller gauge wire. They already have small-gauge wires in cars (for ultra low-current signal lines); it's not like they have to go find something new. They have a whole range of wires they already use, now they just use more of the smaller stuff and less of the larger stuff.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Monday February 26 2018, @09:08PM (4 children)
I'm replying because you're replying. Why are YOU so argumentative on this topic?
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday February 26 2018, @09:35PM (3 children)
Because you keep coming up with things that aren't really problems with converting to 48V and claiming that they are, that's why. The ideas you have are simply wrong: wiring insulation is not a significant factor, redesigning parts and intentionally sticking with 12V when it's no extra work to design for 48V is stupid and not going to happen. In this thread, you really seem to be hung up on wire insulation for some odd reason. What is your obsession with this? Do you just *have* to get the last word in? There's no difference in wire for 12V or 48V systems, I've said it over and over.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Monday February 26 2018, @11:31PM (2 children)
Problems? I have presented no problems, just likely solutions for the transitional period as automotive systems transition to 48V. I do hope they don't cheap out on the wires. And there's no reason that can't save some copper and still have adequate mechanical properties.
Why do you expect a conservative industry to re-design the entire electrical system in one shot when they don't have to?
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Tuesday February 27 2018, @03:05AM (1 child)
Why do you expect any industry to re-design something major and stick with an obsolete standard instead of just moving to the new standard that they've already adopted?
(Score: 2) by sjames on Tuesday February 27 2018, @04:25AM
Because that's how it tends to be done. It spreads risk as well as engineering effort and part validation. Given that there are so far no deployments, how much testing of a 48v window motor do you suppose is available? Everything I have read indicates that the intention is very much to use a DC-DC converter for all of the accessory systems and even the engine controller. See these [jalopnik.com] links [assemblymag.com] for example.
Beyond that, I doubt they will go 48v on all models in the first year. They'll want to use the same parts as much as possible across the line.
As I said, they will likely EVENTUALLY move other parts over to 48v, but that will be a while.