DC-DC converters are an important part of electric cars as well as many other devices, products, and processes.

Since DC-DC converters can be used in many applications in the twenty-first century, we know they’re important. The underlying function remains the same no matter where one finds itself, though. It’s all about conversion – stepping up, stepping down, low to high, and high to low.

Batteries in electric cars require several hundreds of volts of DC. It’s a DC motor that requires up to three times the voltage provided by the battery, and that’s a hard (but not impossible) hill to climb.

Thankfully, DC-DC converters come in 48V, to 12V, to 48V to 12V, making for a configuration that is quite apt for the configuration of electric vehicles. The key is in the design – DC-DC converts can configure electronic losses and gains in a way that powers the car.

However, the DC-DC converters must be fairly sized. They can’t be so cumbersome that they don’t fit under the hood, for example. This is what makes 12v to 48v DC-DC converters such a hit. It’s a world known as microelectronics, where smaller is better.

Their size doesn’t matter, but when we’re talking about efficiency, it does. Often bigger is going to weigh us down, hold us back, and take up too much space. Small and quick does the job, especially when talking about automobiles.

The converters do their job by using a combination of inductors and capacitors to smooth out this consistent DC signal. It’s a voltage determined by something called the duty cycle. The converter can be unidirectional (one direction) or bidirectional (goes both ways).

Unidirectional DC-DC components use diodes instead of switches on the low-voltage side.

The impedance depends on various parameters: temperature, charge, health, location, etc. Nobody wants a lot of blockages, but various natural elements can cause them. When we’re talking about powering a car, though, failure is simply not an option.

Fun fact: 12v to 12v DC-DC converters also factor their way into the equation for many setups.