SiC Technology Continues to Power Next-Generation Electric Drive Systems for Leading Automakers

Tesla's plan to reduce the use of SiC seems to have no impact on the plans of car companies. Nissan and GAC Aion have released new generations of electric drive systems that significantly improve the efficiency of the electric vehicle power system, and the key technology behind them is still SiC.

On March 3, GAC Aion released a new generation of high-performance integrated electric drive technology - the Quark electric drive. This electric drive is the size of a palm, but its power density reaches 12kW/kg, an increase of 100% compared to the industry level of 6kW/kg.

One of the "black technologies" behind the Quark electric drive is the efficient 900V SiC technology. It replaces traditional packaging processes with a unique trench gate structure, and through innovations in chip layout, current equalization, reduced chip switch delay, and precision low-temperature sintering processes, SiC module circuit parasitic inductance is reduced by 50%, thermal resistance is reduced by 25%, chip operating temperature is increased by 16%, and current carrying capacity is increased by 10%. At the same time, the design of high voltage and large current allows the peak power of the SiC module to reach 320kW.

On March 9, Nissan announced a new technology for electrified powertrain called "X-in-1". According to this new technology, the core components of Nissan's pure electric and e-POWER models will be shared and modularly applied. By 2026, the development and manufacturing costs of these models will be reduced by 30% compared to 2019.

Electric drive is the core of electric vehicles, and SiC is a key factor in reducing costs and increasing efficiency. Therefore, Nissan stated that SiC will be used in both pure electric and hybrid vehicles in the future.

From the performance of these two new electric drives, the technological progress brought by SiC is still very significant. This explains why SiC has become a sought-after commodity for car companies as electric vehicles increasingly transition to 800V electric drive systems.

In 2023, car companies are partnering with SiC manufacturers to ensure long-term production capacity. On January 6, Wolfspeed announced a partnership with Mercedes-Benz to supply SiC devices, empowering its future electric vehicle platform for higher efficiency. On January 25, Volkswagen signed a strategic agreement with ON Semiconductor, and ON Semiconductor's SiC products will be used in Volkswagen's next-generation platform series of vehicle traction inverter solutions. On March 6, BMW also signed a long-term supply agreement with ON Semiconductor, and the EliteSiC silicon carbide technology solution from ON Semiconductor will be used in BMW's 400V DC bus electric power transmission system. It is reported that ON Semiconductor's latest EliteSiC 750V M3 SiC chip has been used in full-bridge power modules, with power reaching several hundred kilowatts.

According to market research firm TrendForce, with the clear collaboration projects between ON Semiconductor, Infineon, and automotive and energy players, the overall SiC power component market output value is expected to reach $2.28 billion with a 41.4% year-on-year growth rate in 2023, and the output value is expected to reach $5.33 billion by 2026. This will drive the growth of SiC components in the electronic components distribution industry.