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Tula DMD Technology Promises More EV Range Using Less Energy

Efficiency is the name of the game for internal combustion-engined automobiles, especially now that lawmakers have declared war on carbon-dioxide and nitrogen-oxide emissions. But efficiency matters a lot in EVs too, which brings us to California-based Tula Technology.
Tula DMD Technology 39 photos
Photo: Tula Technology
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If the name seems familiar to you, that’s because Tula Technology and Delphi Technologies are the companies that developed Dynamic Skip Fire Cylinder Deactivation for General Motors. The biggest of the Big Three in Detroit has 5.3- and 6.2-liter V8 engines that can switch through 17 cylinder-firing regimes in order to save fuel or provide max get-up-and-go.

An evolution of Active Fuel Management, which alternates between eight- and four-cylinder modes, Dynamic Fuel Management even can operate in two-cylinder mode on the highway when the engine load is at its lowest. Customers who don’t care about saving gasoline can always get an OBD-II disabler that instantly defeats the AFM and DFM systems.

Turning our attention back to Tula Technology, these guys are now mitigating efficiency losses of EV motors while reducing the reliance on rare-earth materials through Dynamic Motor Drive. The DMD system has the potential to increase range while using less energy through a patented pulse-density strategy that concerns the control software of the drive unit.

Tula has demonstrated its DMD concept by implementing the Dynamic Motor Drive algorithms in two Chevrolet Bolt hatchbacks. To allow control of the front-mounted electric motor, extensive modifications have been made to bypass the conventional controller. As such, the inverter has been outfitted with controllers that are capable of operating the inverter and outputting the currents and voltages required by the pulse-based strategy.

The overall efficiency improves by at least 2 percent at 70 Nm (52 pound-feet) and below. The most substantial improvements of 20-plus percent can be seen at the lowest torques, and these gains are substantial considering they are the result of an easily implementable software strategy.

Translating these gains on the WLTP cycle that’s used for determining the efficiency of new vehicles in the European Union, “the total energy usage is reduced by 2.5 percent.” Taking the Euro-spec Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus as an example, the WLTP range of 440 kilometers (273 miles) could be improved by 11 kilometers (7 miles) with Tula’s solution.
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 Download: Tula Dynamic Motor Drive 2021 presentation (PDF)

About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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