The third Future Powertrain conference was a great event with about 400 delegates and a total of 35 table exhibitors. The summary of the presentations given during the FPC2016 are discussed here.

The electric bus market is growing at a CAGR of 20% in terms of unit sales. The rapid growth is a game changer for the battery market as electric buses require large-sized batteries ranging from 74 kWh (fast charging e-bus) to over 300 kWh (slow charging e-bus). This is why IDTechEx Research forecasts that the e-bus battery market will overtake the consumer electronics sector by 2020.

Analyst IDTechEx helps start-ups by letting them exhibit free in its big shows such as the forthcoming "IDTechEx Show!" in Berlin April 27-28 with over 150 exhibitors, over 2500 paying delegates and eight parallel conferences, two of them strongly featuring high power energy harvesting both from ambient energy and by recuperation in vehicles.

IDTechEx interviews have established that the move to 48V mild hybrids as the most affordable way to meet impending 2025 and 2030 emissions regulations very much embraces Chinese industry which already offers the key component, the Torque Assist Reversing Alternator TARA also known by other names.

Wikipedia says no. Wikipedia is wrong. It correctly identifies electric vehicles as those propelled by an electric motor for some or all of the time. However, from the first volume production of 48V hybrids in 2017, most will be capable of just that in the form of silent all-electric take-off just like a strong hybrid.

Analyst IDTechEx External Link has just completed a major study of 48V mild hybrid vehicles, releasing the brand new report Mild Hybrid 48V Vehicles 2016-2031.

The end game with the 48V hybrid cars that will first appear in volume production in 2017 is having no 12V battery - just a beefy 48V one.

"The EV scene has changed radically in the last year," says Raghu Das CEO of IDTechEx, "and our forthcoming conference Electric Vehicles Everything is Changing will reflect that."

Printed and flexible electronics are beginning to proliferate, with a variety of components and devices coming to market. Several end-user verticals are expected to benefit from the host of advantages these technologies offer and the automotive sector is no exception.

The first industrial robot, Unimate, went into operation at a General Motors plant in 1961. Over the next few decades the use of industrial robot arms in the automotive industry matured.

Summary of the key information tracked during the Electric Vehicle conference held in Santa Clara USA.

Extreme vehicle concepts have a habit of appearing in a car near you.

Commercialization of solid-state battery indicates a new era for the US $135bn addressable battery market in a decade. IDTechEx Research forecasts that the market for solid-state batteries will exceed $4bn in 2026.

It is a no brainer. The ultimate vehicle by land water and air is independent in performance of task and in provision of its motive power.

Energy independent electric vehicles exist today and there is a multi-billion dollar opportunity for their new technology as it cascades down into all vehicles, land, water and air. The new report from analysts IDTechEx is a world first in revealing this exciting future for component and system suppliers, product integrators and system integrators.

At IDTechEx's forthcoming event, Electric Vehicles: Everything is Changing, taking place in Santa Clara on Nov 18-19, there will be many presentations on the next wave of battery technology for electric vehicles.

High power energy harvesting (HPEH) is the clean part of off-grid renewable energy and its main potential lies at kilowatts to megawatts. Few things are genuinely new in this world but newly important aspects of energy harvesting really matter.

Thought leaders IDTechEx were among the first to identify three new megatrends in the world of technology: Structural Electronics (SE); 3D Printed Electronics (3DPE); Energy Independent Electric Vehicles (EIVs).

The most dramatic new advances and visions have no name initially. So it is with electric vehicles that need no external charging or refuelling - no, not even wireless charging.

Forget the obsession with driverless autonomous cars; energy independent vehicles are the megatrend. Electric land vehicles, boats, underwater craft and aircraft already exist that never plug in or refuel.