Microchip Technology has expanded its 10BASE-T1S single-pair Ethernet portfolio with two physical medium dependent (PMD) transceivers, the LAN8679 and LAN8680, and the LAN8660X/1X/2X family of endpoints with integrated transceivers. The devices are designed for zonal vehicle architectures, as well as industrial automation, robotics and aerospace applications.
The LAN8679 uses the standardized OPEN Alliance 3-Pin (OA3P) interface and comes in an 8-pin VDFN package, which measures 3 × 3 mm. The LAN8680 adds system basis chip (SBC) functions: power management, wake/sleep control and watchdog supervision. Low-dropout regulators support internal power and two switchable power supply outputs, monitoring of all supplies and an ultra-low power sleep mode, in a 16-pin, 3 × 4.5 mm VDFN package.
Microchip says the devices are designed to meet AEC-Q100 and ISO 26262 functional safety standards. All three offer a -40° C to 125° C temperature range.
The LAN8660X/1X/2X endpoints integrate a PMD transceiver into a single-chip Remote Control Protocol (RCP) device, so edge nodes for control systems, lighting and audio don’t need an external PHY. The family has up to four serial communication interfaces for sensors and actuators and stores its configuration in on-chip non-volatile memory. Configuration, control and diagnostics are managed over the network. Microchip describes the design as a software-less architecture that eliminates the need for additional software programming.
The LAN8660X control endpoint supports time synchronization over generalized Precision Time Protocol (gPTP) and comes in a 32-pin, 5 × 5 mm TQFN package with wettable flanks.
In a 10BASE-T1S multidrop topology, multiple nodes share a single bus line, typically eight or more, according to Microchip. The company says that reduces wiring weight and system cost and eliminates the need for gateways, making it easier to connect sensors and actuators directly to the network edge.
The same physical layer is specified for charging communication in the Megawatt Charging System (MCS), where chargebyte’s CCL MCS charge controller uses it in place of power line communication.
The LAN8679, LAN8680 and LAN8660X/1X/2X are available in limited sampling.
OMV provides public EV charging in several European markets, including Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania.
The company recently deployed a SICHARGE FLEX charging system from Siemens eMobility at its charging station in Kufstein, Austria. OMV is a pilot customer of the new system, which Siemens unveiled in October 2025.
SICHARGE FLEX is a distributed charging system designed for depots and public charging. With a power output ranging from 480 kW to 1.68 MW, the system is suitable for charging both passenger EVs and heavy-duty electric vehicles.
The Kufstein location was chosen due to its strategic importance on the busy Brenner Route, a major transportation corridor between Germany and Italy. The Kufstein station is specifically tailored to the needs of truck drivers. It offers amenities such as showers, restaurants and washing machines.
The new SICHARGE FLEX system in Kufstein currently offers four charge points for passenger cars and two charge points for trucks, each with a capacity of up to 400 kW. In the next phase, four additional MCS charge points for trucks will be added, with power outputs ranging from 600 kW to 1,200 kW. A dynamic power distribution system allocates available charging power among the connected vehicles as needed.
“The electrification of freight transport is a key pillar of a sustainable transportation system,” said Markus Mildner, CEO of Siemens eMobility. “SICHARGE FLEX is a scalable solution that can be precisely configured for a variety of use cases, from logistics depots to public charging facilities for cars and trucks.”
“Heavy-duty electric vehicles require powerful charging options along major transportation routes. Kufstein’s location on the Brenner corridor makes it an ideal site,” said Peter Vysny, VP of International Operations & eMobility at OMV.
Energy storage company EnerVenue has started production of its Aqueous Metal Cell (AMC), a water-based nickel-hydrogen battery, at its Wujin site in Changzhou, China. The company says the line is the first high-volume AMC line built anywhere. Ground was broken in April, and the first conforming cell came off the line in late September.
Phase 1 is rated at 250 MWh of annual capacity, and EnerVenue plans to raise that to 1 GWh in 2027, and to multi-gigawatt-hour scale by 2028. The line is set to ramp to full rate through November, and at full automation it is designed to produce about 300 fourth-generation cells a day. The plant covers around 20,000 square meters, and the building has provision for a second phase of the same size.
No other company builds an AMC, EnerVenue says, so it designed and built every machine on the line itself. Automated guided vehicles move cells between stations, a stacking machine assembles the electrode stack under a vision system that learns from what it sees, and each cell is wound in fiberglass under tension controlled from the inside out. Every cell passes 41 quality checks across 11 test and measure stations covering weld integrity, leak tightness and performance.
The AMC is built on nickel-hydrogen chemistry, which powered the Hubble Space Telescope and the International Space Station for decades. EnerVenue says it re-engineered the chemistry with low-cost materials and designed the cell for 30,000 cycles, up to three a day for 30 years, without scheduled augmentation. The cell uses no lithium or rare earths.
The electrolyte is water-based and non-flammable, and the cell carries no risk of fire from thermal runaway, according to EnerVenue. “While thermal runaway is generally defined as a self-accelerating sequence of exothermic reactions, the AMC chemistry does not produce the same progression of events that leads to ignition, fire, explosion, or propagation to adjacent cells,” said Majid Keshavarz, EnerVenue’s Chief Technology Officer.
The line supplies cells for four products. The 30 kWh Energy Core is for UPS at telecom and other distributed sites, and the 108 kWh Energy Cube is for in-building and data center UPS. The 150 kWh Energy Rack is for commercial, industrial and grid-connected duty, and the containerized Energy Prism ranges from 600 kWh to 1 MWh.
EnerVenue announced its first signed multi-MWh commercial order on September 23: 26 Energy Prism containers totaling 11 MWh for an oilfield company in northern China, pairing on-site generation with storage. The first containers are scheduled to ship in December.
The first commissioned deployment of the fourth-generation AMC has been operating with Towngas at Jintan in Changzhou since November 2025, integrating on-site renewable generation with electric bus charging. Cells have also shipped to customers in the US, Belgium and Saudi Arabia, and EnerVenue’s customers include PowerSecure in the US, Radiance Energy in Canada and Western Australian utility Horizon Power.
The Changzhou line is funded by the $300 million Series B extension led by Full Vision Capital that EnerVenue announced in March 2026.
“Anyone can make one good vessel. The job is making the ten-thousandth one exactly the same,” said TJ Hua, EnerVenue’s Head of Production.
EV charger manufacturer Wallbox has partnered with Enode, provider of an “energy orchestration platform,” to enable Wallbox chargers to connect with third-party apps and services powered by Enode in Europe.
Through the integration, Enode connects with Wallbox’s API, enabling compatible energy apps and services to connect with Wallbox chargers. Wallbox users will be able to link their chargers with energy platforms, providing access to features such as smart charging, tariff optimization and home energy management.
“At Wallbox, we believe the future of EV charging is intelligent, connected and integrated into the broader energy ecosystem,” said Eduard Castañeda, Chief Product & Technology Officer at Wallbox. “Our partnership with Enode makes it easier for users to connect their Wallbox charger with the apps and services they already use, helping them charge more efficiently and take greater control of their energy use.”
UK-based EV battery repair and remanufacturing specialist Autocraft Solutions Group has won the Green Award at the Automechanika Frankfurt Innovation Awards 2026 for its REVIVE workshops, which diagnose, repair and remanufacture failed EV battery packs. The Green Award is a newly created category, and an international panel of judges chose the winner from 185 entries.
Autocraft’s workshops in Grantham, UK and Arnhem, the Netherlands repair between 300 and 400 battery packs a month for OEM customers. The company wants to expand into more European countries, including Germany, Spain and Italy, where it expects OEM demand for battery repair capacity to be concentrated.
Autocraft says failed packs have typically been replaced outright and very often sent for recycling, regardless of the fault, and that its commercial repair data shows most failures are localized at cell or module level. Replacing only the affected components can restore a pack to more than 90% of its original performance, according to the company.
The REVIVE service covers triage and workshop remanufacture as well as vehicle collection and return. Diagnosis runs on the company’s OptEVizer testing platform, which goes beyond the BMS and actively stresses the battery to find faults at cell level. The results are analyzed against an OptEVizer digital twin built from thousands of real-world test cycles and millions of individual data points, which Autocraft says yields a true, independent state of health.
Figures from the RECOVAS consortium, a UK government-backed collaboration of vehicle manufacturers, recyclers and academic partners, show that repairing an 82.5 kWh pack rather than replacing it avoids around 12 metric tons of CO₂.
“As the EV parc expands, so too will the number of battery failures, especially as packs age and degrade over time. Yet most batteries can be restored to optimal health, making repair the only logical way forward,” said Mike Hague-Morgan, Executive Director and Co-Owner of Autocraft Solutions Group.
“The next challenge is design,” said Hague-Morgan. “Manufacturers and legislators must work together to ensure future battery designs allow for effective repair, rather than making repair more difficult through increasingly complex architectures. If we do not act now, we risk locking in a throwaway model at exactly the point the volume is about to arrive.”
When we spoke with John Harris, the cofounder and CEO of electric truckmaker Harbinger, back in January, we were impressed with his company’s tightly focused business model and cost-saving supply chain strategy. (Read the complete in-depth interview here.)
Now the Harbinger team’s hard work has borne fruit, in the shape of a $300-million order from FedEx for 2,000 electric trucks. This is one of the largest binding orders ever placed for electric medium- or heavy-duty trucks to date, and considered together with recent news from Tesla and Workhorse, it’s a harbinger (see what we did there?) of the end of the Age of Pilots, and the dawn of an era of large-scale electric truck deployments.
The order includes a mix of models from Harbinger’s all-electric vehicle lineup. The company aims to deliver the EVs by the end of 2027. FedEx will deploy them as one-for-one replacements for legacy vehicles in its pickup and delivery operations in the US and Canada. Harbinger’s Canadian dealer, Kaizen Automotive Group, will support the Canadian portion of the deployment.
Harbinger and FedEx have been working together for some time. The delivery giant was a co-leading investor in Harbinger’s $160-million Series C equity raise, and deployed 53 Harbinger trucks, in 2025.
“FedEx is demonstrating that the business case for incorporating electric vehicles into real-world fleet operations at scale makes sense,” said John Harris. “Our previous work together gave FedEx firsthand experience with the performance and economic advantages Harbinger vehicles can deliver.”
“Electrifying a fleet at this scale requires vehicles that can perform the work our robust operations demand while also delivering meaningful economic benefits,” said Paul Melander, Senior VP of Safety and Transportation at FedEx, and a member of Harbinger’s Board of Directors. “Expanding our deployment of Harbinger vehicles gives us an opportunity to continue making progress toward our fleet electrification goals while reducing fuel and operating costs.”
Harbinger estimates that each of its electric trucks will reduce fuel costs by an average of $20,000 annually, compared with the conventional diesel vehicle it replaces. Harbinger’s vehicles are designed and engineered for a service life of 20 years, to match the typical life of class 5 and 6 medium-duty trucks.
In a post announcing the sale, John Harris calculated FedEx’s annual fuel savings in California at around $26,000 per truck.
“This order represents the results of years of methodical investment in electrification at Harbinger, in production capacity, in service network buildout, in supply chain, and more,” said Harris. “It also represents an incredible step forward on electrification by FedEx, with huge upside in fuel cost savings, energy independence and decarbonization. Amazing work by all of my team members at Harbinger to make this possible.”
Battery electric vehicle (BEV) architectures continue to evolve. Higher charging rates, greater stored energy, bidirectional power flow and tighter packaging can increase the demands placed on high-voltage DC circuit protection.
Traditional protection architectures that coordinate contactors, fuses and pyrotechnic devices were developed for earlier BEV platforms. In some applications they remain effective, but higher fault energy, faster fault development and greater system complexity may reduce available design margin.
This article outlines how BEV fault behavior is changing, where conventional protection strategies may face increasing constraints and why some next-generation architectures may benefit from a more integrated and resettable approach.
BEV architectures are transferring higher energy at higher rates
Current BEV platforms differ significantly from earlier generations. Several trends are changing electrical architecture:
Higher charge rates driven by fast-charging requirements
More stored energy to support longer range
More compact battery packaging that increases thermal and electrical density
Bidirectional power flow (V2L, V2H and V2G) that expands fault scenarios
Higher system voltages, including 400 V and 800 V platforms and beyond
Taken together, these trends increase the amount of energy transferred through compact systems. Protection and switching devices may therefore be required to operate under higher stress, shorter response windows and a broader range of high-voltage direct current (HVDC) fault conditions.
HVDC fault behavior is changing
HVDC faults are not new. What has changed is the context in which they occur. Higher stored energy, faster charging and denser packaging can allow faults to escalate more quickly. In some architectures, engineers must manage not only higher fault current, but also faster fault development, shorter decision windows and greater energy transfer in the first milliseconds of an event, including:
Rapid fault-current rise
Increased difficulty extinguishing DC arc energy
Reduced time available for protection decisions
Higher consequence of misclassification or delayed response
As system energy and charging power increase, some applications may need to consider short-circuit currents in the 20 kA to 30 kA range or higher. At the same time, normal fast-charging current may move closer to levels that reduce the margin between nominal operation and fault response.
This can narrow the operating window for protection devices. In these conditions, devices may need to handle a wider range of operating and fault scenarios, including:
Continuous high current during charging
Rapid interruption of high fault current
Predictable operation during transients, signal errors, communication loss and auxiliary failure
Figure 2. Higher stored energy, faster charging and denser packaging can allow faults to escalate more quickly.
Constraints in conventional protection architectures
Fuse and contactor architectures
Conventional BEV protection depends on sequential coordination:
Detection by the BMS and sensors
Switching via contactors
Protection via fuses
This model assumes enough time for detection, signaling and handoff between components. As operating current and charging power rise, that margin can shrink. Under these conditions, it may become increasingly difficult to maintain reliable sequencing across the entire range of expected scenarios, and several limitations become evident.
Coordination gaps across detection, switching and interruption functions
Contactors may not be optimized to interrupt high-energy DC faults on their own
Potential for contact welding and degradation of isolation performance under severe fault conditions
In some cases, fuse response may not align with faster fault dynamics
Reduced design margin as system voltage, current and stored energy increase
These considerations do not necessarily indicate a design deficiency. In many cases, they reflect architectures operating closer to the limits assumed during earlier design cycles.
Figure 3. Fuses and contactors require reliable sequencing, which may become more difficult to maintain across the full range of expected conditions.
Pyrotechnic protection approaches
Pyrotechnic devices can address some fuse-coordination issues by forcing the circuit open. Depending on the implementation, they may also introduce a different set of constraints.
Dependence on an external trigger: In many designs, operation depends on a trigger signal from another system
One-shot operation: Following activation, service intervention and component replacement may be required
Faster trigger requirements: Future battery systems may require response times measured in hundreds of microseconds, depending on architecture and fault scenario
Additional BMS complexity and associated cost
Potential for nuisance activation: If evaluation windows become very short or system inputs are ambiguous
As fault energy increases, designers may need to balance earlier intervention against the risk of acting on incomplete information.
Figure 4. Pyro fuses and contactors can address some fuse-coordination issues; however, the protection gap is increasing with faster charging demands.
Protection performance is increasingly architecture-dependent
In earlier EV platforms, circuit protection was largely a component-level choice. Engineers selected contactors, fuses or pyrotechnic devices by rating, then coordinated them with timing margins and external control logic. If baseline requirements were met, many combinations could be made to work. For some modern BEV architectures, that approach may no longer provide sufficient margin on its own.
Protection performance can depend on how detection, switching, interruption, communication and power availability interact under severe conditions. When those functions are not aligned by design, component ratings alone may not be enough to achieve the desired level of protection performance.
Circuit protection is increasingly determined by system architecture, not only by individual component ratings. The protection concept influences fault response, subsystem dependencies, recovery capability and vehicle availability.
A protection architecture intended for future BEV platforms should:
Accommodate higher voltage, current and stored energy
Integrate detection, switching and protection functions where appropriate
Provide predictable response across the defined fault envelope
Maintain safe operation with limited dependence on external trigger chains
Minimize dependence on single-use protection elements where feasible
Permit recovery after non-catastrophic events where appropriate
Integrated protection architectures
A different approach is emerging, one that integrates protection and switching into a single, self-contained device. Compared with architectures that coordinate separate contactors, fuses and pyrotechnic devices, integrated approaches eliminate coordination dependencies by design.
Combine detection, interruption and isolation functions within one device
Reduce dependence on BMS timing and external trigger chains in some implementations
Respond autonomously to defined high-energy DC fault conditions
Provide more consistent response across defined fault conditions in some application
Figure 5. By using electrodynamic forces during a fault, integrated devices like Breaktor can accelerate contact separation and help limit fault current. This reduces stress on downstream components and improves overall system robustness.
Figure 6. Integrated protection architectures combine detection, interruption and isolation in a single device to improve response consistency under high-energy HVDC fault conditions.
Resettable protection and serviceability
Many real-world fault events, like the following, are not catastrophic.
Charging station failures
Communication loss on auxiliary systems
Transient overcurrent events
Sensor misreads or misfires
With single-use protection approaches, these events can still lead to:
Stranded vehicles
Costly component replacement
Battery pack swaps
Unclear liability across vehicle, grid, and charging infrastructure
A resettable protection approach allows recovery from manageable events, support vehicle availability, and shift certain service actions to planned maintenance intervals. This can significantly reduce downtime and total cost of ownership
Figure 7. Resetable scenarios
Evaluation questions for engineering teams
As protection becomes more architecture-dependent, engineering teams should also reconsider how technologies and suppliers are evaluated. In practice, that means asking questions such as:
Which fault scenarios exist across the entire ecosystem—vehicle, grid and charging infrastructure?
How often will protection devices encounter these events in the real world?
Which faults should permit recovery, and which should not?
Is the protection function self-contained, or does it depend on external systems and timing?
Can the technology scale with future BEV energy levels?
Is system response predictable and repeatable?
Conclusion
BEV electrical systems are evolving in ways that challenge protection architectures developed for earlier platforms. As energy levels, charging power and system complexity increase, protection strategies may need to evolve as well.
Legacy approaches are facing increasing constraints, not because they are poorly designed, but because system assumptions are changing. In some applications, coordination gaps can widen, dependencies can increase and available reaction time can shrink.
Integrated, resettable protection technologies represent a shift from single-use components toward architecture-level safety functions. By simplifying certain aspects of fault response, reducing selected dependencies and enabling recovery in defined scenarios, they provide a more sustainable foundation for next-generation electric vehicle platforms.
Products featuring Breaktor circuit protection
Battery disconnect unit
The Battery disconnect unit (BDU) is designed to efficiently distribute power throughout the EV system. With the integration of Breaktor, the BDU provides improved quality and simplified architecture by combining current switching and resettable bidirectional short-circuit protection with fast actuation (up to 900V).
Enabling reduction of up to 15 components from the BDU assembly, Breaktor’s integrated coil driver, economizer, and sensing/triggering circuit reduce overall cost and complexity. Additionally, it’s self-triggering design, diagnostic electronics, and mirror contact help to ensure utmost safety and reliability.
FLEX power distribution unit
The next generation high-voltage intelligent FLEX power distribution unit (FLEX PDU) monitors and manages all power distributed to power electronics and provides central protection for the electrical system for hybrid, fuel cell and fully battery electric commercial vehicles. Fully customizable to meet a commercial vehicle’s specific requirements, the FLEX PDU can be integrated with Breaktor. This allows for integrated over-current protection for high power loads including traction inverters and DC fast charge.
