27-28 August 2025
Suwon
11:55 – 12:15
Power Semiconductors Trends in eMobility from a Broader Power Electronics Perspective
The opportunities for WBG Power Semiconductors in automotive applications are recently widely discussed due to the immense growth potential of the new electric vehicle market. With the speed of market adoption, also the full supply chain needs to be developed.
This is not only the case within the semiconductor products supply from material – i.e. SiC epi substrates – to the chip and then to the module. It needs to be setup in the full industry value chain, from power generation via power transmission to the grid and charging infrastructure, then finally to the electric vehicle EV itself. This full industry value chain needs to be then differentiated depending on the final EV applications which have a wide variety of conditions to reflect: The volume driver is EV passenger cars, here already in a spread of technology requirements from high performance cars to standard models with less power needs. It becomes further differentiated, if we go up the EV types, e.g. in its intrinsic mass, from buses and trucks to electric locomotives.
The presentation will give an overview, how from a power electronics system provider view, the new power semiconductor technologies, i.e. SiC, drives the development of the new system concepts along the industry value chain applications due to the technological specific advantages of the new power semiconductor developments.
Rainer Kaesmaier, Ph.D.
Hitachi Energy Ltd.
Dr. Rainer Kaesmaier is leading the semiconductor business of Hitachi Energy with its global manufacturing and R&D footprint for the power semiconductor product portfolio which compromises GTOs, IGBTs, IGCTs, Thyristors, Diodes and SiC for market segments such as energy transmission & distribution, transportation & rail, renewables, industry and eMobility. Rainer is a semiconductor industry veteran having held various management and executive positions in the sector for close to 30 years, covering areas of global responsibility in business strategy and development, business transformation, technology and engineering, operations and production, R&D, as well as sales and marketing. After stations at Siemens, Infineon, Qimonda, and the European semiconductor manufacturer LFoundry, he assumed 2018 the responsibility for the global semiconductor business of Hitachi Energy. In addition to that, Rainer is since 2019 also member of the management board for Hitachi Energy Switzerland. He was a member in various industries strategy committees in Europe and the US, and currently in the advisory board for International Semiconductor Industry Group (I.S.I.G.). Rainer holds a Master’s degree in Physics from the Technical University Munich and a PhD in Physics from the University Kassel in Germany. He is based in Lenzburg near Zurich, Switzerland.
Hitachi Energy Ltd.
Company Profile
We have one of the most diverse semiconductor portfolios that includes thyristors, diodes, GTOs, IGCTs, IGBTs and RoadPakTM modules, which are manufactured at our facilities in Lenzburg, Switzerland and Prague, Czech Republic. We have one of the most diverse semiconductor portfolios that includes thyristors, diodes, GTOs, IGCTs, MOSFETs and IGBTs, which are manufactured at our facilities in Lenzburg, Switzerland and Prague, Czech Republic. Our research team continues pushing the boundaries of what is possible, using silicon and silicon carbide (SiC) technology to innovate the next generation of power electronics devices. Our advanced semiconductor technology brings unprecedented control to HVDC transmission systems. We are the heart of traction converters for high speed trains, metros and diesel-electric locomotives. Pumps, fans, roller tables, hoist and winches found throughout industry rely on us, and the world is able to enjoy greener mobility because we power the next generation of e-vehicles.