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The electric vehicle on-board charger (OBC) is responsible for converting AC grid energy to DC energy to charge the battery pack. This paper describes the development of GM’s second generation OBC used in the 2016 Chevrolet Volt. The second generation OBC provides significant improvements in efficiency, size, and mass compared to the first generation. Reduced component count supports goals of improved reliability and lower cost. Complexity reduction of the hardware and diagnostic software was undertaken to eliminate potential failures.

One potential system configuration for future hybrid electrical vehicles (HEV) is to use a single coolant loop for both internal combustion engines and power electronics inverters/converters. Under these conditions, coolant temperatures could be as high as 105°C. This paper proposes a high power DC/DC converter topology suitable for high temperature application. The new interleaved topology implements the power sharing on both high voltage side and low voltage side to alleviate the thermal stress. The DC/DC converter topology features a wide soft switching range to reduce the switching loss of the power semiconductor devices. In addition, a power module design approach is proposed to reduce the thermal resistance of the power semiconductor devices. The power-module-based approach provides for a higher level of integration by means of a wirebond-interconnected power stage.