Tesla has formally launched a brand new commonplace for the low-voltage connections in electrical automobiles (EVs), which the corporate says will scale back crucial connection sorts in most EVs from over 200 to only six.
In submit on its weblog on Monday, Tesla formally launched the Low-Voltage Connector Commonplace (LVCS), which is a bunch of six standardized EV connectors meant to simplify the manufacturing of EVs and assist speed up the world’s transition to sustainable power. Tesla says the connectors have been designed with energy and sign necessities for greater than 90 % of typical connections, providing the flexibility to extend operational effectivity, scale back manufacturing prices, and improve the potential for manufacturing automation.
As well as, Tesla writes that the LVCS suite was designed upon the 48-volt structure constructed into the Cybertruck, assembly sure necessities for spacing for 48V operation. The corporate notes that the 48V structure requires only a quarter of the present to ship the identical quantity of energy as commonly-used 12V techniques.
The corporate additionally says that the LVCS gear is designed to allow dependable autonomous automobiles, that includes single-wire sealing, unbiased secondary locking mechanisms, and a smaller total housing measurement.
Credit score: Tesla
Tesla explains its intentions behind the designs and the usual’s manufacturing effectivity potential as follows:
To speed up the world’s transition to sustainable power, we’re simplifying the manufacturing course of and electrical connectivity necessities for all our automobiles. This consists of the implementation of our Low-Voltage Connector Commonplace (LVCS), which permits us to cut back the massive variety of connector sorts required to only 6.
These 6 machine connectors are designed to fulfill the ability and sign necessities for over 90% of typical electrical machine purposes. This standardization unlocks additional operational efficiencies, price reductions and manufacturing automation.
Tesla Cybertruck’s low-voltage, 48V ‘Etherloop’ system
Following the launch of the Cybertruck final 12 months, a number of Tesla executives met with manufacturing business veteran Sandy Munro to debate the EV’s “Etherloop” system, which considerably decreased elements and wiring wanted within the truck’s low-voltage wiring community.
Through the interview, Tesla Director of Low-Voltage Wiring Peter Bannon defined that the system decreased the mandatory variety of wires from 490 within the Mannequin 3 to only 155 within the Cybertruck, representing an total drop of 68 % in supplies wanted.
Tesla’s charging standardization and business response
Tesla made an identical weblog submit in November 2022 when it launched the North American Charging Commonplace (NACS), although it took a number of months for different automakers to signal onboard to adopting the usual. Ford was the primary to formally undertake the usual in Could 2023 (apart from startup Aptera), and it was later adopted by each main automaker within the business saying they’d construct future automobiles with Tesla’s NACS charging ports, in addition to partnering with the EV maker to entry its huge Supercharger community.
Equally, we might see a lot of the business transfer towards Tesla’s LVCS within the coming months, particularly given its potential price financial savings in manufacturing, and its total electrical effectivity that might lastly get the business to embrace a 48V structure, as Tesla did with the Cybertruck.
Ford confirms it obtained Elon Musk’s “Tips on how to Design a 48-Volt Automobile” pamphlet
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