Developing the electric vehicle and its infrastructure
Just look at the chassis of an electric car, and you’ll realize how profoundly electrification is changing the car industry. It looks like a skateboard: Wheels at both ends and a low-slung flat area in-between. No room needed to accommodate a bulky engine in front and a complex drivetrain down the middle.
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We’ve grown accustomed to the fact that cars keep on growing, becoming larger, longer, and wider with every new model. But this may very well change. The platform of an electric vehicle allows for roomier cars to be built, while simultaneously reducing their physical footprint.
As electrification changes the physical appearance of new cars, it is changing the car industry in a number of other ways as well. For instance, around 70% of traditional hardware in an internal combustion engine powered car is rendered obsolete in a battery electric vehicle, where most of the hardware value is situated in the battery. The drivetrain of an electric vehicle is much less complex than its combustion predecessor. This means electrification of the powertrain is having an immense impact on value chains in the car industry.
Akkodis has in-depth experience in all aspects of the development of both plug-in hybrid power trains as well as battery electric vehicles. That goes for both charging technologies and battery pack technologies, including requirement engineering, vehicle integration, supplier management and mechanical testing of cells, modules and battery packs.
On top of that, an electric car is dependent on charging infrastructure, and has to meet specific vehicle-to-grid requirements. There must be interoperability between vehicle charging station, and to secure rapid and secure charging processes, the vehicle and the charging station must communicate.
For all this you have to think holistically – both the electric vehicle and its e-ecosystem. Akkodis is optimally positioned to provide know-how and support at both ends: the electric vehicle and its e-ecosystem.
Since 2011 AKKA has been responsible for the EVA Charge solutions for DC charging communication between electric vehicles and charging stations for rapid charging processes, originally taken over from Auronik GmbH. Now, the EVA Charge electric car charging product is firmly established in the market with over 10.000 DC charging solutions sold. It consists of both hardware and software. EVA Charge supports the three different technologies, which have become established in the market: Charging with alternating current (AC), charging with direct current (DC) and inductive charging via electromagnetic fields. The system is used in a wide range of domains, like passenger cars, buses and trucks, and in construction, mining, and guided vehicles in ports.