Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1441485
54 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I JANUARY 2022 mobile era, will our modern EV automakers go the way of the "Big Auto" of the past and sacri- fice safety in the name of greater driving range, power, torque, autonomous driving capability, and the bottom line? I hope not, because I've finally found the per- fect EV for my commuting need. I've stepped up my personal operational voltage rating by purchasing a well-known 2018 EV model which was recently brought into the dealer as a returned lease car. It had only 19,000 miles with no recall or safety issues. It has proven to be an outstanding "learner" EV. For a minimal investment, I have driven it almost 4,000 miles without a problem. I've "filled up" at commercially available, high-voltage EV charging stations in less than a half an hour. e charging station (cable) that came with the car, however, seemed to be woefully slow at charging the car. Plugged into a normal 120V/20A wall socket using an adap- tor, I couldn't recharge the car's battery to the level it was the day before, even aer leaving it plugged in for 12 hours. It was easy to recognize the benefit of utilizing higher voltage. I sched- uled a date with our local electrician who ran a 240V/50A service out to the garage to connect to the charging station. is install allowed the car to be fully charged within a relatively short four hours aer returning home each day from my 75-mile commute. I now consider myself a regular stakeholder— an end-user—of the high-voltage EV industry. Considering all the high-voltage electronics that surround me in this vehicle, as a PCB designer, I find myself more observant of potential high- voltage safety risks than ever. Both as a con- sumer and a PCB designer, I'd like to publicly thank all high-voltage electronics project team stakeholders, including my local electrician Josh, for serving the EV industry. I'm having a wonderful experience so far. ank you for following and evolving the industry's standards and guidelines. You have helped me safely transition to silent, zero- emission commuting costing only 6.8 cents per kilowatt hour. To all our PCB stakeholders, see you next month or sooner! DESIGN007 Kelly Dack, CIT, CID+, provides DFX-centered PCB design and manufacturing liaison expertise for a dynamic EMS provider in the Pacific Northwest while also serving as an IPC design certification instructor (CID) for EPTAC. To read past columns or contact Dack, click here. Figure 4: Connecting the cable. Figure 3: 240V/50A cable.