Technology Trends of High Voltage Connectors

The development of high-voltage connectors will be in the direction of high standards, large market, and modularization. This article’s wiring harness engineer mainly discusses the technical trends of high-voltage connectors.

High voltage plastic connector

High-voltage connector technology: high standards
The so-called “high-voltage connector” is a connector that serves the high-voltage system in automobiles. Traditional fuel vehicles mainly rely on engines and fuel to meet the vehicle’s requirements for mechanical kinetic energy, and do not have excessive requirements for voltage. Electric vehicles use electricity as energy, and use power batteries, drive motors, and drive motor controllers to complete the kinetic energy supply to the vehicle, which sets higher standards for the voltage and current carrying capabilities of related components.
High-voltage connectors go hand in hand with the development of electric vehicles. In 2009, my country issued the “Automotive Industry Adjustment and Revitalization Plan” and launched the “Ten Cities, Thousand Vehicles” subsidy program to promote new energy vehicles. Since then, my country’s high-voltage connectors have continued to move forward with the pace of new energy vehicles and have developed to the fourth generation.

Basba Chief Technology Officer Xu Ping’an told us that the new “secondary unlocking” function of the third-generation product can protect the core electrical components of the product and ensure the safety of users. The fourth-generation products are smaller in size, have higher current density, and controllable temperature rise, providing better safety and reliability for high-power charging and discharging. Basba New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. is a company specializing in high-voltage connection system solutions for electric vehicles, with 12 years of experience in the research and development of automotive connectors.
High-voltage vehicle connectors are mainly used in lithium batteries, motors, electronic controls, DC/DC converters, OBC, PDU and other systems. Working together with the high-voltage wiring harness, the battery’s kinetic energy is transported to various components with the help of high-voltage and high-current lines. Different system components and differences in wire cross-sectional area have different electrical performance requirements for automotive connectors. Generally speaking, the rated voltage of high-voltage connectors ranges from 60v to 1500v, and the rated current ranges from 20A to 300A.
In addition, automotive connectors also have high requirements on the mechanical properties and environmental performance of the products. According to engineers, high-quality high-voltage connector products must pass various mechanical performance tests, environmental tests, and electrical performance. Such as terminal retention force, connector insertion and extraction force, drop test, 960H neutral salt spray test, 1008H aging test in 125℃ environment, -40℃~125℃ hot and cold shock, etc.

Integrated high voltage connector

Basba HV2000 plastic connector
As electric vehicles continue to move towards fast charging and overcharging, all new energy vehicle companies are constantly improving their vehicle voltage platforms. 2022 will become the first year of upgrading from 400v to 800v high-voltage platform. The new challenges this brings to high-voltage connectors are still focused on the electrical level. Can the rated voltage and rated current be further improved? And how to deal with the high temperature hazards caused by high-power current? The fifth-generation high-voltage connector is likely to be combined with liquid cooling technology to meet electrical and temperature requirements.
High-voltage connector supply and demand side: big market
New energy vehicles can be divided into two categories: new energy passenger vehicles and new energy commercial vehicles based on their uses.
Data from the China Automobile Association shows that from January to September this year, cumulative sales of new energy passenger vehicles reached 4.363 million units, a year-on-year increase of 111.5%. Cumulative sales of new energy commercial vehicles reached 204,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 80.1%. New energy passenger cars and commercial vehicles are driving the market for high-voltage connectors to continue to expand.
In the field of low-voltage connectors, due to the gap in automobile manufacturing time, technology patents have long been in the hands of foreign car companies, and the gap between domestic and foreign low-voltage connector markets is significant. If the short board of my country’s automotive connectors is the low-voltage connector, then the long board is at the high-voltage connector end, which benefits from the rapid development of my country’s new energy vehicles. Domestic car companies and foreign car companies keep pace with each other, and even surpass and lead beautifully.

Zhou Zhenfang, general manager of Lingyue Optoelectronics, said that in the field of new energy commercial vehicles, high-voltage connectors have achieved nearly 100% localization rate and have surpassed foreign countries in terms of technology. The high-voltage connectors used in new energy commercial vehicles in my country use integrated panels and have been developed for many generations, while similar foreign products still retain the traditional lock body structure. As the leading domestic new energy commercial vehicle on-board connector company, Lingyue Optoelectronics is quite optimistic about domestic high-voltage connector products.

Applications of high voltage connector integration

Lingyue Optoelectronics integrated connector products
At the same time, my country’s high-voltage connectors for new energy passenger cars are also continuing to increase the penetration rate of domestic products. At present, my country’s major companies deploying high-voltage connectors for passenger cars include Ricoda, AVIC Optoelectronics, Basba, Yonggui Electric, Shunke Intelligent, etc. Basba revealed that the localization rate of high-voltage connectors for passenger cars has exceeded 60%.
In addition to the localization rate, high-voltage connectors also far exceed low-voltage connectors in terms of value. Since the battery pack capacity of new energy commercial vehicles is several times that of passenger car battery packs, correspondingly, the value of commercial vehicle high-voltage connectors is higher than that of passenger car high-voltage connectors.

Data source: This interview with Basba and Lingyue Optoelectronics, tabulation: “International Cable and Connection”
Xu Liming, an engineer at Shenzhen BYD Automobile Co., Ltd., said in an interview that BYD’s new energy vehicles currently use about 15 pairs of high-voltage connectors in the vehicle-side bicycles.
According to the prediction of the Passenger Car Association, my country’s sales of new energy passenger vehicles and commercial vehicles in 2022 will be 6.15 million and 350,000 respectively. For the time being, 15 pairs of connectors are used as the standard for bicycle usage. Optimistically, my country’s high-voltage connector market will reach about 8.43 billion yuan in 2022. ——In the field of passenger cars, the high-voltage connector market size reaches 7.38 billion yuan. In the field of commercial vehicles, the high-voltage connector market size reaches 1.05 billion yuan. (Note: The actual market size of commercial vehicle high-voltage connectors may be larger. This calculation uses 15 pairs of usage as the calculation standard)
On this basis, it can be estimated that in the fourth quarter of 2022 (October-December), the market size of my country’s high-voltage connectors will be around 2.582 billion yuan. High-voltage connector products are expected to help connector manufacturers increase their performance at the end of the year.
It is reported that the revenue of Basba high-voltage connector products has doubled in the first three quarters.

The future of high-voltage connectors: modular
The technical orientation of overcharging and fast charging for new energy vehicles also affects vehicle-mounted connectors. Battery capacity is getting larger and larger, causing the car body to become heavier and heavier, and the use of connectors and wiring harnesses to increase. Therefore, component modularization becomes increasingly important.
Zhou Zhenfang, general manager of Lingyue Optoelectronics, said there are many benefits to the modularization of high-voltage connectors. “Multi-functional integration and modularization can better meet the safety requirements of the entire vehicle. Lightweight, easy installation, lower cost, improved aesthetics, etc. These are the benefits of modularization and integration.”

Connector integration application
Regarding the development trend of high-voltage connectors, Basba Chief Technology Officer Xu Pingan also emphasized modularity and lightweight. In addition, the project stated that the electromagnetic compatibility and volume-to-current ratio capabilities of my country’s high-voltage connectors and wire harness assemblies also need to be continuously improved.
The R&D certification of automotive-grade connectors is different from other types of connectors. Due to safety, reliability, and durability considerations, the total cycle of product self-certification plus customer certification is longer. It is reported that BYD’s certification cycle for automotive connectors developed by suppliers is about three months to half a year. For connector suppliers, they must continue to increase investment in research and development, speed up research and development, improve product integration, launch new products suitable for automotive overcharging and fast charging requirements as soon as possible, and seize market share.