Patent ID: 8600595

Claim:
A vehicle comprising: an electric motor having phase windings; a high-voltage alternating current (AC) power bus; a power inverter module (PIM) electrically connected to the electric motor via the AC power bus, wherein the PIM includes a semiconductor die assembly having a plurality of semiconductor power switches arranged in electrical parallel, the power switches being operable for delivering AC power to the phase windings of the electric motor via the AC power bus; and a controller configured to determine an operating mode of the vehicle; wherein the controller is operable to select and activate at least one and fewer than all of the power switches when the operating mode corresponds to a threshold low-current state of the PIM, and selects and activates all of the power switches when the operating mode corresponds to a threshold high-current state of the PIM, such that electrical current flows to the phase windings only through all of the activated power switches in the threshold low-current and high-current states of the PIM.