Increasing Demand for Electric Vehicle Fuses in the Automotive Sector
The demand for electric and hybrid vehicles is on the rise. Bloomberg has reported from the courtesy of New Energy Finance (BNEF), electric cars are on their way to making up 57% of all passenger car sales globally.
With the increased demand for EVs, the need for security and safety has become of the biggest concerns. The most popular types of fuses currently are the EVK series fuses from Eaton Bussmann.
Why Do We Need Automotive Fuses?
The electric car’s wiring systems are made to be fault free but of course. The wiring and electric system or components can fail without prior indication. This is a major safety issue considering the demand for EVs for passenger vehicles.
If a break happens in the circuit of the vehicle, the wiring cannot handle it and it starts melting due to overheating and lack of insulation. The biggest concern is fire accidents due to the very same issue we mentioned.
To avoid such issues and damages, we need high-power electric vehicle fuses. The fuse trips the circuit when the amperage in the current gets high. Once the fuse is tripped the power no longer can travel into the main component to avoid the issue of overheating and melting damage.
The high-power EV fuses prevent damage to the vehicle’s wiring and fire damage.
What Are EVK Series Electric Vehicle Fuses?
The Bussmann EVK series fuses for EVs are designed to protect sensitive electric and hybrid automotive equipment. It has features like high-voltage, high-capacity batteries, power-conversion equipment, contactors, cabling, and other auxiliary circuits.
The newly designed fuses from Eaton enhance the safety of electrical components and the overall vehicle. The Bussmann fuses are compact and lightweight which protect a wider range of overcurrent conditions. Along the way, it also avoids nuisance operations associated with cycling fatigue.
The interrupting rating of the electric vehicle fuses from Eaton is 20 kA which enables the protection of high performing and high power vehicle range. It does so by protecting the higher capacity.
What Are the Ideal Characteristics of High-Power EV Fuses?
The ideal electric vehicle fuses should have a high current rating and should be able to operate in extreme conditions and fluctuating temperatures to avoid bigger unseen damage. For example, the Eaton’s EVK series fuses have up to 1000 volts DC ratings and 600 amperes.
The high-performing commercial EVs need control and protection for the charging systems. It is a necessity for passengers and other high-performance vehicles like sports cars.
The ideal EV fuses should be able to prevent damage due to short circuits occurring due to faults. This can help in situations like a crash. The high power and rugged fuses easily isolate the power in the engine to interrupt the circuit which enables the power to shut down preventing bigger damage.
The current limitation restricts total fault in energy, enabling downstream components in the system to survive the fault or accident. The EV fuses should be able to transfer the heat away from the weaker spots that are more sensitive to heat and possess damaging quality due to high heat.
As the demand for rugged and powerful EV fuses is increasing but at the same time, the size is decreasing to avoid bigger space taking. If the fuses are big they take up a lot of space making other components be squished together. Manufacturers want compact, smaller but powerful fuses as Eaton is making. The compact fuses need less space and provide weight reduction and keep the overall device smaller and lighter. The Eaton’s EVK series fuses take up only one-third of space compared to the older and traditional EV fuses.
Conclusion
It is a very common issue for electric wiring systems to fail and it gets frustrating. we all have been there. We also do not want our electric vehicles to fail when they are carrying people. In absence of good quality high power fuses that can manage the high amount of current in a high-performance vehicle. The damage and chances of fire-related accidents get high.
It is wise to understand the electrical system of vehicles and the role of good electric vehicle fuses as there are several types of good EV fuses that we cannot use when working with automobiles. The automotive fuses are specially designed to handle the high power current and amperage.
