Driven by the growth prospects of vehicle electrification in China and Europe, the sales volume of global electric vehicles has reached 3.2 million units in 2017, with an annual growth rate of 55%. China accounts for 1.2 million units, appearing at the top of the list, followed by the United States with its 750,000 units, along with Japan and Norway that ranked the third and the fourth respectively. Owing to the proliferating demand for electric vehicle motors accompanied by the policy effects and endorsement of governments worldwide, Fukuta Motors, the reputable and leading electric vehicle supply chain vendor in Taiwan, has been vigorously developing new motor drive system, specifically the creation of Copper Rotor Induction Motor (CR-IM) is gaining traction in the global induction motor market.
There are mainly two types of electric vehicle motors currently in use: Permanent Magnet Motor (PM) used by Toyota and Copper Rotor Induction Motor (CR-IM) used by Tesla. PM requires to maintain a certain magnetic force while running in the environment of high temperature and concussion, therefore it needs the rare earth (RE) to provide assistance. For example, the magnets used by Toyota Prius to operate motors comprise a total of almost 30% of the RE elements, mostly neodymium. This represents that PM has heavy reliance on RE metals. With major manufacturers spurring the development of pure electric vehicles, the usage of RE for motors is slated to increase. Based on the statistics, China’s neodymium metal output dominates around 80% of the world output at the price of 70 USD per kg, which is 40% higher than it was last year, but definitely a sharp drop in the price compared to the price of 500 USD in 2010 when China cut down its export of RE. Regardless, it is certain that the safety of material supply shall be the top priority each manufacturer concerns about, and hence with the features of abundant resources, high efficiency and simpler structure, CR-IM assuredly serves as a favourable alternative when considering the motor system for electric vehicles.
Given the fact that the magnet rotor utilized in PM does not require extra energy, it leads to a comparatively higher efficiency in contrast with an induction motor, which has a necessity for additional energy to create a magnetic field. Fukuta Motors resolved the issue by replacing aluminum rotor with the copper rotor, which employed highly sophisticated techniques, and with such techniques, the copper loss will drop by 30%.
According to the tests performed by Fukuta Motors, 60 kW PM efficiency is around 95.5%, whereas CR-IM and aluminum rotor induction motor are around 95.3% and 93.2%. The aforementioned testing results simply indicate the highest efficiency point of different materials without interference, yet if it is under practical circumstances including variants such as high speeding, decelerating, constant speeding, low speeding or stopping the continuous cycle; on the contrary, CR-IM surpasses its counterparts.
Charles Lee, the Taiwan Manager of International Copper Association, quoted the statement by Richard deFay, project manager for sustainable energy program that noted the misunderstandings about efficiency between magnet motor and induction motor in 2015 International Conference on Energy Efficiency in Motor Driven Systems (EEMODS), “ In this industry, many of us thought that magnet motor efficiency is more advantaged than induction motor, yet that’s not exactly a fact.”
An experiment was conducted in Advanced Energy Motor Laboratory in North Carolina, using the same inverter to examine the electrical loading and rotating speed efficiency between 7.5 hp (i.e., 5.5kW) CR-IM and PM from three different manufacturers. The report suggests the CR-IM performing higher efficiency compared to PM operating at different rotating speed (100~1800 RPM), which ensures that CR-IM is not inferior to PM.
Aside from rapid advancement in copper rotor production, Fukuta Motors has also embarked on a new phase in the integration of motor, driver, and controller. This so-called “Three in One” model is the significant invention Fukuta Motors launched this year, which slashed costs on power harness, coupling and cooling system. The motor, driver and controller of the original model require the cooling system respectively, but the cooling systems can easily malfunction due to overheating. The integration of “Three in One” model reduces the quantity of cooling system and shortens the wiring distance, which can as well decline the electromagnetic interference (EMI) to other electronic equipment. Therefore, “Three in One” model can offer a mixture of the following additional benefits to attract automobile manufacturers: saving the space and decreasing the occurrence of malfunctions.
Through the promotion of “Three in One” model, featuring all self-produced components and systems, Fukuta Motors is announcing its ambition to expand. Such package equipped with 350KW driver (around 450 hp) is priced at approximately 4,000 USD, while the price of a single driver in the market is at the price 2,000 USD, which shows the model created by Fukuta Motors has a relatively competitive price.
In June 2018, Fukuta Motors’ Powertrain Production & Development Center will be launched in Tongluo Science Park, and the new location is estimated to take up space around 80 thousand square meters, which will include 2 lines of copper rotor die cast line, 7 stations of progressive stamping steel sheet, and 1 electromagnetic steel plate heat treatment furnace. Fukuta Motors has scheduled to ramp up to 4 lines of copper rotor coating production, 14 stations of high speed puncher, 3 lines of electromagnetic steel plate heat treatment furnace, and 12 Tesla’s fast charging stations in the coming years. Other than maintaining strong relationship with the existing clients from the States, Fukuta Motors is currently showing interests in cooperating with clients from Japan and China, and also actively expanding further afield in Russia. It is predictable that Fukuta Motors will continue to shine as a leader in the industry with its long-term vision and promising growth potential.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai