Transphorm and Magneti Marelli sign partnership

Italian automotive supplier Magneti Marelli and US GaN company Transphorm have signed a partnership agreement for developing power converters, onboard chargers and inverters for electric and hybrid vehicles.

Working alongside Transphorm engineers, Marelli engineers will be able to use their experience to advise on product development relevant to its ongoing investment in the development of e-powertrain solutions for electric vehicles and also for motorsport applications. For such joint development and co-working of engineers, Transphorm will exclusively cooperate with Marelli for two years, to enable the development of new technologies for electric vehicles.

Joachim Fetzer, CEO, electric powertrain, Marelli, said: “Electric Vehicle power conversion is fundamentally important to the future of electric vehicles and investment in technologies like this are critical to ensure the very highest performance of electric vehicles at a lower cost. We are delighted to partner with Transphorm, who are true in the market. This partnership allows us to work with the Transphorm team to shape and improve products that will ultimately ensure improved performance, efficiency of power electronics and ultimately lower the cost of electric vehicles.”

Primit Parikh, co-founder and COO, Transphorm, said: “Automotive and EVs represent one of the largest opportunities for GaN in power conversion and our partnership with a global like Marelli is a strong testament to the quality, reliability, manufacturing and overall product performance of our GaN solutions. The long-term innovative system level vision of the Marelli Electric Powertrain team will be extremely valuable in furthering GaN in the electric vehicle.”