Sensing a change, range improvement in e-mobility

London, UK – Nowadays, all cars feature semiconductors. There are more than 50 of them in every vehicle that rolls off the production line and on average 9 of those are Bosch sensors.

Bosch has developed a new type of semiconductor made from silicon carbide (SiC). In the future, the chips made of this extraordinary material will set the pace in the power electronics – the command centre for electric and hybrid vehicles. Compared to the silicon chips used to date, SiC semiconductors have better electrical conductivity. This enables higher switching frequencies while also ensuring that much less energy is dissipated in the form of heat.

“Silicon carbide semiconductors bring more power to electric motors. For motorists, this means a 6 percent increase in range,” says Harald Kröger, member of the Bosch board of management. “Silicon carbide semiconductors will transform e-mobility,” Kröger continues.

SiC: a booster for e-mobility

Semiconductors made of silicon carbide set new standards for switching speed, heat loss, and size. This saving translates into more efficient power electronics and more energy for the electric motor and therefore for the battery range. Motorists can drive 6 percent further on a single battery charge.

In this way, Bosch is addressing one of the stumbling blocks for potential buyers of electric cars: nearly one in two consumers (42 percent) decide against buying an electric vehicle because they are afraid the battery will run out while they are on the road. In the UK, this anxiety is more prevalent, affecting 48 percent of users (source: Is the UK ready for Electric Cars 2018). Alternatively, car manufacturers can make the battery smaller for a given range. This reduces the cost of an electric car’s most expensive component, which in turn reduces the vehicle’s price.

The reason for this is that the new technology also offers further potential savings down the line: the much lower heat losses of the chips, combined with their ability to work at much higher operating temperatures, means that manufacturers can cut back on the expensive cooling of the powertrain components. That has a positive impact on electric vehicles’ weight and cost.

The billion-pound factory generating the future

Bosch currently manufactures the new generation of semiconductor chips at its Reutlingen plant, 25 miles south of Stuttgart. At this site, the company has been turning out several million microchips every day for decades.

In June 2018, Bosch laid the cornerstone for its €1 billion state-of-the-art semiconductor factory in Dresden – the largest single investment in the company’s history. In its new wafer fab in Dresden, manufacturing operations will use wafers with a diameter of 300 millimetres. This means significantly more chips from a wafer, and correspondingly greater economies of scale than with semiconductors based on 150- and 200-millimeter technology (as produced in Reutlingen). The first associates are due to start work in the spring of 2020. Bosch will operate the plant as a carbon-neutral site.

Further information:

Bosch compact: Facts, figures, and amazing truths about semiconductors

Bosch compact: A brief guide to semiconductor technology

Video: Silicon carbide semiconductors in the Bosch wafer fab in Reutlingen

Factsheet: Semiconductor production at Bosch

Factsheet: Reutlingen wafer fab

Factsheet: Dresden wafer fab

Lizzy Howell
Phone: +44 (0) 7910 374301
Lizzy@wellhellocomms.co.uk

Rianne Ojeh
Phone: +44 (0) 1895 83 8820
Rianne.ojeh@uk.bosch.com