Page 12 - EngineerIT September 2022

ICT

OEMs have announced their investment away from gasoline engines and over to EVs. This ADI supplies technology on
is good news for semi-conductor and software companies. both sides of the charging cable. On
Today’s car contains, on average, $450 worth of semi-conductor content. However, the vehicle side, ADI is the market
the equivalent EV contains approximately three times the content. Currently, there are 16 leader supplying semi-conductors
million EVs on the road and over the next five years, we anticipate this to grow to more and software that power the battery
than 125 million EVs. This means you can expect that around half of all automotive semi- management system (BMS) electronics
conductors will be in EVs over the next five to ten years. to deliver energy between the battery,
But it is not only hardware content that is growing in cars. Software content is the vehicle propulsion system and the
growing massively. By 2030, it is estimated that software will become the largest grid.
revenue driver for the automotive industry, even bigger than car sales. This tectonic shift The rise of EVs has a major impact
presents a massive opportunity for companies like ADI to build value, adding on to semi- on requirements for how the electric
conductors. In fact, we are capturing this value now. For example, the recent wireless grid is managed. First, consider the
BMS technology that we introduced is built on a complete ADI platform built from the electrical load. The maximum load
ground up, including not only hardware but also a completely new wireless protocol from the 125 million EVs is about ~10
stack. This system supports over the air updates, and achieves the highest security rating (TWh). Though this is small compared
in the industry. to the expected growth in the world’s
total electricity production from 25,000
to 28,000 TWh, the load is uniquely
dynamic in both time and space as
EVs move within the infrastructure.
Therefore, not only must the total load
be able to be handled, it also must be
managed in real time, so the power
is delivered seamlessly and with zero
interruption to all electrical devices on
the grid.
On the grid side of the charging
cable, ADI supplies technology for
precision measurement, control, and
real-time signal processing. In fact,
ADI is designed into the world’s most
sophisticated secondary substation,
adding intelligence at the edge of the
From a technology standpoint, the battery is the enabling system for the EV. EV batteries grid to ensure reliable energy delivery
must connect to the grid to be charged, and they also can serve as storage elements and grid management. We expect this
to put energy back into the grid. The business models of how the consumers, charging type of equipment to become the
companies and OEMs reimburse or pay for this energy are continuing to evolve, and you new standard as the grid continues
will see the ecosystem continue to change. to become more decentralised and

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