SEI Develops Prototype EV Driven by HTS Motor

Sumitomo Electric Industries (SEI) announced on Thursday the firm developed a prototype electric vehicle (EV) driven by a high temperature superconductive (HTS) motor for the first time in the world. The prototype EV came out before the press in SEI’s Osaka works, Japan on Thursday. The EV will be exhibited to the public at the 2008 Exhibition on the Environment, which will be held in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan during 19-21 June in advance of the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit.An ordinary EV equips a driving motor manufactured from copper magnet wire. Copper wire generates heat by its electric resistance, that means current value and torque are limited. HTS wire shows no electric resistance and allows a motor to apply large electrical current. SEI estimates a HTS motor contributes to less CO2 emission by 25% compared with hybrid cars and by 13% compared with ordinary EVs in the case of local buses.SEI will improve the performance of HTS wire and refrigerating system while examine HTS motor adoptions into large vehicles such as buses and trucks, and fuel-cell electric vehicles. Kazuhiko Hayashi, a manager of this research, said SEI aims to improve the current density of HTS wire by 1.5 times within next 3 years for the commercial use.