Car demand will collapse as people move to cities. $100 billion was written off the stock value of car companies recently. The US economy is on a sugar rush from a trillion-dollar borrowing boost at the top of the cycle. Climate change getting out of control in 12 years? These and many other negative indicators can portend a recession, maybe a severe one. What are the implications for EVs?

IDTechEx will be hosting a free webinar on Thursday 7 March titled Electric Vehicles in Construction, Agriculture and Mining: Over $100 bn Market Emerging.

Bad strategy rather than tactics, such as misjudged new models, will kill several major automotive companies. They face a perfect storm of peak car, totally new technology, totally new markets and recession.

It is a rule-of-thumb that manufacturers should vertically integrate only when products and markets mature, so they can confidently shave off the last pennies of cost. One exception is when shortages loom: Tesla built its battery gigafactory fast using proven Panasonic technology. However, many suppliers now build battery gigafactories.

We move to cities and do internet shopping: that destroys the market for private cars and boosts demand for buses and delivery trucks. Monster Class 8 trucks are top polluters on US highways, all powering a boom in energy storage in buses and trucks. The new IDTechEx report, "Energy Storage for Electric Buses and Trucks 2019-2029" analyses the similar requirements.

The IDTechEx Show! on April 10-11 in Berlin brings together eight key disruptive technologies and their customers at one venue.

A large proportion of the cost, disruption, pollution and exposure to natural disasters in a city would be eliminated if there were no infrastructure.

IDTechEx will be hosting a free webinar on Thursday 14 February titled A Market Outlook for the Aerogel Industry.

The new IDTechEx Research report, "Electric Motors for Electric Vehicles: Land, Water, Air 2019-2029" measures how induction (asynchronous) motors are rapidly losing market share.

EV motors have lasted for over 100 years on boats and their design changed slowly. Now some last only a few years and they are subject to rapid technology change and an acquisition frenzy. What is going on? The new IDTechEx report, "Electric Motors for Electric Vehicles: Land, Water, Air 2019-2029" explains and - in over 30 ten-year forecasts and roadmaps - predicts.

IDTechEx will be hosting a free webinar on Thursday 7 February titled The Transition to Electric and Hybrid Boats and Ships: Markets and Drivers.

For over 16 years IDTechEx analysts have studied the printed electronics market in all its guises - organic, flexible and hybrid electronics. There have been tremendous successes such as OLED displays and conductive ink for PV, touch screens and bio sensors. There has also been tremendous investment creating new enabling materials, processes and components that will enable new capabilities and differentiate and improve products.

The electric vehicle business will grow rapidly to over $1.5 billion in 2029, with the largest percentage being batteries. However, that percentage will peak with cost reduction and some being replaced by supercapacitors.

IDTechEx Chairman, Dr Peter Harrop, discusses the rise of electric school buses with a focus on China and America

The car makers are headed for trouble. IDTechEx Chairman Dr Peter Harrop discusses why.

The on-road electric vehicle industry knows it is headed for a vicious fight to the death as the biggest category, private cars, collapses due to people moving to cities and nothing compensates for saturation of the Chinese electric bus market. In contrast, off-road EVs will be prosperous growth markets.

Quanergy is a leading provider of solid state LiDAR sensors and smart sensing solutions.

Zero Motorcycles have exhibited at the past two IDTechEx events, and typically showcase their sporty S and off-road DS models, as well as their impressive 45kW electric motors (designed from scratch in California and produced at a factory in China). This year, at the IDTechEx Show! in Santa Clara California, things were markedly different.

The brand new IDTechEx report 'Electric and Hybrid Boats and Ships 2019 - 2029' expects investment to accelerate after 2020. Since the early 2010s, sales of pure electric and hybrid vessels have grown steadily, mainly driven by the need to reduce local pollution of NOx, SOx and particulate matter in a handful of emission control areas (ECA) that are local to coastlines.

Advancements in material science and material processing will always play a central role in any technological progression. IDTechEx has been providing leading market analysis on a broad range of advanced materials and their technology analysts have given their pick of the key news stories from 2018.