Low-voltage Technology
It doesn’t have to be high-voltage
nanoFlowcell®:
compatible with high and low voltage
Our nanoFlowcell® can be used for both low-voltage and high-voltage applications. The various QUANT prototypes demonstrate the application of the nanoFlowcell® in different voltage environments. In the automotive sector, however, we will concentrate fully on low-voltage applications in the future, as the merits of a low-voltage drive system outweigh those of a high-voltage drive system. Our QUANT electric sports cars are presently the most advanced and powerful low-voltage electric vehicles in existence – and also the only ones to have road approval.
It doesn’t have to be high-voltage!
Standard practice so far has been to install a high-voltage drive system with up to 800 volts in electric vehicles. People simply accepted the potential dangers inherent in high-voltage systems as there was no other way of achieving the desired performance. But now we are proving that electric mobility is also possible without high-voltage systems.
Our nanoFlowcell® 48VOLT low-voltage electric drive is scalable and fits equally well in a compact car such as the QUANTiNO 48VOLT as it does in a performance-oriented super sports car like the QUANT 48VOLT. The nanoFlowcell® 48VOLT low-voltage electric drive is the most powerful, eco-friendly, safe and cost-effective electric vehicle drive system on the market today.
Although we are not a vehicle manufacturer, we are nevertheless an enthusiastic development team that can demonstrate the efficiency and modularity of nanoFlowcell technology not only in the lab, but considerably more impressively in real life, too, through the construction of prototype electric vehicles. While our QUANT FE showcased nanoFlowcell technology in a classic high-voltage application, we also developed a special low-voltage drive to power the QUANTiNO 48VOLT.
As laconic as it may sound, QUANTiNO is currently the only road-legal electric car in the world with a low-voltage drive. And with the QUANT 48VOLT, we have designed the first ever sports car in automotive history to feature a low-voltage drive so we can further demonstrate the power of our nanoFlowcell 48VOLT low-voltage drive technology.
In low-voltage systems, high currents require exceptionally large cable cross-sections and lead to higher transmission losses. The design of our nanoFlowcell® 48VOLT low-voltage drive solves this problem, especially since the nanoFlowcell® generates high currents at a very low nominal voltage, making such currents perfectly suitable for a low-voltage drive.
In the QUANTiNO 48VOLT and the QUANT 48VOLT, we have configured the low-voltage drive architecture in a way that significantly reduces the cable diameters usually required. This is an important development step in the design of low-voltage electric vehicles suitable for series production, since it reduces both costs and weight and also opens up more design flexibility.
While high-voltage electric vehicles call for full-scale contact and arcing protection, this is no longer necessary in low-voltage vehicles. The benefits are twofold: For one thing, this provides greater safety for vehicle occupants, as well as for first responders in the event of an accident. For another, it results in an accelerated homologation process, as functional safety is easier to implement in low-voltage vehicles.
We are currently the only manufacturer in the world able to realise low-voltage drives in electric cars without having to compromise on total vehicle weight or performance. And we will make good use of this design advantage in the development of future QUANT electric vehicle concepts.