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Sumitomo to Unveil New Superconducting Motor
Japan's Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. aims to showcase a superconducting motor for electric vehicles in a prototype bus next spring, The Nikkei reports.
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Japan's Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. aims to showcase a superconducting motor for electric vehicles in a prototype bus next spring, The Nikkei reports.
The motor, which operates with virtually no electrical resistance, would consume 20%-30% less energy than a conventional motor made with copper wire, according to the newspaper.
SEI hopes to commercialize the technology by 2020, primarily for buses, small trucks and forklifts.
Superconducting materials lose their electrical resistance at temperatures near absolute zero (-273 C or -460 F). SEI's design uses liquid nitrogen to cool wires made of a material that achieves superconductivity at a relatively balmy -200 C (-328 F).
Green Car Congress notes that the company showed an electric vehicle in 2008 that was powered by a nitrogen-cooled motor employing superconducting wire made of bismuth, strontium, calcium, copper and oxygen. SEI said that design was about 13% more efficient than a copper-wire motor.
At the time, SEI predicted its technology could eventually be scaled up to make 3,300-hp motors for marine applications.
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