# Ep. 6 | Crucial Trade-Offs in Automotive Power Design with Tesla and Vicor

- Show: [Moore's Lobby](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/moores-lobby)
- Published: 2020-07-23
- Length: 46m
- Episode: 6
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/moores-lobby/2020-07-23-ep-6-crucial-trade-offs-in-automotive-power-design-with-tesla-and-vicor
- Listen: https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/podcast/moores-lobby-ep-6-crucial-tradeoffs-automotive-power-design-tesla-vicor

## Summary

Milovan Kovacevic, a power electronics engineer at Tesla, and Paul Yaman, Director of Applications Engineering at Vicor, discuss the critical trade-offs in automotive power design. They analyze the technical differences between IGBTs and MOSFETs, the importance of holistic system optimization over isolated component efficiency, and the challenges of managing thermal, EMI, and supply chain constraints in high-volume electric vehicle production.

## Chapters

- [0:01](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/moores-lobby/2020-07-23-ep-6-crucial-trade-offs-in-automotive-power-design-with-tesla-and-vicor#t=1) Introduction: Tesla and Vicor Engineers on Automotive Power
- [3:10](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/moores-lobby/2020-07-23-ep-6-crucial-trade-offs-in-automotive-power-design-with-tesla-and-vicor#t=190) Tesla's Kovacevic on Transformer Design and Specification Challenges
- [7:32](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/moores-lobby/2020-07-23-ep-6-crucial-trade-offs-in-automotive-power-design-with-tesla-and-vicor#t=452) IGBT vs. MOSFET Trade-offs in High-Voltage Inverters
- [10:26](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/moores-lobby/2020-07-23-ep-6-crucial-trade-offs-in-automotive-power-design-with-tesla-and-vicor#t=626) Holistic Thermal Optimization and Efficiency Limits
- [18:08](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/moores-lobby/2020-07-23-ep-6-crucial-trade-offs-in-automotive-power-design-with-tesla-and-vicor#t=1088) Managing EMI, Noise, and Layout in Switching Circuits
- [29:57](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/moores-lobby/2020-07-23-ep-6-crucial-trade-offs-in-automotive-power-design-with-tesla-and-vicor#t=1797) Vicor's Yaman on 48V Systems and Zero-Voltage Switching
- [39:30](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/moores-lobby/2020-07-23-ep-6-crucial-trade-offs-in-automotive-power-design-with-tesla-and-vicor#t=2370) Power Quality, Stiff Voltage Sources, and Module Benefits

## Topics

- [Analog & power electronics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/analog-and-power-electronics)
- [PCB design & layout](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pcb-design)
- [Materials & manufacturing processes](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/materials-and-processes)
- [Sourcing & supply chain](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/sourcing-and-supply-chain)

## Most relevant to

large enterprises

## Mentioned

- Tesla (company)
- Vicor (company)
- Wolfspeed (company)
- Cree (company)
- IGBT (chip)
- MOSFET (chip)
- Silicon Carbide (chip)
- Texas Instruments (company)

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## Citing this page

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