Intel Launches New System-On-Chip To Accelerate EV Innovation, Drive Down Costs

Silicon Mobility, an Intel company, has launched a new OLEA U310 system-on-chip to streamline e-motor technology and drive down electric vehicle design and manufacturing expenses.

The high purchase price of an EV remains one of the biggest barriers for potential buyers. EVs are currently more expensive to build than traditional gasoline-powered cars, primarily because of the high costs associated with advanced battery and e-motor technology.

The near-term solution is to enhance the efficiency of the existing battery technology through energy savings at the vehicle level, including improved integration with EV station infrastructure. Intel's new SoC technology seeks to improve the overall performance of EVs, improve design and production processes, and expand SoC services for improved operation across various EV station platforms.

The new SoC combines hardware and software and is designed to match the need for powertrain domain control in electrical architectures with distributed software. According to Intel, a single OLEA 310 FPCU can replace as many as six standard microcontrollers in a system combination in which it controls an inverter, a motor, a gearbox, a DC-DC converter and an on-board charger. Using the 310 FPCU, original equipment manufacturers and tier-1 suppliers can control multiple and diverse power and energy functions simultaneously in real-time.

Early figures, according to Intel, showed up to 5% energy efficiency improvement, 25% motor downsizing for the same power, 35% less cooling need and up to 30 times passive component downsizing as compared with current EVs.

The solution will also allow EV manufacturers to design software-defined EVs with improved performance and range, and potentially lower production costs because they now have fewer components to integrate. The new chip also complements Intel Automotive's existing family of AI-enhanced software-defined vehicle SoCs.