Marelli (India) Private Limited has strategically partnered with Transphorm Inc to boost its EV technology base.
Story by: Team ACI
In a strategic move, Marelli (India) Private Limited has partnered with US-based Transphorm Inc. Through the move looked at as a big boost to the company’s technological base for electric vehicles, Marelli aims to acquire valuable access and insights. With a focus on power converters, onboard chargers and inverters for electric and hybrid vehicles, Marelli together with Transphorm aims to shape up and improve product development and in turn overall performance. The focus is expected to be on enhancing the efficiency of power electronics and in turn lower costs typically associated with EV acquisition. Relying upon Transphorm’s experience with Gallium Nitride (GaN) devices, Marelli is keen to grow through innovation within its electric powertrain business. Mentioned Joachim Fetzer, CEO, Electric Powertrain, Marelli, “Electric Vehicle power conversion is fundamentally important to the future of electric vehicles and investment in technologies like this are critical to ensure the very highest performance of electric vehicles at a lower cost.” “This partnership allows us to work with the Transphorm team to shape and improve products that will ultimately ensure improved performance, the efficiency of power electronics and ultimately lower the cost of electric vehicles,” he stated.
Through a mutual exchange of knowledge and information, the Marelli partnership is expected to churn out automotive and EV power conversion solutions including On-Board Chargers (OBCs), DC/DC converters and powertrain inverters. It is expected that the access to Transphorm technologies will strategically benefit Marelli given that the latter is looking at ways to innovate within its electric powertrain business. Of the opinion that a direct investment in power electronics of this nature will translate into a substantial step in the evolution of the electric powertrain solutions, Fetzer added that the resultant higher efficiency and lower system costs would eventually benefit the entire chain of customers. Working alongside Transphorm engineers, Marelli engineers are hoping to be able to use their many years’ experience in manufacturing excellence to advise and guide on product development relevant to its ongoing investment in the development of e-powertrain solutions for electric vehicles and also for motorsport applications. For such joint development and co-working of engineers, it has been decided that Transphorm will exclusively cooperate with Marelli for a period of two years, to enable the development of new technologies for electric vehicles.
Primit Parikh, Co-founder and COO, Transphorm
Transphorm is recognised as leading the Gallium Nitride (GaN) revolution with the highest performance, highest reliability GaN devices for high voltage power conversion applications. They are the leading player in the market with direct experience with GaN in the automotive sector, especially in Japan through the subsidiary company Transphorm Japan. Explained Primit Parikh, Co-founder and COO, Transphorm, “Automotive and EVs represent one of the largest opportunities for GaN in power conversion and our partnership with a global leader like Marelli is a strong testament to the quality, reliability, manufacturing and overall product performance of our GaN Solutions.” “The long-term innovative system-level vision of the Marelli electric powertrain team will be extremely valuable in furthering GaN in electric vehicles,” he opined.
Joachim Fetzer, CEO, Electric Powertrain, Marelli
Transphorm, Inc, a global leader in the GaN revolution, designs and manufactures the highest performance, highest reliability 650 V and 900 V GaN semiconductors for high-voltage power conversion applications. Holding one of the largest Power GaN IP portfolio (1000+ issued and pending patents worldwide), Transphorm produces the industry’s first JEDEC and AEC-Q101 qualified GaN Field Effect Transistors. This is due to a vertically integrated device business model, which allows for innovation at every development stage: design, fabrication, device, and application support. The company is aiming to aid power electronics to evolve beyond the use of silicon.
Marelli is a leading global independent supplier to the automotive sector. With a strong and established track record in innovation and manufacturing excellence, the company aims to transform the future of mobility through working with customers and partners to create a safer, greener and better-connected world. With around 62,000 employees worldwide, the company has over 170 facilities and R&D centres across Asia, the Americas, Europe, and Africa, and known to have generated revenues of Euro 14.6 Billion in 2018. ACI
