Eaton has announced that its eMobility business has been awarded a contract to supply 24-to-12V DC-DC converters for use in heavy-duty battery electric vehicles (BEV) that will power accessories like antilock brakes and lighting.

The BEVs will initially be sold in North America and China from late this year.

“DC-DC converters are an essential part of our eMobility product portfolio and are used in a variety of vehicle applications,” Eaton general manager, eMobility business Pratik Trivedi says.

“Like traditional vehicles, electrified vehicles (EVs) have low-voltage loads on board like infotainment systems, GPS and safety devices. So efficiently converting power from high to low is key, but it is also important to have a secondary converter to provide power to the traditional 12V loads. We’re delighted to bring our proven power conversion technology to this new, innovative electric-truck platform.”

Eaton’s specialty converter, also known as a battery equaliser, works in conjunction with another converter that takes power from the BEV’s 600V system and steps it down to 24V. The eMobility unit then takes it down to 12V for use in low-voltage systems and to power a backup 12V battery in case of a fault in the main power supply. Having this equaliser function, the 12V battery and a split 24V battery system ensures essential safety equipment can operate on 12V in the event of a power failure. That capability makes the converter unique among product offerings in this space.

Eaton’s DC-DC converter also includes noise reduction and interference rejection so there is no interference between the unit and vehicle electronics.