Fusion sparks EV power management innovation

Nuclear fusion could revolutionise the energy industry, and many organisations are pursuing its promise. But fusion is a complex science, and several derivative technologies have already emerged from that journey. In January 2023, fusion specialist TAE Technologies spun off TAE Power Solutions for the purpose of commercialising innovative power management and storage solutions for electric vehicles (EVs), as well as residential, commercial, industrial and utility-scale applications.

The path to this new Power Solutions business started when TAE ran into issues with power for its fusion work. The local grid near the company's California headquarters provides 2MW of power, but its fusion reactor needed up to 750MW. “You don’t need that power for a sustained period of time, but you do need it at very specific intervals, basically spikes,” explains Kedar Munipella, Chief Executive of TAE Power Solutions.

Essentially, researchers needed an energy storage and power delivery system that could incrementally scale and discharge with flexible, efficient bi-directional power on a sub-millisecond time scale. “We needed to store energy and then discharge it to 80,000 unique points,” he tells Automotive World. “Storing and discharging is the fundamental science of power management.”