Google and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) are launching the Littlebox Challenge: Any team that manages to create a high power density inverter for electric vehicles in a significantly smaller package will be rewarded with a $1 million prize.
Those in the know will tell you that the size of inverters remains an obstacle in the development of more efficient EVs. Right now, the inverter in the Fiat 500e has a volume of about five litres, while the one in the Prius is around 5.4 litres in size.
Google and the IEEE want teams to aim for a volume of under 0.66 litre while still achieving a power density of at least 3.05 kW/L.
“We believe that inverters will become increasingly important to our economy and environment as solar PV, batteries, and similar power sources continue their rapid growth,” Google says.
"We expect that the innovations inspired by this prize will have wide applicability across these areas, increasing efficiency, driving down costs, and opening up new uses cases that we can’t imagine today."
Teams will have to register by September 30th to enter. From then, they'll need to submit a technical approach by next July and bring their inverters in for testing by October 21st, 2015.
Source : greencarreports.com
Those in the know will tell you that the size of inverters remains an obstacle in the development of more efficient EVs. Right now, the inverter in the Fiat 500e has a volume of about five litres, while the one in the Prius is around 5.4 litres in size.
Google and the IEEE want teams to aim for a volume of under 0.66 litre while still achieving a power density of at least 3.05 kW/L.
“We believe that inverters will become increasingly important to our economy and environment as solar PV, batteries, and similar power sources continue their rapid growth,” Google says.
"We expect that the innovations inspired by this prize will have wide applicability across these areas, increasing efficiency, driving down costs, and opening up new uses cases that we can’t imagine today."
Teams will have to register by September 30th to enter. From then, they'll need to submit a technical approach by next July and bring their inverters in for testing by October 21st, 2015.
Source : greencarreports.com