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    Electric vehicles and car racing applications dominate Electronica 2012

    Nov. 26, 2012
    Cars were by far the most popular theme for booths at Electronica 2012.
    1. Cars were by far the most popular theme for booths at Electronica 2012. This 2013 Ford Shelby Mustang, as seen on the Digi-Key booth, was won by one lucky visitor. They also gave away a Vespa.

    2. This BMW Z4 was displayed on the ON Semiconductor booth to show off the company’s automotive technology. ON Semi launched various automotive devices at the show, including CAN and LIN transceivers, hex half bridge driver, low side drivers, and an ambient LED controller.

    3. NXP were demonstrating connected nodes across the home, office and car. This car demo had a radio/sound system controlled by an iPad.
    4. Car games were also really popular. This one on the Spezial Elektronik booth invited users to drive a Formula 1 car game in order to win a chance to drive a real F1 car.

    5. This specially adapted Scalectrix-style set on the Ramtron booth was showing off the write speed of the company’s wireless F-RAM (fitted to the tag one car) versus standard EEPROM (in the tag on another equally matched car). 1000 words of data would be written to the tags during each pit stop.

    6. Mouser again played on its connection to motor racing with a real Indy Car, as well as a driving game, on the booth. The company was emphasising the close ties between itself (supporting initial design and prototyping) and sister distributor TTI (supporting companies through production ramp up to volume).
    7. Schaffner’s go-kart was demonstrating its AC line filters, dv/dt filters, storage chokes, common-mode chokes, switching transformers and DC filters.

    8. Electric cars were another popular theme. ST had a small electric car plugged into a charging station…

    9. …similar to this one on the Rutronik booth. It’s officially a 2-seater, but it looked rather cramped in the back!
    10. Maxim’s remote control car was demonstrating its MAX17823 battery sensor ICs for electric car batteries, illustrated by a diagnostic system which helps avoid battery cell imbalance.

    11. Phoenix contact’s car is certainly “green”! The company showed its connectors for the different global vehicle charging stations. 

    12. And finally: this solar-powered car on the Renesas booth, designed by the Eco Solar Breizh team in France will take part in the 2013 World Solar Challenge, a 3000 km race across Australia. Renesas is providing RX and RL78 MCUs for sensor measurement, communications, energy harvesting and battery management. No word on how it would cope in UK weather, though.
    About the Author

    Sally Ward-Foxton

    Sally Ward-Foxton is Associate Editor of Electronic Design Europe. Her beat covers all areas of the European electronics industry, but she has a particular interest in wireless communications and displays technology. She was previously Features Editor of Components in Electronics magazine and has also worked as a PR Account Director. Based in London, Sally holds a Masters' Degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Cambridge, UK.

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