Low voltage motor-generators ease range anxiety

Controlled Power Technologies (CPT), an Essex-based powertrain technology developer, is investigating the use of two low voltage motor-generators, mounted at different points on the vehicle, to provide a power boost to downsized engines at a much lower cost than plug-in hybrid technologies.

The two switched-reluctance motor-generators would act in tandem to provide electric boosting, according to Nick Pascoe, chief executive of CPT.

“In this way you have no range anxiety issues because you still have a base engine, but you can use the electric machine to accelerate,” he said. “That means you can retain the same vehicle architecture, and continue to use petrol or diesel to drive it, but you can make that vehicle a lot more fuel efficient than it is today, by assisting it with intelligent electrification.”

The company is exploring the use of a newly developed 10 kilowatt axle-mounted SpeedTorq unit, to be used in tandem with its existing 10 kilowatt engine-mounted SpeedStart unit, to provide energy recuperation during braking and torque assist during acceleration.