Ricardo leads U.S. DoE project to produce inverter for Class 8 BEV truck
By Bradley Osborne - 17th January 2022
USA / UK – Ricardo plc, an automotive and clean energy engineering consultancy based in Shoreham-by-Sea, UK, is leading a consortium of partners from government, academia and private industry to develop a high power, high efficiency silicon carbide inverter and integrated compact electronic drive unit for a U.S. Class 8 electric truck.
The consortium will be working under Ricardo’s lead to produce a Class 8 dual-axle truck with a gross vehicle weight rating exceeding 14,969 kg. The vehicle will be trialled over a 12-month period at Port of Long Beach, a container port adjoining the Port of Los Angeles in California, USA. Ricardo will develop an 800V silicon carbide inverter which it claims can achieve an operating efficiency of 98.5%, exceeding the phase 1 project target of 92.5%.
