EPN Automotive Electronics Blog

Backpack car

The concept of adding a trailer to a car is not exactly new but traditional solutions require a fixed coupling, extended mirrors and in many countries a special license. A Swiss car designer changes the game with a plug-in solution.

Bad luck for convertibles

The widely acknowledged evolution for car's engines goes like that: Combustion engine -> hybrid engine -> electric motor. A rather obvious step along the way is equipping cars with solar cells, but apart from experimental ultra-light vehicles it hasn't been done on a larger scale - yet.

European Eco-SoC

In times of growing euro-scepticism the engineering community demonstrates the benefits of cooperation in the union. The recently completed EU FP7 project »ATHENIS« (Automotive Tested High Voltage Embedded Non Volatile Memory Integrated System On Chip) is a successful example of collaborative European Research contributing to the EU 2020 CO₂ reduction objectives with IC products manufactured in Europe.

The charging net

While finding a place where to charge an electric car can still be quite a challenge, Bosch Software Innovations already aims at the next level of infrastructure: A comprehensive open business platform for eMobility.

BMW and PSA: Joint Venture for Hybrid Engines

The ongoing love affair between BMW Group and PSA Peugeot Citroën has just become more intense: Both car giants agreed to deepen their close relationship by signing a Joint Venture agreement at 50 %. The agreement known as BMW Peugeot Citroën Electrification focuses on developing and producing hybrid components.

European IESF 2010 Conference: be there or be square

According to Mentor Graphics, its upcoming European IESF 2010 Conference which will be held on December 2nd, 2010 in Frankfurt, is one of the the world’s leading events for design engineers, engineering management and executives in the Automotive and Commercial Vehicles industry. As it is a free event, seats are limited…

Munich: Capital of the future of eMobility

When the electronica 2010 as the world’s leading trade fair for electronic components, systems and applications opens its doors in Munich by today for the rest of the week, one topic is hard to be overlooked: Electromobility will be one of the main key topics at electronica 2010.

Isolators for hybrid cars

The simple I2C bus connects controllers and peripheral devices. In automotive and especially hybrid electric vehicle applications, controllers or peripherals are isolated from the bus to avoid interference or harmful voltage levels. Usually, optocouplers are being used, but this increases the cost and complexity disproportionally. Digital isolators have the potential to simplify I2C design in electric and hybrid-electric vehicles.

TriCore on the road

We’ve all heard about the 60, 80 or 100 microcontrollers in todays or tomorrows cars, controlling ignition timing, displaying virtualized tachometers or illuminating the front-seat passenger’s ashtray. Since the assigned functions are so varied, those automobiles usually are a very diverse ecosystem for many different MCU families from a large number of different manufacturers.

Continental charging

Green standardization is back in the spotlight with a new mandate given by the European Commission and EFTA, the European Free Trade Association, to the European Standards Organisations, CEN, the European Committee for Standardization, CENELEC, the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization, and ETSI, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute, regarding the charging of electric cars, scooters and bicycles.