National Instruments and EA Elektro-Automatik have joined together to offer bidirectional power supplies that support battery cycling and power-level test for electric vehicles. EA’s power supplies will be integrated into NI’s software-connected toolchain as part of NI’s power electronics portfolio to optimize battery test workflows.
According to NI, the UN 2021 Climate Report’s findings that global temperatures will reach critical levels in the next 20 years have expedited the demand for wide scale adoption of EVs as a crucial way to limit greenhouse gas emissions. In order to scale this technology, EV batteries must be tested and validated efficiently and effectively. Power electronics are essential for EV battery testing to meet safety and performance expectations, without compromising on the flexibility that rapid innovation requires. Integrating EA’s devices into NI’s toolchain will give test engineers and lab managers more flexible battery cycling configurations for their test labs, and a quicker response time for new power level test requirements.
Noah Redding, senior director of validation for National Instrument’s transportation business unit, said, “NI and EA Elektro-Automatik share the same vision of providing high performance and flexibility for test engineers to ensure test labs meet their evolving needs. As demand for electric vehicles continues to grow, we at NI understand it is our responsibility to help the market engineer ambitiously to meet this moment and accelerate the path to vision zero. We are looking forward to the opportunities that will come through this collaboration with EA in helping engineers move faster and optimize battery test workflows to bring this important technology to the market.”
Eric Turner, managing director of EA Elektro-Automatik, Inc USA, commented, “This partnership combines industry-leading control, measurement and power into state-of-the-art test systems. These systems allow customers to speed up time to market while driving corporate zero emissions initiatives. The renewable energy test market is an essential step in product development and production. EA is proud to be a technology enabler via power regeneration technology that reduces energy consumption by up to 96%.”
