There are approximately 30 million delivery vehicles in the U.S. That’s one for every ten people. Most of these vehicles, especially trucks, are optimized for highway driving, offering drivers long-range efficiency. In stop-and-go city driving, however, they become far less efficient. While electric vehicles (EVs) offer an improvement, particularly with their ability to regenerate energy through braking, Accelitron’s technology takes this efficiency one step further. By optimizing electric motor performance and efficiency, we’re able to extend vehicle range and significantly reduce energy loss in urban driving scenarios. So, how are we doing it?

Accelitron: Our mission

At Accelitron, our focus is not on building more efficient electric motors; our focus is on making existing electric motors more efficient. This company is dedicated to optimizing electric vehicle (EV) motor efficiency by tackling two key problems: efficiency and heat generation. Electric motors are highly efficient within a specific range of torque and speed, but once you push beyond that optimal range, efficiency drops off quickly. We realized that by using multiple motors, we could optimize performance for a much longer range by creating a series of efficiency peaks, allowing for better energy use and reducing heat generation, which ultimately makes EVs more effective for stop-and-go city driving.

Where did the idea for Accelitron come from?

The idea for Accelitron came in 2019 when, by chance, we delved into the concept of electric motor efficiency curves. We learned that while electric motors are highly efficient at a specific torque and RPM (each model varies), their performance drops off quite sharply outside of that range. This raised the question of, why rely on a single motor when we could employ multiple motors to maintain optimal efficiency across a broader range of speeds and conditions? Thanks to our background in optimization and solving physical problems using mathematical solutions, we saw an opportunity to apply this expertise to electric motors. 

Innovation: How our electric motors work

At Accelitron, our solution is to use multiple motors to optimize performance across a wider spectrum of torque and speed, rather than just relying on just one motor. This approach allows us to implement a global optimization strategy, switching between motors as needed to maintain peak efficiency and prevent overheating. By distributing the workload across motors, we not only increase efficiency but also reduce heat generation as this energy is harnessed by the subsequent motor, improving longevity and preventing long-term performance degradation.

Challenges so far

When you do something so radically different from what’s being done today, there are two challenges you face. The first is actually developing the technology, which requires many tests of trial and error as we create the mathematical models, secure patents, and build and test prototypes. The second is actually convincing people in the automotive industry that there might be a better way of doing things. We faced similar resistance from industry experts with System73, another of our ventures that optimizes content delivery for live and VoD content. But despite these hurdles, we were able to liaise with Formula E founder Alejandro Agag to build and successfully test our first prototype at the University of Bath in the UK. 

From prototype to real-world applications

After successfully testing our prototype at the University of Bath, we are now working to integrate our technology into a Tesla vehicle using multiple motors for further testing in England by replacing Tesla’s integrated drive unit (IDU) with our own in order to demonstrate the efficiency gains in real-world conditions. We believe delivery vehicles could be a particularly promising market for our technology due to the inefficiency caused by frequent stop-and-go driving. We could potentially extend the range of delivery vans by around 24%, providing substantial savings for fleet operators. With 30 million delivery vehicles in the U.S. alone, the potential for improving efficiency is enormous.

The future of Accelitron

We are constantly working on improving our technology, and further testing will continue in England to ensure it is ready to be marketed in the next few years, either by licensing our technology or partnering directly with auto manufacturers and fleet operators. Thanks to the efficiency gains achieved by our technology, we could also have a significant impact on battery performance. By optimizing electric motor use, we could either extend a vehicle’s range or allow for smaller, lighter batteries,  reducing cost and potentially reshaping the overall design of electric vehicles, making them more affordable and accessible. 

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