Electric vehicles are quickly reshaping the mobility infrastructure in many countries all over the world. In the US, adoption of electric vehicles has grown significantly, with almost a million EVs on US roads in 2023 making up about six percent of all vehicles on the road. Forecasts suggest that this number will only rise in the years to come.
With that being said, the race is on to develop the best performing motors and batteries, and as a result, we’re seeing lots of new tech enter the scene. One of the newest innovations to emerge in the EV battery space comes from EEVAM Technologies, a Spanish company specializing in e-mobility. At EICMA 2023, it presented an interesting battery solution for electric vehicles that run multiple batteries – i.e., electric motorcycles, mopeds, scooters, and bicycles. Dubbed the Powermaster, the system is designed as a ready-to-use solution, and promises to optimize battery performance, not just for better range, but for a longer service life.
Electric vehicles equipped with a modular battery setup get power from one battery at a time. When the first battery has been completely depleted, only then is the second battery activated, and so on. Battery life spans are usually rated in cycles, with some batteries promising in excess of 1,000 charging cycles. What EEVAM’s Powermaster seeks to do here is to lessen the number of cycles (from full to completely empty) by drawing energy simultaneously from multiple batteries. The Powermaster is also packing advanced algorithms that precisely distribute energy throughout the different modules of the vehicle.
According to EEVAM Technologies, the Powermaster optimizes the performance of the entire electrical system, not just in terms of single-charge range, but more importantly, in terms of longevity. The premise behind the claim is simple, but the returns would vary on a multitude of variables. Nevertheless, the logic behind it is that since batteries are less subject to full discharge, they wear out more slowly, and maintain a higher level of performance for a longer period of time.
At present, EEVAM’s Powermaster already has industrial and financial support. In fact, the Powermaster is set to be standard equipment in some 2024 model-year electric motorcycles and quads, such as those from Velca Motor. Do you think technology like this has the potential for widespread adoption, or is it an unnecessarily complex solution to an otherwise minute problem?
