Ideal Power Signs B-TRAN(TM) Sampling Agreement for Electric Vehicle Charging Application
8:30 am ET July 27, 2021 (Globe Newswire)
Ideal Power Inc. (Nasdaq: IPWR), pioneering the development and commercialization of highly efficient and broadly patented B-TRAN(TM) bi-directional power switches, today announced that an electric vehicle (EV) charger provider will be sampling B-TRAN(TM) devices for its innovative portable and modular EV charging system currently under development. This represents Ideal Power's second sampling agreement in the EV space and its first in the 2.1 million unit global EV charging station market. This market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 47% to 30.8 million units by the end of 2027 as governments phase out fossil fuel vehicles from the market and make infrastructure investments to meet the growing demand for EV charging stations to support the adoption of EVs.
The EV charging provider's offering will combine a DC fast charger with a swappable battery system and a modular design to allow for scaling of the solution, and targets both on-demand fast charging and roadside assistance to eliminate charging anxiety. EV charging applications can benefit from the advantages that B-TRAN(TM) has to offer over conventional IGBT switches; greater efficiency, bi-directionality, smaller size and reduced thermal management. However, these features are critically important to mobile EV charging systems with battery storage.
"We are seeing a variety of innovative products and business models to support the buildout of the EV charging infrastructure and their need for smaller, lower operating cost solutions," stated Dan Brdar, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ideal Power. "We look forward to collaborating with several EV charging companies that want to take advantage of the benefits of B-TRAN(TM), including its inherent bi-directionality, for their mobile, stationary, vehicle-to-grid enabled and buffer storage and/or solar paired EV charging solutions."
B-TRAN(TM)'s key benefit of improved efficiency is expected to result in in faster EV charging, smaller thermal management systems and OEM solutions, lower costs to consumers and higher margins for fast charger owners. Additionally, if EV charging systems are paired with buffer storage, the round-trip charge efficiency improvement is even more significant, potentially further reducing charging cost as time of use and/or peak damage charges from the local utility company, which may represent up to 50% of the electricity bill for a commercial installation, can be mitigated.
Ideal Power's patented semiconductor power switch, the Bi-directional Bipolar Junction Transistor, or B-TRAN(TM), reduces power losses by 50% or more over conventional power switches, depending on the application. B-TRAN(TM)'s higher efficiency results in less heat being generated and therefore significantly lower thermal management requirements, requiring significantly smaller surface area to dissipate heat and giving rise to potentially smaller OEM products. B-TRAN(TM) offers the industry's only symmetric bi-directional operation, reducing the number of components required for application by 75% as compared to a conventional bi-directional switch utilizing IGBTs and diodes. This highly efficient and unique symmetric operation provides a strong competitive advantage in bi-directional applications, which are growing rapidly as transportation electrifies and power generation shifts to renewable energy coupled with energy storage.
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