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Rimac Nevera Completes Final Crash Test

The intense crash test programme for the global homologation of Rimac Nevera is finally complete after four years, thousands of digital simulations and nine complete vehicles destroyed. In total, Rimac Nevera prototypes were subject to 45 separate physical crash tests, and many more static passive safety tests – all necessary to ensure customers around the world can safely experience Rimac’s next-generation all-electric hypercar on the road. The final test, which took place at the end of January, was the demanding side pole test, conducted at 32km/h and simulating a side impact with a lamppost. With very little of the car’s body and chassis between the pole and the occupants, and very little energy absorbed by the pole, it’s one of the most difficult tests a car can be subjected to. The structure of the Nevera proved to be so effective at distributing the crash energy that the door on the impact side could still be opened after the test. This test was the last passive safety US-homologation test, while European homologation tests were completed in 2021. Passive safety for the Nevera has been developed by the in-house team at Rimac, initially using High-Performance Cluster computers, capable of digitally simulating in near-perfect detail the effects of a crash test impact on every single component of the Nevera. Despite a physical crash test impact taking just 80 milliseconds – less than a blink of an eye – to simulate a test takes the computers 20 hours of processing time. Only once engineers have achieved the desired results digitally do they make adjustments to the physical cars and subject them to ‘the wall’. The Nevera was designed from the very beginning to be extremely safe, built around an advanced carbon fibre monocoque extending between the front and rear suspension attachments. As a result, the Nevera is the stiffest production car ever created, with a torsional rigidity of 70,000 Nm/degree – a regular supercar will be around 40,000 Nm/degree. The monocoque also forms part of a very stiff survival cell that helps to dissipate energy around the occupants in the case of a crash. The roof of Nevera can resist more than three times the weight of the car. Throughout the crash test program since 2019, Nevera prototypes were subjected to the most extreme of conditions. During this latest side pole test, the occupant – a 200,000-euro crash test dummy – experienced up to 25G of lateral acceleration, but have been subjected to 41G during the frontal wall crash test at 56km/h. The highest impact speed Nevera experienced during the process was in the US-market rear crash test, completed at 80km/h. Furthermore, the last crash test resulted in the dummy’s load results being all green with a high margin. Rimac has been transparent with the crash test process, publicly sharing everything from the early materials tests, the prototype developments and these final crash tests. Members of the media have been actively welcomed throughout the entire journey of creation for the Nevera, too, offering unrivalled insight into the development of a transformational all-electric hypercar from the ground up. Mate Rimac, Rimac Group founder and CEO, said: “The Nevera was designed to excel in every area, with each component scrutinised and carefully engineered to deliver the best possible performance. For four years now we have been applying that same painstaking attention to detail to the safety of Nevera, with engineers working tirelessly on thousands of digital simulations and modifications to prototype vehicles, just to see their work destroyed during the crash testing process. All of their efforts have been absolutely crucial to the development of Nevera, and as this latest test concludes the Nevera crash-testing programme, which brings us close to finally being able to hand over our next-generation all-electric hypercar to its first owners throughout the world.” Designed, engineered and built in-house at Rimac Automobili, the Nevera is limited to just 150 units. Made possible by its 120kWh, 6960-cell battery producing 1914hp and 2360Nm of torque, Nevera achieves a top speed of 258 mph (412 km/h), a 0-62mph (100km/h) time of 1.85 seconds, and a 0-100 mph (161 km/h) time of 4.3 seconds. It has been independently verified as the fastest accelerating production car in the world.

GPCA Board names Dr. Karim El Solh as new board member, along with Otavio Castello Branco. Drew Guff appointed Chair of the Board of Directors

The Global Private Capital Association (GPCA) today announced the appointment of Drew Guff, Managing Director and Founding Partner of Siguler Guff & Company, as Chair of the Board of Directors, along with new Board members Otavio Castello Branco, Senior Managing Partner and Board Member of Patria Investments, and Dr. Karim El Solh, Co-Founder and CEO of Gulf Capital. The GPCA Board also appointed Nicolas Rohatyn, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Rohatyn Group (TRG), as Chair Emeritus. GPCA members are leading investors across Asia, Latin America, Africa, CEE and the Middle East, who collectively manage more than USD2 trillion in assets. The organization’s proprietary data and market intelligence highlights forward-looking trends in global investments such as digitalization and energy transition, as well as the societal impact of those investments. “I am excited to have the leadership of Drew, Otavio and Karim on our Board as private capital investment hits record highs across Asia, Latin America, Africa, CEE and the Middle East,” remarked Cate Ambrose, CEO and Board Member of GPCA. “Drew was a founding member of the organization and brings extraordinary experience to the Chair role as a pioneer investor in many of the markets we represent. Patria has an impressive track record in private equity and real assets in Latin America, while Gulf Capital is supporting innovative businesses across the Middle East and Asia.” “I am honored to serve as GPCA’s Board Chair and collaborate alongside the organization’s distinguished Board of Directors who head many of the most successful global private capital firms in the world,” commented Mr. Guff. “It’s an important and exciting time for the organization and its members as investment opportunities in Asia, Latin America, Africa, CEE and the Middle East continue to soar.” Mr. Guff will carry forward the important work that began two years ago with the organization’s strategic repositioning and rebrand under the leadership of Nick Rohatyn, who will continue to serve the Board in an advisory role as Chair Emeritus.

IDTechEx Discuss the 5G Materials Battle: Sub-6 GHz vs mmWave

5G deployment is in full swing with mid-band infrastructure installed by the end of 2021 representing nearly 6 times what it was in 2019. However, this doesn’t mean that all of the challenges have been solved. Much of the 5G infrastructure is repurposed 4G equipment at lower frequency bands. The real transition to 5G comes from the adoption of higher frequencies which have largely been categorized into sub-6 GHz and mmWave (> 20 GHz) bands. One of the key challenges is thermal management. As 5G deployment transitions to higher frequency, the antenna design, technology, and material choices transition too. This will impact several factors such as the semiconductor technology, the associated die attach materials, and thermal interface materials. Short term deployment is largely sub-6 GHz, in the long term, mmWave dominates. Source: IDTechEx - “Thermal Management for 5G 2022-2032” Whilst sub-6 GHz 5G may not provide the astonishing speeds and applications often publicized for 5G, it plays a crucial role in achieving coverage over large areas. Some of this is accounted for in lower bands more comparable to historic 4G but as we push above 4 GHz, the historic LDMOS (laterally-diffused metal-oxide semiconductor) power amplifiers begin to struggle with efficiency. This is where wide bandgap semiconductors like GaN (gallium arsenide) start to shine. We have started to see GaN being adopted by players like Huawei in their 4G infrastructure. We are expecting GaN to take a greater market share in 5G and with GaN comes a transition in the die attach technology. In fact, IDTechEx is predicting that GaN power amplifiers will see a 4 fold increase in yearly demand over the next 10 years for 5G infrastructure. AuSn is the typical die attach material for GaN today, but we foresee an opportunity for sintered pastes as a replacement with their improved thermal performance as addressed in the latest report from IDTechEx, “Thermal Management for 5G 2022-2032”. mmWave is the high-frequency technology that can deliver on the potentially wonderous applications of 5G with incredible download speeds and ultra-low latency. The challenge comes with signal propagation, as the frequency increases so does the attenuation of the signal, leading to reduced range and easy blocking by walls, windows, and even severe weather conditions. To increase the antenna gain, the number of antenna elements will increase, but thanks to the smaller wavelength, the antenna units themselves will shrink. This leads to a much more tightly packed array of power amplifiers and beamforming electronic components and with that, a greater thermal management challenge. Thanks to the greater number of antenna elements, the power demand on each amplifier can potentially be reduced, but the highly compact nature of the electronics will lead to greater integration of components and likely rely more on silicon based technologies. However, mmWave small cells will require greater deployment numbers to provide sufficient coverage and due to their deployment scenarios, are unlikely to be able to utilize active cooling methods, combining this with the densification of beamforming components will present greater requirements for solutions like thermal interface materials. Another popular technology for 5G is massive MIMO, enabling infrastructure to serve more terminals in the same frequency band. This increases the number of RF chains per installation, beamforming capabilities, and the number of antenna elements used in networks. The result is an increase in the materials required for the antenna PCB, power amplifiers, beamforming components, and many more. Massive MIMO also drives data transfer rates and channels higher leading to a greater requirement on baseband processing units, power consumption, and hence greater market opportunities for thermal interface materials. As 5G deployment grows, so does the yearly demand for thermal interface materials (TIMs). Source: IDTechEx - “Thermal Management for 5G 2022-2032” IDTechEx’s latest report on “Thermal Management for 5G” addresses the trends in 5G deployment and how this impacts the antenna design, choice of semiconductor technology, die attach materials and thermal interface materials. Both technological aspects and market forecasts are included for the next 10 years. Additionally, it considers many smartphones and how the incorporation of 5G is impacting thermal materials (interface and heat spreaders).
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