Received 13 January 2021; revised 17 February 2021; accepted 28 February 2021.

Date of publication 3 March 2021;

date of current version 26 March 2021. The review of this article was arranged by Associate Editor Zhixiang Zou.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/OJPEL.2021.3063550

A Review of Multilevel Inverter Topologies in

Electric Vehicles: Current Status and
Future Trends
AMIRREZA POORFAKHRAEI (Graduate Student Member, IEEE),
MEHDI NARIMANI (Senior Member, IEEE), AND ALI EMADI (Fellow, IEEE)
Electrical and Computer Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L8, Canada
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: AMIRREZA POORFAKHRAEI (e-mail: poorfaka@mcmaster.ca)

ABSTRACT Traction inverter, as a critical component in electrified transportation, has been the subject
of many research projects in terms of topologies, modulation, and control schemes. Recently, some of
the well-known electric vehicle manufacturers have utilized higher-voltage batteries to benefit from lower
current, higher power density, and faster charging times. With the ongoing trend toward higher DC-link
voltage in electric vehicles, some multilevel structures have been investigated as a feasible and efficient
option for replacing the two-level inverters. Higher efficiency, higher power density, better waveform quality,
and inherent fault-tolerance are the foremost advantages of multilevel inverters which make them an attractive
solution for this application. This paper presents an investigation of the advantages and disadvantages
of higher DC-link voltage in traction inverters, as well as a review of the recent research on multilevel
inverter topologies for electrified transportation applications. A comparison of multilevel inverters with their
two-level counterpart is conducted in terms of efficiency, cost, power density, power quality, reliability, and
fault tolerance. Additionally, a comprehensive comparison of different topologies of multilevel inverters is
conducted based on the most important criteria in transportation electrification. Future trends and possible
research areas are also discussed.

INDEX TERMS Electric vehicles, higher-voltage batteries, multilevel inverters, power density, traction
motor drives, transportation electrification.

I. INTRODUCTION In [4], a comparison has been made between passenger EVs

Electrified transportation has been considered as a promising and internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) in terms of
solution to many issues caused by its gas-fueled counterpart. the time required for an 845 km inter-city travel. It is demon-
Greenhouse gas emissions of the transportation sector was strated that to have comparable travel time between EVs and
28% share of total emissions in the United States in 2018 [1]. ICEVs based on current batteries capacities, there is a need for
The emission can be either reduced or eliminated by hybrid chargers with the power of more than 400 kW. Using extreme
or pure-electric transportation. Other than the reduction in fast chargers (XFCs), with the output voltage of at least 800 V
gas emissions, transportation electrification leads to higher DC, is a possible solution to this issue [5].
energy efficiency, better acceleration, and less required main- Enabling extreme fast charging is one of the benefits of
tenance [2]. On the other hand, long charging time and low moving toward a higher-voltage DC-link in electrified trans-
maximum driving range of battery-powered electric vehicles portation vehicles. Besides, employing higher-voltage batter-
(EVs or BEVs), trucks, and buses before recharging are still ies allows for a reduction in size and weight of the required ca-
the biggest challenges which are impeding the fast growth of bles for transferring a certain amount of power [6]. Moreover,
transportation electrification [3]. operating at a higher voltage can reduce the motor current and

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TABLE 1. Battery Voltage of Some EVs on the Market [10]–[12] TABLE 2. Traction Inverters’ Structure on the Market

lower electromagnetic interference are among the foremost

thus achieve higher efficiency [7]. A more detailed discussion advantages of multilevel inverters. However, voltage balanc-
of the benefits of moving toward higher-voltage batteries will ing, increased number of semiconductors and capacitors, and
be presented in Section III. more complex control are the most important challenges in
Due to the advantages mentioned above, recently, there has multilevel inverters [19]. Classic and advanced multilevel in-
been a trend among manufacturers to move toward higher verter topologies make a wide variety in the selection of the
DC-link voltage in traction drives. Table 1 lists some of the best structure. The best choice depends on the application,
commercial passenger EVs, and their battery voltage. Porsche load, and requirements. A detailed discussion of the topolo-
manufactured its all-electric car in 2019, 4 years after unveil- gies is presented in Section IV, and the pros and cons of them
ing a concept car named Mission E, and named it Porsche Tay- in traction applications are also investigated.
can [8]. This car is capable of being charged with a maximum Although employing multilevel inverters in traction drives
power of 270 kW at 800 V. With the use of higher voltage DC has been the topic of several studies, they have not been used
system inside the car and also in the charger, it takes only 22.5 widely in low-power transportation electrification yet. While
minutes to recharge its 93 kWh battery from 5% to 80% [9]. these structures are being used in high-power electric trains
Other than Porsche Taycan, Aston Martin Rapide E is and ships [17], [20], [21], lower-power vehicles like electric
among the first vehicles which announced utilizing 800 V bat- buses and passenger EVs are equipped with the conventional
teries to exploit its advantages [13]. Lucid Air, manufactured 2-level inverter due to their lower DC-link voltage and sim-
by Lucid Motors will be the first car using over 900 V batter- plicity in design and implementation [22]. While 800 V mul-
ies for reduction of weight and charging time [11]. Hyundai tilevel inverters seem to have more semiconductor devices at
has also announced that it joins IONITY, collaborating with first glance, it should be noted that 400 V two-level inverters
BMW Group, Daimler AG, Ford Motor Company, Volkswa- usually have more parallel switches because of high current.
gen Group, and Porsche AG to enable utilizing 800 V systems As an example, Tesla Model S and Model 3 use six IGBTs
in its EVs to use 350 kW charging system [14]. GM has and four SiC MOSFETs, respectively, in parallel per each of
also announced that it will use 800 V batteries with 350 kW the switches to be able to handle the high current [22]. A
chargers for its truck platform [15]. Increase of DC voltage comprehensive comparison will be presented in Section V.
will happen in other electrified transportation applications as The goal of this paper is to investigate the use of multi-
well. For example, in future all-electric aircrafts DC voltages level inverters in traction drives and compare the available
of up to 3 kV will be utilized to supply the high-power electric topologies, both classic and advanced ones, in terms of ef-
motors [16]. Also, DC-link voltages up to 15 kV are recom- ficiency, power density, power quality, cost, and reliability.
mended to be used in the electric ship propulsion system [17]. This paper has the following structure; A brief review of the
Despite all the benefits mentioned, new challenges emerge current status of available traction inverters on the market
in the drive system by moving toward a higher voltage DC- is presented in Section II. A comprehensive review of the
link. Although reducing current results in lower conduction benefits and challenges of moving toward higher DC voltages
loss, higher voltage increases switching losses which usu- is given in Section III. In Section IV, classic and advanced
ally reduce total efficiency if the same inverter technology multilevel topologies are compared with the focus on traction
is used [18]. A conventional six-switch 2-level inverter with application. Section V compares efficiency, power density,
650 V switches cannot be used for high voltage DC-link. As a power quality, performance, cost, reliability, and fault toler-
result, either the semiconductors or the inverter topology must ance between the conventional 2-level inverters and multilevel
change. High-voltage semiconductors lead to an increase in inverters. Finally, future trends in the structure of traction
the cost and switching losses of the components. Therefore, inverters will be investigated in Section VI.
a possible solution is to use multilevel inverter topologies in
electrified transportation. II. TRACTION INVERTERS ON THE MARKET
Multilevel inverters are gaining attention in many medium Although numerous studies have investigated multilevel struc-
to high-power, high-voltage applications due to their excep- tures in different traction applications, the market hasn’t relied
tional characteristics. Reduced voltage stress and loss of each on these topologies yet, especially in low-power applications.
individual semiconductor device, better power quality, and Table 2 shows the maximum DC voltage and the conventional

156 VOLUME 2, 2021

structures in different traction applications. Due to the higher
power and input voltage in electrified trains, tramways, and
ships, multilevel solutions are suggested in these applications.
ABB provides Deutsche Bahn, Swedish State Railways, and
Swiss Federal Railways with 3-level IGBT-based traction con-
verters which resulted in lower stress on the motors, and high
energy efficiency [20], [21]. Also, multilevel inverters are im-
plemented by ABB, Siemens, and General Electric for electric
ship applications [17].
Two-level voltage source inverters are used as the inverter
structure for electric buses. Using SiC devices in MEDCOM
inverters for electric buses has led to a 40% reduction in size
and 30% loss reduction [23]. In the case of electric buses
and heavy traction equipment, multiphase inverters are also an
interesting option. For these applications, TM4 has developed
multiphase inverters and permanent magnet motors [22].
Currently, all passenger EVs with 400 V batteries utilize FIGURE 1. Copper weight per meter versus voltage in a 150 kW system.
two-level inverters. A detailed investigation of the inverter
structures in some of the well-known EVs is presented in [22].
It is shown that, due to the low voltage and high currents, the total weight of a typical EV. For a typical battery-powered
Nissan and Tesla are using three and six switches in paral- electric bus, the copper weight is about 370 kg [27].
lel, respectively, in their two-level voltage source inverters An important factor in copper weight inside an EV is DC-
(VSI). With the recent trend in increasing battery voltages in link voltage. Porsche says that it has reduced 30 kg from
traction applications, new alternatives have become available. electrical harness due to doubling the battery voltage [28].
For low-power passenger EVs, TM4, Eaton, and Delphi have According to Fig. 1, utilizing 1.2 kV instead of 400 V in a
developed traction inverters for 800 V input voltage [24]–[26]. 150 kW system, can reduce the weight per meter of copper
Regarding the switching devices, silicon IGBTs are the by 63% due to the current reduction from 375 A to 125 A.
most common choice in low-power traction inverters due to Moreover, due to reduction of the wiring harness cross-section
well-established technology, availability in required power by more than three times, higher voltage cables usually show
levels, and low price [22]. TM4 and Delphi have announced more flexibility for routing which facilitates packaging and
that they are using SiC switches in their designs. TM4 has manufacturing [29], [30].
reported 195 kW/L inverter power density, which surpasses Another concern is the weight of the cables which con-
other traction inverters on the market. Other than power den- nect the charger to the EV. According to Occupational Safety
sity, the quality of output voltage and current has improved and Health Administration (OSHA), the weight of the cable
due to the significantly increased switching frequency with should be limited to a maximum of 22.7 kg for a single person
SiC devices [24], [26]. However, faster switching results in to handle. With the conventional 400 V system, or even with
higher dv/dt which may cause damage to the traction motor. an 800 V system, the cable’s weight for an XFC exceeds the
safety limit for 350 kW chargers. Utilizing 1 kV DC-bus volt-
III. HIGHER DC-LINK VOLTAGE: BENEFITS
age ensures that the charging cable’s weight remains within
AND CHALLENGES
the standards [31].
According to Table 1, several EV manufacturers have used
800 V DC-link for their latest passenger products. Lighter ca- B. MOTORS
bles, lower weight and loss, lower manufacturing cost, higher There is an emphasis on the power to volume ratio of the
power density, faster charging, and more efficient motors have electric motors in EVs. 50 kW/L is set by the US Department
been reported as the benefits of higher DC-link voltage. This of Energy (DoE) as the electric motor power density target
section deals with the motivations and challenges of moving for 2025 [32]. By increasing the motor’s rated voltage, its
toward a higher voltage system inside electrified passenger power density can be improved since higher-voltage motors
and large vehicles. are smaller, faster, and more efficient [33].

A. CABLES C. FAST CHARGING

Copper is one of the key materials in the electric transporta- Off-board chargers, without the space and weight limitations
tion industry since it is required inside vehicles, in charging of their onboard counterparts, have enabled fast charging of
stations, and in infrastructure. Inside an electric vehicle, bus, EVs. With the ongoing trend in increasing range and decreas-
or train, copper is mostly used in the cables, in the electric ing charging time of EVs, XFCs were introduced to enable
motor(s), and in the battery. A typical passenger EV utilizes even higher-power charging of EVs. The goal of XFCs is to
about 80 kg copper, which is equal to approximately 4% of recharge the EV battery from 0% to 80% in a comparable

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series and parallel cells changes [29]. Therefore, there are

some challenges that need to be addressed. High current in
a battery pack can impact pack hardware, busbars, fuses,
disconnect switches, and tabs which results in increasing bat-
tery pack cost and weight [36]. On the other hand, there are
some issues to be addressed regarding the battery thermal
management and cooling systems for enabling XFC [37].
Consequently, additional cost and complexity would be pre-
dictable for the future battery management and cooling
systems.
Battery safety includes multiple aspects that needs to be
considered in the production of EV. Electrical safety con-
siderations to prevent high-voltage exposure and shock, me-
chanical safety considerations to prevent liquid and gas leak-
age from a damaged cell, thermal safety considerations, and
functional safety consideration. As the number of series cells
increases, electrical and functional safety considerations be-
FIGURE 2. Charging times versus battery capacity with different charging
come stricter [38], [39]. 800 V batteries require an accurate
powers.
cell monitoring and balancing. Battery management system
(BMS) is in charge of monitoring the cells and ensuring that
time to the refueling time of ICEVs. The main characteristics they are not overcharged or undercharged. It also makes sure
of XFCs are 800-1000 V output voltage range and charging that the cells have an almost equal state of charge (SOC) [40].
power of 350 kW or more. Higher-power charging mostly Although passive and active balancing techniques have been
benefits long-distance travels and public transportation [4], used widely in the industry, active topologies offer more effi-
[10]. cient and flexible systems in EVs.
The standards of DC chargers have been revised in order Centralized, distributed, and modular categories classify
to enable fast chargers. CHAdeMO and CCS standards have the BMSs based on the number of cells that each controller
introduced new voltage/power classes for EV chargers. While handles. With more than 100 series li-ion cells inside the
CHAdeMO has defined 1 kV, 400 kW charging level, CCS vehicles with 800 V system, the sophistication of cell di-
has a maximum 920 V, 350 kW level [10]. As the latest agnostics reporting has increased. Distributed battery pack
update, CHAdeMO in collaboration with China Electricity system allows for higher cell count packs with separate battery
Council (CEC) have announced the codevelopment of a 900 monitors. Typically, each of the battery management ICs is
kw charging standard. The new protocol will increase the able to monitor maximum 16 cells in series. One concern
maximum allowed output DC voltage to 1500 V, and output regarding these multiple monitoring modules in high-voltage
current to 600A [34]. This can be considered as a solution not batteries is the connection and communication among each of
only for passenger EVs, but also for other types of electrified them. Wired and wireless communications are the two options
transportation, like electric buses, trucks, and aircrafts. available for EV battery designers. Wireless communication
While the typical charging time of an EV using a 50 kW has the advantages of lower weight and complexity, smaller
charger is about 80 minutes, the shift to higher voltages can footprint, less isolation components, and easier maintenance.
reduce it to about 15 minutes [35]. Fig. 2 depicts charging time Since the cost and size are two of the most important criteria
in some commercial passenger EVs and buses, and compares in EVs, there has been a trend to move towards wireless link
them with feasible charging times using high voltage XFCs. within the battery. On the other hand, the wired communica-
According to Fig. 2, an electric bus with a charging time tion is more secure and noise-tolerant and can be used easier in
of 4 hours using an 80 kW charger, can be charged in 25 harsh automotive environments. [41], [42]. Moreover, the po-
minutes using a 900 kW charger, or in 70 minutes using a tential errors as well as error detection approaches is different
320 kW charger. The charging time of Tesla Model S will also in wired and wireless communications. In [42] a comparison
reduce to half using an 800 V charger. This can be consid- of these errors is presented.
ered as a huge step toward equal recharging/refueling time in Fault tolerance is another essential requirement of the BMS
EVs and ICEVs. However, it should be noted that other than system like many other components inside the EV. If fault-
charger system, battery technology and cooling systems need tolerance is not ensured, an open circuit between the cell and
to progress as well in order to enable high-power charging the BMS PCB or disconnection of the communication path
levels. between the ICs can result in the malfunction of EV or haz-
ardous events. Therefore, redundant communication protocols
D. BATTERIES in BMS circuitry are essential to ensure safety and health
Utilizing higher voltage batteries doesn’t affect the total num- of the battery, especially in higher-voltage EVs with higher
ber of cells in a battery pack. However, the configuration of number of series cells [38].

158 VOLUME 2, 2021

 In order to estimate the state of charge and state of health
of the battery, machine learning approach has become popular
recently. A review of the most recent studies in this regard is
presented in [43]. Different methods like Feedforward neu-
ral network, Radial basis function neural network, Extreme
learning machine, Support vector machine, Recurrent neural
network, Hamming neural networks, and Bayesian network
are presented and compared in the mentioned study. An essen-
tial requirement is the collection and preparation of the data to
train the algorithm with the realistic situation that happens in
traction applications.

E. DV/DT ISSUE
High-frequency transitions inside an inverter are unavoidable
in order to control the traction motor. However, due to these
fast transitions and the existence of parasitic inductances and FIGURE 3. Advantages and drawbacks of increasing DC-link voltage in
capacitances, considerable EMI issues emerge in both con- electric vehicles.
ducted and transmitted emissions. Due to the typical size and
frequency of the inverter, the noise is mainly emitted through
the lines and cables. At the inverter output, voltage spikes IV. MULTILEVEL INVERTERS TOPOLOGIES IN
may reduce the motor lifetime by da maging the windings, TRACTION DRIVES
insulation, bearing balls, or rollers. High dv/dt also increases In the past decades, many conventional two-level voltage
the eddy current and skin effect losses in the cores and the source inverters are replaced by their multilevel counterparts,
windings, respectively. [44]–[46]. These issues are even more mostly in medium to high-voltage applications in order to gain
serious in the modern inverters which use new IGBTs and lower current and voltage THD, lower EMI and common-
MOSFETs with faster transitions. IEC and NEMA have sug- mode voltage, higher efficiency, and lower voltage stress on
gested a maximum dv/dt of 500 V/µs in typical motor drive devices [48], [49]. Moreover, some multilevel topologies ben-
applications [46]. efit from modularity and fault-tolerance [49], which makes
An increase in battery voltage leads to the increase of dv/dt them even more interesting in particular applications. On the
value. As wide bandgap (WBG) devices are gaining more other hand, the capacitor voltage balancing, suppressing circu-
attention in power electronics, the aforementioned issues can lating currents, and reduced reliability due to higher number
be aggravated due to faster transitions. While dv/dt filters can of devices and capacitors are the challenges that need to be
be used to reduce the destroying effects of fast transitions on addressed when approaching multilevel inverters [50]–[52].
the motor side, these transitions also affects other electrical
devices and circuits, like the gate drivers [47]. A. CURRENT STATUS OF MULTILEVEL INVERTERS IN
DIFFERENT APPLICATIONS
F. OTHER 1) ELECTRICAL RAILWAY AND ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVES
As mentioned in Section I, higher voltage levels inside a trac- Utilization of multilevel inverters in traction drives was first
tion drive affects the efficiency of power electronic converters, proposed in 1988, where a three-level GTO-based neutral
such as the inverter, due to changing conduction and switching point clamped (NPC) was proposed as an efficient substitute
losses. Higher voltage and lower current reduce conduction for two-level inverters of locomotives’ induction motors [53].
losses. On the other hand, switching losses increase as a result This topology has been implemented in a back-to-back struc-
of increasing the DC input voltage [18]. Moving to higher ture and tested successfully by Siemens AG for the TRAN-
voltages also affects selection of the sensors, especially cur- SRAPID propulsion system in Emsland [54].
rent and voltage sensors. Higher galvanic isolation is needed In 2016, a six-level NPC inverter, using selective harmonic
which may increase cost of the sensors. elimination (SHE) technique was designed and implemented
Fig. 3 summarizes the comparison of a 400 V EV drive ver- as a traction inverter for the railway with an input DC voltage
sus its 800 V counterpart. Although high DC-link voltage of- of 1500 V. It is shown that the efficiency of the implemented
fers several attractive advantages, higher EMI, higher switch- inverter has increased by at least 5% comparing to the conven-
ing losses, and more complex BMS are several non-negligible tional inverters [55]. Another application of multilevel con-
drawbacks. Multilevel inverters can compensate the two first verters in railway traction drives is proposed by [56], where
drawbacks by utilizing low-voltage switches and reducing modular multilevel converters (MMC) are used to store the
dv/dt transitions. Consequently, the next sections of this paper regenerative energy of the train in low-voltage supercapac-
deal with a review and comparison of multilevel topologies in itor cells which resulted in a more efficient energy storage
traction applications, their advantages, disadvantages, and the system comparing to two-level designs. In [57], an MMC-
future trends. based railway power supply system is proposed. Improved

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power quality, increased modularity, and scalability make this battery packs by controlling the flow of energy from the bat-
configuration superior comparing to the conventional traction teries to the load. Different topologies of multilevel inverters
supply system. for multiphase drives (MPD) have also been investigated in
the literature [71].
In spite of the studies that have been conducted in this
2) ELECTRIC SHIPS
area, all commercial EV drives are based on conventional
Multilevel inverters have been suggested as an option in ships,
two-level inverters [22]. However, due to the discussion in
where high power quality, high power density, and fault tol-
Section III, there is a trend toward higher DC-link voltage in
erance are mandatory [49]. Load commutated inverters and
EVs which makes multilevel inverters more attractive for use
cycloconverters, which are the dominant solutions in ship
in commercial products.
propulsion system due to high efficiency and low size, suffer
from poor input current quality which will disturb the on-
board ship power system [60]. Due to these power quality
issues, medium-voltage DC power system has become more 4) OTHER APPLICATIONS
attractive for ship application [49]. Medium-voltage DC-link In 1998, cascaded H-bridge (CHB) multilevel inverter was
inside the ship enables the utilization of multilevel inverters suggested as a suitable choice for military combat vehicles
for the propulsion. In comparison to other solutions in ships, and heavy-duty trucks, since they facilitate using higher volt-
multilevel inverters offer higher power quality, lower insula- age motors with low-voltage switching devices [62]. In el-
tion stress, and lower over-voltage on motor terminals [61]. lectric aircraft application, a high efficiency 9-level inter-
leaved flying capacitor (FC) multilevel inverter utilizing GaN
switches is proposed in [58]. The use of multilevel structures
3) ELECTRIC VEHICLES
at aircrafts with high DC bus voltage can reduce partial dis-
In low-power, low-voltage electrified transportation, such as charge occurance [59].
passenger EVs, multilevel inverters have been the topic of sev-
eral studies as well. In [63], MMC inverter is recommended
for EV in order to eliminate the need for BMS. One battery
B. ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS AND CRITICAL ISSUES IN
cell is connected to each module of the inverter. Consequently,
TRACTION INVERTERS
the voltage balancing of cells is ensured without using a BMS.
However, in practice, either large number of modules or a As mentioned before, there are various multilevel topologies
step-up transformer is required in order for this topology to with different characteristics that make them suitable for dif-
be used in commercial EVs. ferent applications. The selection of the best topology of mul-
In [64] a dual PMSM motor is driven using a dual T-type tilevel converters depends on the application and its specific
NPC (TNPC) converter which resulted in over 90% current requirements. Traction drive application, likewise any other
reduction in DC-link capacitors. In [65], a method is presented application, has its own specific requirements. The following
to allow low frequency output currents in an MMC inverter, subsections deal with a review of the most important require-
with low capacitor voltage ripple. This is suitable for variable ments of traction drives which affect the selection of the best
frequency drive applications like traction application. A 23- topology.
level asymmetrical CHB (ACHB) using only one DC source
is presented in [66], where a high-frequency transformer is
used in order to provide isolated voltage sources. 1) COST AND SIZE
In an effort to reduce the number of components in Since cost and size are the two important challenges for EVs,
multilevel inverters, a new topology, called nested neutral in 2017, the US DoE has updated its requirements of EV
point clamped (NNPC), was proposed in [67]. Fewer diodes electrical components. For the inverter and the boost converter
and floating capacitors compared to NPC and FC topolo- if applicable, the 2025 targets for cost and size are 2.7$/kW
gies respectively, makes it an interesting option regarding and 100 kW/L respectively, which show 18% and 87% change
the size and cost of the inverter. Three-level T-type inverter compared to the 2020 targets [32]. Consequently, the cost
is also introduced which benefits from fewer components and size of different topologies have to be considered prior
and low losses. However, this topology requires high-voltage to selection.
switches [68]. The capacitors are the most voluminous and heaviest parts
A multi-source inverter topology based on three-level NPC in the inverter. Moreover, low-frequency operation of traction
and T-type inverters is proposed in [69] for hybrid and plug-in drives increases voltage ripple in floating capacitors of the
hybrid EVs. Unlike conventional multilevel structures, the two multilevel structure, necessitating higher capacities [22]. As
input voltage sources of the proposed multi-source inverter a result, the topologies with more floating capacitors are more
are independent. This configuration has resulted in a higher- voluminous than others. From the cost point of view, since
efficient powertrain and a smaller DC/DC boost converter. diodes and switches are usually more expensive than capac-
In [70], an NPC inverter with multi-battery input is proposed itors, topologies with a large number of semiconductors are
which is capable of balancing the state of charge (SOC) of the more expensive, especially in large number of levels.

160 VOLUME 2, 2021

2) IMPACTS ON THE BATTERIES complexity of the control system. The voltage balancing of
An essential concern that needs to be considered in BEVs, these capacitors requires plenty of isolated voltage sensors
is the impact of the inverter topology and control scheme on and complex control [77]. Additionally, floating capacitors
the batteries. The input current of the inverter is usually drawn need to be charged prior to inverter operation in order to
from the battery pack. The current waveform and its harmonic ensure equal voltage sharing on devices. Low reliability of the
contents can affect the reliability, loss, and lifetime of the capacitors will also reduce the total reliability of the inverter.
batteries. Generally, the input current of multilevel inverters
can have lower current distortion compared to two-level struc-
tures [72]. However, the amount of RMS current reduction 4) ISOLATED DC SOURCES
depends on both the structure and the modulation technique. Isolated DC sources are available in BEVs from the battery
As an example, fundamental selective harmonic elimination packs. Consequently, CHB multilevel inverter is also a choice
(SHE), reduces the input RMS current [73] at the cost of larger for BEVs. However, additional measures are required to en-
capacitors to ensure voltage balancing among the levels. A sure the equal share of battery packs in feeding the motor.
comparative review of the well-known and advanced modula- On the other hand, modularity and scalability, which are de-
tion and control techniques for multilevel traction inverters is manded in many industrial applications as well as traction
presented in [74]. drives [49], can be obtained using CHB or MMC inverters. In
Some studies in the literature have investigated the impacts large automotive electric drives, CHB inverters can be a suit-
of multilevel structures on battery. Since higher RMS currents able choice because of the large number of battery cells [78].
increase the battery loss and decrease its lifetime, EV inverters Voltage balancing of the isolated battery modules is a crit-
need additional measures in order to reduce the RMS cur- ical issue that needs to be considered when CHB inverter is
rent that is drawn from the batteries. This issue happens in used. This issue happens in both charging and discharging
both two-level and multilevel inverters. Presence of medium modes. Since the battery modules are isolated from each
frequency currents in multilevel inverters necessitates the use other, conventional BMSs cannot ensure voltage balancing
of energy storage components with higher capacity than film and equal current in the separate battery modules. Therefore,
capacitors. Electrolytic capacitors and supercapacitors can ef- there is an essential need to a secure and reliable BMS, de-
fectively reduce the battery RMS losses in this case [73]. signed for this specific structure. This will increase the com-
In [75], supercapacitor modules are connected to cells of a plexity and cost of the BMS.
MMC inverter and have resulted in the reduction of battery
RMS currents. In another study, ultracapacitors are integrated
in the NPC multilevel conditioning inverter of the motor drive 5) FAULT-TOLERANCE AND RELIABILITY
for large vehicles [76]. Due to the elimination of the DC/DC Another comparison criterion is fault-tolerance capability and
converter, a special modulation technique is required in order reliability in different topologies. Since various failures may
to ensure proper operation of the drive at different ultracapac- occur inside the propulsion system of an electrified vehicle,
itor states of charges. continuity of operation is of great importance [79]. There-
In [73], the impact of placing supercapacitor and elec- fore, fault-tolerance is identified as one of the requirements
trolytic capacitors in parallel with battery modules in CHB of the propulsion system of EVs including motor drive in ISO
multilevel inverter is simulated and verified. It is shown that 26 262, mainly in limp-home mode [49].
the battery ohmic loss in different drive cycles can reduce by Considering the increased number of capacitors and semi-
up to 40%. It is also mentioned that the added energy storage conductor devices in multilevel converters, the reliability of
components increase the weight and cost of the powertrain. multilevel inverters seems to be low. However, intrinsic fault
However, a more comprehensive study is also required to tolerance in some multilevel topologies increases the reliabil-
consider the economic benefits of the extension of battery ity of these inverters [51]. A comparison of reliability has been
lifetime due to lower losses. conducted in [80] between FC, NPC, and CHB structures. The
To compare different topologies from their influences on large number of capacitors has resulted in the highest failure
batteries perspective, the input side of each structure must be rate for FC structure, while CHB has the highest reliability
considered. In those topologies that require isolated supplies, between the three.
the structure of battery has to be changed. Multiple isolated
battery modules are required instead of a single battery pack.
Therefore, the BMS and its communication also need to con- 6) CHARGING/DISCHARGING SPEED
form to new requirements. In other topologies, the battery Multilevel topologies help to have the inverter/charger oper-
structure can remain unchanged. ate at higher voltage and current levels which helps to use
higher power inverters/chargers. This is due to the fact that
the voltage stress on the switches decrease as the number
3) ISSUES RELATED TO FLOATING CAPACITORS of levels goes higher. However, this is not applicable to the
Other than cost and weight, an increased number of float- T-type inverter in which the voltage stress on the switches is
ing capacitors is also discouraging since they increase the same as the DC input voltage.

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TABLE 3. A Comparison of Well-Known Multilevel Inverter Topologies for Traction Application

7) MODULATION AND CONTROL TECHNIQUES Other than mentioned topologies, new multilevel inverter
Selection of proper modulation and control techniques is es- structures have been developed and proposed in the literature.
sential to meet the requirements of electrified transportation. Although some of the proposed topologies offer the benefit
While this paper deals with comparison of topologies, [74] of fewer semiconductors and capacitors, they are not mature
presents a comparative investigation of modulation and con- enough in terms of control, modulation, voltage balancing
trol techniques for multilevel traction drives. techniques, fault-tolerance, and reliability. Consequently, due
Based on the above criteria, a comparison of the most well- to the strict requirements of traction inverters, these topolo-
known multilevel inverter topologies in traction application gies have not been implemented and tested in the litera-
can be found in Table 3. ture for this particular application. Table 4 lists some of the

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TABLE 4. New Multilevel Structures; Advantages and Drawbacks [81]

new topologies with some of their specific advantages and A. EFFICIENCY

drawbacks. The efficiency of a traction inverter not only affects the power
consumption and battery discharge rate, but also impact the
thermal design of the system. A more efficient inverter topol-
V. COMPARISON OF MULTILEVEL INVERTERS VS. 2-LEVEL
ogy can be manufactured in a smaller footprint since the
INVERTERS FOR TRACTION DRIVES
heatsink and cooling system size can be reduced. Conse-
Although many papers have investigated different topologies,
quently, an important criterion in the comparison between the
modulation, and control techniques of multilevel inverters in
two-level and multilevel inverters are efficiency.
traction applications, there are not many studies comparing
A CHB multilevel inverter using low-voltage Si MOSFETs
different aspects of multilevel inverters and two-level inverters
is compared with two-level IGBT and SiC MOSFET based in-
in this specific application. This section deals with a compar-
verters [93]. For a realistic comparison, the inverter structures
ison of these two structures in terms of 7 criteria; Efficiency,
are used in a verified EV model, with less than 2% error in es-
cost, power density, power quality, reliability, fault tolerance,
timating the energy consumption. Efficiency maps of the three
and cooling system.

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different rated voltages, it can be resulted that a series con-

nection of two low-voltage IGBTs in a multilevel inverter will
have lower power loss than a single high-voltage IGBT in a
two-level structure. Although the conduction loss increase in
the former structure, the sum of switching losses will decrease
in a way that the total efficiency usually increases. Conse-
quently, the higher the switching frequency, the more superior
the multilevel inverter is [97].
Although the above results are for EVs, it can be extended
to heavy-duty electrified transportation as well. Multilevel
MOSFET-based inverters can increase efficiency significantly
in urban electric buses or trains since they operate at low
speeds for a considerable portion of the time. On the other
FIGURE 4. Comparison of efficiency between two-level and multilevel
structures [93].
hand, efficiency increase in intercity transportation is less
significant due to the constant, and close to nominal speed.

options, which have been verified using ANSYS Simplorer, B. POWER QUALITY
are used to model the inverter inside the EV model. The first
As mentioned before, the value of output voltage THD reduce
difference of the three inverter structures appears in the low-
considerably by using multilevel inverters. The amount of
speed range of the motor, where the minimum efficiency of
THD reduction depends on the operating point of the trac-
the inverter has increased from 70% in IGBT-based two-level
tion inverter which determines the modulation and frequency
inverter to 92% in the MOSFET-based CHB inverter.
indexes. However, it can be seen that in a typical operating
In higher speeds, multilevel inverter’s efficiency still higher
condition, output voltage THD reduces by a factor of 2-3
than two-level IGBT-based inverter by 2%-3%. The EV model
by using a three-level multilevel inverter [98]. However, the
has been simulated in different standard driving cycles with
amount of current THD reduction in drive application is less
different characteristics. In highway driving cycles, MOSFET-
significant due to the fact that the motor acts as a current filter.
based multilevel structure has improved the efficiency by 2%-
Moreover, high dv/dt transitions in two-level inverters cause
3%, since the speed is high in most of driving cycle points.
voltage spikes, arcing, leakage currents, and sparks which can
On the other hand, for urban driving cycles, the efficiency
cause the bearing balls or rollers to fail. The problem of high
has been improved by approximately 10% due to the lower
dv/dt is not limited to damaging the motor. The interference
speed of the vehicle and motor. It should be noted that the
from long power cables inside the vehicle can be coupled
SiC two-level inverter has similar conduction loss with Si
to low-voltage circuits in the vehicle. Current trend toward
multilevel inverter, while the switching loss is slightly more in
higher-voltage DC-link will intensify this issue. Although us-
the former [93]. The results of the mentioned study are shown
ing shielded cables can mitigate radiated EMI, it can’t de-
in Fig. 4. Additionally, due to lower output current THD with
crease the conducted emissions [44]. EMI filters and ferrite
multilevel inverters, motor efficiency also benefits from this
ring cores can be used in order to reduce the damaging effects
structure [94], leading to increased system efficiency.
of this high frequency interference in traction inverters [44],
In another research, MMC inverter for EVs is evaluated
[99]. However, it is well-known that passive components in-
from the efficiency point of view [95]. In the proposed struc-
crease the cost, volume, and weight of the traction system.
ture, each of the submodules is connected to a battery cell.
Multilevel inverters can decrease dv/dt and reduce or eliminate
Consequently, the SOC of each cell can be controlled sepa-
common-mode (CM) voltages on the motor side which results
rately using proper control and modulation technique, elimi-
in reduced EMI, increased motor lifetime, and eliminating
nating the need for a BMS. A loss model has been developed
the need to use different types of filters [100]. For example,
for MMC, which is then verified using simulation and exper-
a 5-level NPC inverter reduces the maximum dv/dt and CM
imental results. In a comparison of MMC and two-level in-
voltage value by four times, considering constant switching
verter, the former has shown 3%-5% efficiency improvement
speed.
in the constant torque region, at 20 kHz maximum switching
frequency.
In all of the aforementioned studies, the switching devices C. COST
for the multilevel topology are MOSFETs. An important fac- Cost reduction, as an important objective of the future elec-
tor in the efficiency increase of low-speed operating points trified transportation, plays an important role in selection of
is the physical behavior of MOSFET [96]. However, with the inverter structure. Utilizing multilevel inverters affect the
the increasing DC-link voltage in traction applications, mul- cost of traction drive. However, based on the side-effects of
tilevel IGBT-based inverters using IGBT modules are also these converters, changes are not limited to the inverter. In
an alternative to two-level inverters, especially in heavy-duty what follows, cost alterations in the inverter and other devices
applications. By comparing same-technology IGBTs with are discussed.

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TABLE 5. Multilevel vs Two-Level Inverter Cost Comparison Based on [93] The proposed method can detect the fault in six cycles using
the output phase voltage data. Special modulation schemes for
fault-tolerant FC [103], NPC [104]–[106], and MMC [107]
topologies are also investigated in the literature.
Although multilevel inverters offer intrinsic fault-tolerance,
the voltage and current ratings of the devices should be se-
lected in a way that the healthy cells or devices can tolerate
the DC voltage after bypassing the faulty cell or device, at
least with a derated operation.

E. RELIABILITY
At first glance, it seems that a larger number of power devices,
TABLE 6. Multilevel vs Two-Level Inverter Cost Comparison Based on [97]
drivers, and capacitors in multilevel structures compared to
two-level inverters leads to a large difference between the
reliability of the two options. However, the intrinsic fault-
tolerant capability of most of the multilevel inverters reduces
the gap. This issue has been investigated in [51] for two,
three, and five-level inverters. It is resulted that by including
one fault-tolerant capability, the gap between R(t) function of
three structures remains below 0.2 for 0-25000 hours of oper-
ation. Moreover, by including multiple fault-tolerant capabil-
ity, the reliability of multilevel topologies surpasses two-level
inverter. Moreover, since cabling, control electronics, and fan
failures have a higher failure rate than semiconductors, the
A cost comparison is made between a two-level IGBT- higher efficiency of multilevel inverters increase reliability by
based traction inverter and a CHB inverter in [93]. Other reducing the temperature inside the system [97].
than the inverter cost, the cost saving in the battery by using
the multilevel structure is considered. Since the multilevel F. COOLING SYSTEM
inverter has found to be more efficient in the same research, Increased efficiency of multilevel inverters offers a simpler
the vehicle is capable of maintaining same driving range with and lighter cooling system. Additionally, due to the power loss
a lower battery capacity. The results of the comparison is division among multiple switching devices, the cooling sys-
shown in Table 5. It can be seen that although the inverter tem benefits from a more uniform loss distribution comparing
cost is higher in case of CHB structure, overal system cost has to the conventional inverters. Two-level inverters can achieve
been slightly reduced by using multilevel inverter. this advantage through using parallel switches to divide the
Another comparison has been made in [97] between a con- power loss.
ventional two-level inverter with a three-level NPC inverter.
The switching devices in both inverters are IGBTs. The prices G. POWER DENSITY
of IGBTs, fast diodes, voltage sensors, heat sink, gate drivers, The power density of the multilevel inverter structure de-
control system, DC-link capacitors, and filters can be seen pends on the selected topology. As mentioned in Section IV,
in Table 6. This comparison doesn’t include battery price, topologies with floating capacitors have lower power density
therefore it can be valid for grid-connected electrified trans- comparing to the other multilevel inverters. However, other
portation. It can be seen that reduced filter cost has resulted in topologies show an increased inverter power density due to
a 3% lower system cost in case of three-level NPC inverter. the smaller cooling system.
In addition to the inverter, the power density of the drive
D. FAULT-TOLERANCE system benefits even more. With the decrease of output volt-
While the common solution for fault-tolerant two-level invert- age THD and EMI, the volume and the weight of the filters
ers is to add a fourth leg, multilevel inverters usually offer reduce. Smaller required battery capacity also contributes to
inherent fault-tolerance due to higher number of semiconduc- the power density increase of the system.
tor devices and redundant switching states for voltage space A comparison of all the aforementioned criteria between
vectors [101]. two-level and three-level traction inverters is shown in Fig. 5.
In multilevel inverters, the faulty cell or switch can be by-
passed using a bidirectional switch in order for the operation VI. FUTURE TRENDS OF MULTILEVEL INVERTERS IN
to continue with a reconfigured modulation without adding TRACTION DRIVES
any auxiliary cell or switch to the inverter. A fault diagnosis While many papers have investigated the use of multilevel
technique, capable of detecting and locating the short-circuit inverters for traction applications, utilizing these inverters
and open-circuit faults is proposed for CHB inverter in [102]. have not been expanded to all types of electric transportation.

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future use in this industry [108]. While plenty of other bat-

tery technologies exist today, utilizing them in EV industry
requires large investments on each technology [109]. In terms
of battery power density, the continuous increase in the past
decade is expected to continue in future years, enabling light
and heavy duty battery based vehicles with longer maximum
range.

B. INVERTER TOPOLOGY
Large number of required DC sources is a discouraging factor
for CHB inverter, especially in applications with more than
one motors. However, heavy-duty electric transportation, like
electric trucks and buses which utilize high capacity batteries
with a larger number of parallel battery cells, provide more
FIGURE 5. Comparison of different criteria in conventional two-level,
isolated DC voltages. Consequently, CHB inverters can be
three-level NPC, and three-level CHB inverters. more useful in these cases. New topologies which are being
proposed for this application should fulfill the mentioned cri-
teria in order to be a good fit for this application.
A possible research topic in this regard is determining
Low-voltage EVs, buses, and trucks are using two-level struc- the optimum number of levels of the multilevel topology.
tures in their drive system. However, based on the previous Different numbers of levels, from 3 to 23, are proposed for
sections, multilevel inverters are being more attractive due to this application in the literature. However, a comprehensive
their special specifications. This section investigates the future comparison in terms of efficiency, cost, power density, and
trends in this area. reliability is required in order to make a fair decision on the
required number of levels.
A. DC-LINK VOLTAGE AND BATTERIES
Fig. 3 depicted a comparison of different issues in 400 V and C. WBG DEVICES
800 V EVs. Considering all the aforementioned benefits and WBG devices offer several advantages in traction inverters.
challenges, moving toward higher DC-link voltages seems High-temperature operation and fast switching transitions fa-
inevitable, especially for enabling fast charging and higher cilitate achieving the power density goal for traction invert-
power density. For passenger EVs, 800-1000 V voltage level ers by 2025. Tesla Model 3 benefits from high-frequency
results in a charging time comparable to the refueling time SiC MOSFETs manufactured by STMicroelectronics. More-
of ICEVs. Consequently, it seems that this voltage level will over, Toyota and Mitsubishi Electric have SiC-based two-level
be established in future passenger EVs in order to satisfy the inverters under development with increased efficiency and
costumers’ demand for fast charging. The situation is different power density [110], [111]. GaN devices are also encourag-
for heavy-duty vehicles like electric buses. Typical recharging ing due to the zero reverse recovery losses which results in
time for those vehicles is more than several hours due to high even higher efficiency compared to SiC-based inverters [112].
battery capacity. Even XFCs will not decrease the charging However, higher dv/dt caused by fast transitions increases the
time to refueling time. Accordingly, DC-link voltages up to EMI inside the drive system. Moreover, the price of WBG
1500 V in heavy-duty applications are not far-fetched. Also, in devices is still a discouraging factor. An investigation of the
future all-electric aircrafts, 3 kV maximum DC voltage system multilevel inverters using WBG devices can be a topic for
seems to be utilized due to the high required power for the future research.
electric motors. The higher possible operating frequency of WBG-based
Higher-voltage DC-link may be obtained in two ways; In- inverters results in a reduction in the size of floating capacitors
creasing battery voltage or increasing the voltage ratio of in FC and MMC structures which can reduce the drawbacks
the boost converter, if applicable. While increasing battery of floating capacitors considerably. As a result, utilizing the
voltage seems to be simply adding more cells in series, it state of the art switching devices can affect the selection of
increases the complexity and requires more efficient and re- best topology and modulation scheme for multilevel inverters.
liable balancing circuits. Technology developments for BMS
seem likely. Issues like higher required isolation, more voltage D. MULTILEVEL POWER MODULES
levels, more complex balancing circuits, and noise immunity Although Tesla Model S and Model 3 use discrete semi-
need to be addressed to have a reliable battery pack. conductor switches, utilizing power modules which contain
Regarding battery production, the shortage in lithium and several power semiconductors in a single package is com-
cobalt might cause changes in production materials. The mon in two-level EV inverters. These power modules provide
shortage in cobalt seems to be more concerning. Therefore, higher power density, higher reliability, and more simplicity
alternatives like lithium phosphate are being developed for compared to discrete switches. However, there are not many

166 VOLUME 2, 2021

power module options when it comes to low-power multilevel Moreover, modular structures, like CHB and MMC, enable
structures. Therefore, the designer’s options are limited to direct connection of battery cells to each bridge. In the ex-
discrete switches, especially when WBG MOSFETs are going treme case, if each cell is connected to one bridge, the inverter
to be used. In order to achieve higher power density and lower can act as a battery management system which can eliminate
system footprint with multilevel structures, multilevel power the need to a separate BMS system. In the case of multi-motor
modules seem essential in future. traction systems, the integration of several inverters into a
single package can also be a research topic. Different mul-
E. CONTROL AND MODULATION TECHNIQUES tilevel inverters sharing a single DC-link can reduce the size
In addition to the selection of the best available topology, of DC-link capacitors using coordinated modulation schemes.
control and modulation techniques need to be selected and Another possible research area in this regards is the inte-
improved according to the traction drives requirements. En- gration of the motor with the inverter. While integrated mo-
suring equal capacitor voltage sharing requires plenty of volt- tor/inverters exist in case of two-level structures, multilevel
age sensors and communication lines, especially in high-level inverter topologies can facilitate the integration since their
multilevel inverters. Large number of sensors decreases the output has higher waveform quality and can be connected to
reliability and increase the cost of the drive system. Conse- the motor terminals directly.
quently, development of sensorless techniques seems to be a
possible trend in this regards. Another issue that complicates VII. CONCLUSION
the controller stage is the large number of voltage vectors Improving the specifications of inverters plays a key role in
in multilevel inverters. Due to the need to share the power achieving the goals which are set for the power density and
loss between semiconductors equally, selection among the cost of traction drives by the US DoE. Higher-voltage DC-
redundant voltage vectors and transition between them is of link inside a traction drive system offers several advantages.
great importance. Lighter cables, more efficient motors, and faster charging are
Model-predictive control (MPC) technique shows perfect the main motivations of moving toward higher-voltage battery
match with the multilevel traction inverters requirements. modules. However, an increase in electromagnetic interfer-
Reference tracking, voltage balancing, power loss sharing, ence and higher voltage stress on power semiconductors are
and overcurrent protection can all be included in a single two main drawbacks of increasing DC-link voltage. Multi-
cost function with proper weighting factors. However, large level inverter topologies, offering reduced voltage stress on
computation time, especially in high-level inverters, need to the switches and reduced EMI in the system, can be a substi-
be overcome by either simplification techniques or utilizing tute for two-level inverters.
higher-speed processors. Multilevel inverters operate at higher efficiency, especially
when the motor is operating at low speeds, like urban cy-
cles for EVs. In a comparison of cost, multilevel inverters
F. COOLING DESIGN AND PCKAGING
are usually more expensive than their two-level counterparts.
Higher efficiency of multilevel inverters reduces heat dissi- However, considering the savings in the cost of battery, filters,
pation inside the powertrain. Moreover, the total amount of and heatsink results in an almost equal price for the two
power loss is distributed in more number of devices as the structures. Lower dv/dt reduces the EMI in the drive system.
number of levels goes higher. This allows the designer to In terms of reliability, although the high number of compo-
choose smaller heatsink and simpler cooling methods to re- nents in multilevel inverters lowers the reliability, the intrinsic
duce the size of the inverter. However, an increased number of fault-tolerance of multilevel structures compensate the lower
devices and capacitors, and larger required clearances in the reliability.
PCBs are acting in the opposite way. These issues need to be A comparison of different multilevel topologies was con-
addressed since inverter size reduction is crucial in order to ducted in this paper. Requirements of traction application es-
meet the DoE requirements. tablish the criteria for selection between the various options.
Additionally, thinner cables in high-voltage inverters show Topologies with a large number of floating capacitors, like
more flexibility which makes the manufacturing process much FC and MMC, are discouraging since capacitors are bulky,
easier. the electrical connections will also be smaller and more unreliable, and add complexity to the control circuit. On the
reliable due to reduced currents. other hand, NPC topology is not cost-efficient if the number
of levels goes higher than 3. CHB topology can be used in
G. MULTILEVEL ON-BOARD CHARGERS AND INTEGRATION battery electric vehicles, trucks, and buses since isolated DC
While the focus of this paper was mainly on the traction sources are provided from the batteries.
inverter, multilevel structues can also be beneficial for the Finally, future trends were investigated in the last sec-
on-board charger since low-voltage switches can be used in tion. Higher DC-link voltage, higher-voltage battery mod-
this stage. The integration of the multilevel inverter with the ules and battery management systems, utilizing WBG de-
on-board charger system is another research topic that can vices and multilevel power modules, control and modulation
eliminate the need to use a separate charger. This will help techniques, packaging and cooling system design, and system
reducing the total price and weight of the vehicle. integration are the topics that require further studies with

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multilevel inverter topology with staircase cascading for symmetric Member, IEEE) received the bachelor’s and mas-
and asymmetric structures,” IET Power Electron., vol. 10, no. 11, ter’s degrees in electrical engineering from the
pp. 1315–1323, 2017. Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, in
[91] M. Jayabalan, B. Jeevarathinam, and T. Sandirasegarane, “Reduced 2014 and 2016, respectively. Since 2019, he has
switch count pulse width modulated multilevel inverter,” IET Power been currently working toward the Ph.D. degree
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fluence on induction motor in hybrid electric vehicle application,” in ceived the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering
Proc. IEEE Int. Electric Mach. Drives Conf., 2017, pp. 1–6. from the University of Western Ontario, London,
[95] M. Quraan, P. Tricoli, S. D”Arco, and L. Piegari, “Efficiency as- ON, Canada, in 2012.
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Mar. 2017. ing, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
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mosfet multilevel inverters to improve the partial load efficiency of Electronics Engineer with Rockwell Automation
electric vehicles,” in Proc. 19th Eur. Conf. Power Electron. Appl., Canada, Cambridge, ON, Canada. He has authored
2017, pp. P.1–P.13. or coauthored more than 70 journal and conference
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versus two-level converters for low-voltage drives, traction, and utility four issued or pending U.S. and European patents. His research interests in-
applications,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 855–865, clude power conversion, high-power converters, control of power electronics
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Available: https://www.schaffner.com/media/news/details/article/ ALI EMADI (Fellow, IEEE) received the B.S. and
new-emi-filtering-solution-for-electric-vehicles/ M.S. degrees in electrical engineering, with highest
[100] H. Zhang, A. Von Jouanne, S. Dai, A. K. Wallace, and F. Wang, distinction, from the Sharif University of Technol-
“Multilevel inverter modulation schemes to eliminate common-mode ogy, Tehran, Iran, in 1995 and 1997, respectively,
voltages,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. 36, no. 6, pp. 1645–1653, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from
Nov./Dec. 2000. Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA,
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voltage source inverters,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 61, no. 10, Research Chair Laureate of McMaster University,
pp. 5192–5202, Oct. 2014. Hamilton, ON, Canada, the NSERC/FCA Indus-
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for multilevel inverter drive using ai-based techniques,” IEEE Trans. Tier I Canada Research Chair in Transportation
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design for flying capacitor multilevel inverter,” IEEE Trans. Power Director of the Electric Power and Power Electronics Center and Grainger
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level PWM inverters,” IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 21, no. 4, electronics, motor drives, and vehicular power systems. He was the Founder,
pp. 933–940, Jul. 2006. Chairman, and President of Hybrid Electric Vehicle Technologies, Inc., - a
[105] J. Li, A. Q. Huang, Z. Liang, and S. Bhattacharya, “Analysis and university spin-off company of Illinois Institute of Technology. He is cur-
design of active NPC (ANPC) inverters for fault-tolerant operation of rently the President and a Chief Executive Officer of Enedym Inc., Hamilton,
high-power electrical drives,” IEEE Trans. Power Electron., vol. 27, ON, Canada, and Menlolab Inc., -two McMaster University spin-off compa-
no. 2, pp. 519–533, Feb. 2012. nies. He is the Principal author or coauthor for more than 500 journal and con-
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mance evaluation of fault-tolerant neutral-point-clamped converters,” (2003), Energy Efficient Electric Motors (2004), Uninterruptible Power Sup-
IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 57, no. 8, pp. 2709–2718, Aug. 2010. plies and Active Filters (2004), Modern Electric, Hybrid Electric, and Fuel
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control scheme for modular multilevel converters,” in Proc. 28th Annu. Digital Control (2009). He is also the Editor of the Handbook of Automotive
IEEE Appl. Power Electron. Conf. Expo., 2013, pp. 3251–3255. Power Electronics and Motor Drives (2005) and Advanced Electric Drive
[108] The future of electric vehicle design. 2020. [Online]. Avail- Vehicles (2014). He is the Co-Editor of the Switched Reluctance Motor Drives
able: https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/uploads/articles/ON-Semicon (2018). He was the Inaugural General Chair of the 2012 IEEE Transportation
ductor-eBook-EV.pdf Electrification Conference and Expo and has Chaired several IEEE and SAE
[109] K. Baes, M. S. Kolk, A. Merhaba, F. Carlot, and Y. Ito, “Future of conferences in the areas of vehicle power and propulsion. From 2014 to
batteries; Winner takes all?” 2018. [Online]. Available: https://www. 2020, he was the Founding Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON
adlittle.com/en/insights/viewpoints/future-batteries TRANSPORTATION ELECTRIFICATION.

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