USA – Consortium on Advanced Automotive Electrical and Electronic Systems The
SAE discussed an increased automobile standard voltage as early as 1988. In 1994, at the initiative of
Daimler-Benz, the first "Workshop on Advanced Architectures for Automotive Electrical Distribution Systems" was held at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Laboratory for Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems (MIT/LEES) in
Cambridge,
Massachusetts USA. with the aim of defining the architecture for a future automotive electrical system. From the outset, the participants in this workshop included suppliers as well as the automobile companies
Daimler-Benz,
Ford and
General Motors. In September 1995, various electrical systems architectures were compared at
MIT using the tool "MAESTrO", and in December 1995, in the "Conclusions" of this study, a future voltage level of approximately was defined. In early 1996, the "Consortium on Advanced Automotive Electrical and Electronic Systems" was set up. At the ensuing workshop in March 1996, the future nominal voltage of 42 V was confirmed. In August 1996, IEEE Spectrum published the paper "Automotive electrical systems circa 2005". On the occasion of the October 1996 Convergence in Detroit, Professor John G. Kassakian (MIT) gave a talk entitled "The Future of Automotive Electrical Systems" as part of the "IEEE Workshop on Automotive Power- Electronics". On March 24, 1997,
Daimler-Benz presented the MIT with a "Draft Specification of a Dual Voltage Vehicle Electrical Power System 42V/14V".
Europe At the same time as the activities in the USA, in 1994, again at the initiative of
Daimler-Benz, the former SICAN GmbH held its first "" (Vehicle Electrical System Forum) in
Hanover for German automobile companies. Here too, suppliers were invited to participate at a very early stage, together with all European vehicle manufacturers. On February 15, 1996, the introductory paper "" (Automotive electrical system architecture for the year 2005) was agreed, and on June 4, 1996,
BMW presented the "" (Table of present and future loads in the motor vehicle) and the "" (42V/14V PowerNet). On September 13, 1996, at the 7th International Technical Meeting for Vehicle Electronics in
Baden-Baden, considerable interest was raised by the paper "" (New Automotive Electrical System Architecture and Consequences), presented by Dr. Richard D. Tabors (MIT). On March 6, 1997,
BMW presented the "" (Draft Specification of a Dual Voltage Vehicle Electrical Power System 42V/14V) in Hanover. The work at SICAN GmbH was given decisive impetus by the cooperation between
BMW and
Daimler-Benz, as witnessed in their joint definition of the European "Load List 2005" and the jointly authored "Draft Specification of a Dual Voltage Vehicle Electrical Power System 42V/14V". Volvo has used 42 V for some of its mild hybrids.
48-volt electrical system The increased adoption of
hybrid vehicle technologies in the 2010s led to 48-volt systems being deployed in
mild hybrid vehicles, which add electric boost to the typical internal combustion engine (ICE) propulsion, and facilitates some regeneration during braking for fuel savings. In 2011, several German car makers agreed on a 48 V on-board electric power supply network on top of the current 12 V network and introduced the "Combo plug", a common power plug for DC charging electric vehicles. As of 2018, this
48-volt electrical system had been applied in production vehicles such as
Porsche and
Bentley SUVs, while
Volvo and
Audi planned to use the 48-volt standard in 2019 vehicles. In March 2023,
Tesla Inc. began production of the
Cybertruck with a 48-volt architecture, the first production vehicle to use 48 volts as the system voltage for the entire low-voltage system. They have indicated that their
next-generation vehicle will also be utilizing a 48 V low-voltage electrical system as well. == Choice of voltage ==