From lab bench to highway: what happened to HiEFFICIENT after the funding ended + test

• Power electronics, the heart of an electric car
• The project ended, the work did not
• A charger that works both ways
• What customers already use
• From project to company
• Fast charging with a 98% target
• Why EU money made the difference
• Key takeaways
• Five questions: is power electronics your field? (test)

⇑Power electronics, the heart of an electric car

Between 2021 and 2024, the EU-funded HiEFFICIENT project worked on one of the EU’s big goals: sustainable transport for all Europeans. The team focused on electromobility, and more precisely on power electronics – the systems that convert and control the energy flowing between the battery, the motor and the charger. Their material of choice was wide-bandgap semiconductors, used to make these systems more powerful and more reliable.

⇑The project ended, the work did not

Since 2024, the partners have kept building on the collaboration the project created, and HiEFFICIENT has moved from research to real industrial deployment. One result drew particular attention: embedding semiconductors directly in printed circuit boards for automotive converters. Carmakers (OEMs) and Tier 1 suppliers from both Europe and Asia have shown strong interest.

⇑A charger that works both ways

Another highlight is a highly compact on-board charger rated at 22 kW. It is bidirectional, so energy can flow into the car’s battery and back out again, and it reaches over 97% efficiency. The charger strengthened the project’s industrial relevance and fed into HiPower 5.0, an EU-funded follow-up project launched in 2025 that aims for even more efficient, compact and reliable solutions.

⇑What customers already use

Several results have already left the lab:

• improved motor control algorithms that raise efficiency and reduce noise, vibration and harshness (NVH);
• simulation and thermal models, already running in demonstrator vehicles and delivered as commercial solutions;
• a new dual-inverter family and an updated demonstrator, designed for emerging uses such as electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft;
• the next generation of the 100 V gallium nitride (GaN) half-bridge, now completed and being tested by key customers before it reaches the market.

⇑From project to company

Research results can also become a business. EMAXSIS, a tech spin-off based in Belgium, builds on what HiEFFICIENT achieved. The company specialises in edge-monitoring technologies and Internet of Things software solutions for power electronics.

⇑Fast charging with a 98% target

Work on fast charging continues as well. A next-generation fast-charging power module for electric vehicles is aiming for more than 98% efficiency and full bidirectionality. It is now being industrialised for high-volume production – the stage where a working design has to become something factories can build in large numbers.

⇑Why EU money made the difference

Christoph Abart, Senior Program Manager at AVL List GmbH, the company that coordinated the project, puts it plainly: “EU funding was pivotal to HiEFFICIENT’s success, acting as the primary enabler for both technical innovation and cross-sector collaboration.” He also points out that the funding assembled a strong European consortium along the entire value chain, from the semiconductor industry up to leading European carmakers, and lowered the risk of breakthrough research by backing early-stage development that is otherwise hard to finance.

EU support also sped up the maturation and validation of the technology across all partners. The outcome is power electronics with more than 98% efficiency and a lifetime about 20% longer – a direct contribution to Europe’s climate and energy goals.

⇑Key takeaways

HiEFFICIENT shows that the end of an EU project can be the beginning of something else. Its wide-bandgap power electronics now live on in a 22 kW two-way charger, motor control software, inverters for future aircraft, GaN components in customer tests, a Belgian spin-off and the follow-up project HiPower 5.0. For anyone considering electrical engineering or electromobility, it is a clear example of research travelling from the lab onto the road.

⇑Five questions: is power electronics your field? (test)