The ICU is a revolutionary electric vehicle product which performs two vital functions in the ElecTruck™ system:

  1. While the truck is moving, it converts DC power from the battery subsystem into AC power for the main drive motor, and
  2. While the truck is plugged in for recharging, it converts AC power from the grid into DC power to recharge the battery pack.

Each ICU supplies up to 150 kW to the vehicle traction motors and using one ICU as a charger can recharge a truck battery pack at power levels of up to 70 kW.  The ICU can fully recharge and balance a truck battery pack in two to four hours.

Product Description

The ICU, designed and developed exclusively for TransPower vehicle applications by EPC Power Corp., features numerous technical advances, such as insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) that switch at higher frequencies than competing inverters, and liquid-cooled heat sinks reduce the cost of cooling and improve reliability by eliminating fans.

The ICU automatically regulates the recharging of the vehicle’s batteries, and safely terminates the charging process when the batteries are brought up to a full charge.

Benefits

The ICU innovations enable unusually compact, efficient packaging. Hence one or two ICUs can easily be integrated into larger trucks and buses. The ICU is also highly efficient and uses components rated at higher voltages and power levels than competing inverters, which is considered likely to result in high levels of reliability and longer operating life.

Integration of battery chargers into the vehicle eliminates the need for separate, off-board battery chargers, which cost tens of thousands of dollars and require significant amounts of facility space.