Month: January 2024

Every year, the technology industry flock to Las Vegas to attend the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) where they unveil their breakthrough innovation and explore the challenges, opportunities, and policies shaping the future of tech. As the automotive and technology industries become more entwined, it is no surprise that some of the most exciting technologies unleashed during this four-day event are coming out of the auto space. Last year, Arnold Schwarzenegger was joined by Herbie and KITT– yes, the cars – to launch CES in the BMW’s opening keynote. In fact, automakers introduced more new vehicles at CES last year than at the 2022 Las Vegas Auto Show.

This year, CES attendees can expect to see even more auto innovation including technology advancing autonomous vehicle development and electric vehicle (EV) driving range, charging, and performance enhancements. With hundreds of new EV models brought to market every year, enabling technologies are critical for testing EV prototypes, batteries, charging stations, and optimizing production at gigafactories. Keysight will be showcasing groundbreaking emulation technology that is aiding automakers in bringing the next generation of electric vehicles to market.

EV Battery R&D

Range anxiety is a major concern for EV owners and a barrier to entry for many prospective customers. This makes researching battery technology a key priority for auto original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and battery makers. Researchers are investigating ways to improve battery designs, which impacts the overall price point and performance of the electric vehicle. Each battery is comprised of hundreds if not thousands of individual cells which are organized into modules and packs. Researchers are investigating cell chemistry, energy density, charging capabilities, and output characteristics to identify ways to optimize cell capacity and performance.

OEMs and battery companies attending CES will be looking for new tools and solutions to make characterizing and analyzing battery cells more accurate, efficient, and cost effective.

Battery Cell, Module, Pack, and BMS Testing

OEMs and battery companies are looking for ways to develop battery cells, modules, packs, and systems that increase EV range, last longer, and cost less to keep the price of electric cars down. Batteries are the heart of an electric car and ensuring that they operate effectively and efficiently is critical to the overall performance and safety of EVs. Engineers must conduct rigorous testing across the battery design lifecycle and identify opportunities to optimize their processes and resource use to ensure their batteries meet a host of performance and safety requirements and comply with industry standards.

CES provides companies with the opportunity to modernize their research labs with advanced automation and testing tools so their engineers can close the gap between their battery design goals and real-world performance.

EV Charging Conformance

The EV market is global and companies vying for a larger share of the international market must ensure that the vehicles and components they produce will adhere to the standards that govern EV technology internationally. Verifying the behavior and communication between electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) and EVs ensures conformance with global charging standards and interoperability, but the number of EVs and EV standards is growing constantly. Companies are looking for ways to accelerate their EV conformance and interoperability testing without sacrificing accuracy.

Emulation solutions that will be on display at CES will allow companies to test their EVSE and EVs against a range of global standards and ensure interoperability.

Gigafactory Optimization

Gigafactories are critical to widespread EV adoption because they enable the production of these complex systems to scale dramatically to reduce costs. These facilities produce massive amounts of data from across their production facilities. Coordinating operations across the various aspects of these laboratories is complex but necessary to optimize resources, systems, and devices under test.

Gigafactory operators attending CES will be keenly interested in solutions that help them harmonize their workflows, modernize their labs, and improve their data integrity and traceability.

Meet Keysight at CES 2024

What happens in Vegas won’t stay in Vegas during CES. The breakthrough technologies on display from January 9th to 12th 2024 will touch every aspect of life. Keysight will be on hand to showcase sophisticated emulation technologies that enable automotive OEMs and battery producers to validate and ensure interoperability of EVs and charging stations faster and with less risk.

Learn more about how Keysight’s emulation solutions can address your EV and EVSE testing needs by visiting our booth (#7201) in the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC). Learn more and register for CES here.