Electric motors are a core component of electrification in the automotive market. The market has heavily relied on rare earths for the permanent magnets used in these motors, but, as many will be aware, there is a drive to eliminate these rare earths due to their price volatility and environmental impact. Alternative motor technologies can often present a new and increased demand for copper.

The automotive market is a huge industry, and its evolution has spawned several giant corporations with many sub-brands, many of which are household names. However, the automotive industry is arguably undergoing the greatest technological shifts it has ever seen. Electrification, autonomous driving, and a shift to software-defined vehicles.

Thursday 25 January 2024 - Materials for sodium-ion cell design; Sodium-ion battery value proposition; Opportunities and challenges in the sodium-ion battery market; Sodium-ion battery players and commercialisation efforts; IDTechEx outlook for sodium-ion batteries by 2030

Autonomous driving, electric vehicles, connected and software-defined vehicles, and in-cabin monitoring are all megatrends reshaping the automotive industry. Together, these technologies combine to form a US$1.6 trillion opportunity by 2034, nearly a 10-fold increase compared to 2023.

IDTechEx have launched a new monthly podcast, 'Tomorrow's Tech by IDTechEx', bringing you up to date technology trends. In each episode our host will interview an industry expert from IDTechEx, offering insights into a range of emerging technologies.

Major fleets have committed to transitioning at least 30% of their new heavy-duty truck purchases to be zero-emission vehicles, including electric models, by 2030. However, many companies are daunted by the extra upfront cost of electric trucks, as well as challenges like the limited availability of chargers.

Sodium-ion (Na-ion) batteries are being developed due to their potential costs, safety, sustainability, and performance characteristics over traditional lithium-ion batteries. These batteries can be made with widely available and inexpensive materials, with sodium being significantly more abundant than lithium.

Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) have made monumental progress in the passenger car market, becoming a standard drivetrain option. The success in cars is also overflowing into other vehicle segments, such as vans, trucks, buses, 2-wheelers, and more. However, despite some key proponents, fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) have had a much tougher time getting to significant adoption.

Thursday 18 January 2024 - This webinar will cover the market progress, opportunities, and future predictions for FCEVs across several vehicle segments, including: Cars; Light commercial vehicles; Trucks; and Buses

Wednesday 24 January - Locations of copper around modern and future vehicles; Copper utilisation in the electric powertrain: Impact of changing battery chemistries; Impact of changing motor technologies; Impact of emerging semiconductor technologies in the inverter; Overview of replacement threats from aluminium

Thursday 11 January 2024 - An overview of the regulations in Europe, China, USA, and Japan, and how the regulations affect the adoption rate of in-cabin sensing technologies; An analysis of different in-cabin sensing technologies; Commercial use cases and overview of players, including tier ones and tier twos; Market opportunities and market forecast overview

Tesla's recent recall could have cost it billions of dollars, but instead, an over-the-air software update was all that was required to fix an issue affecting over 2 million vehicles.

Living near a building site will no longer mean being woken up at the crack of dawn by such loud revving engines thanks to the electrification of construction vehicles. Future operators will soon be utilizing screens to control machines in a safer, calmer environment, and one day, machines could dig holes themselves as the industry advances and moves closer towards automation.

Due to rising labor costs and labor shortages, coupled with the surge in e-commerce and logistics demands, the mobile robotics market is rapidly expanding. IDTechEx's forecast indicates that the annual market size for mobile robotics in logistics and delivery is set to approach US$150 billion, marked by a robust double-digit compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the next two decades.

Copper is a key mineral for the automotive industry, used ubiquitously across the wiring harnesses market. Its demand is set to grow due to electric vehicle and autonomous vehicle megatrends. IDTechEx's brand new report "Copper Demand for Cars 2024-2034: Trends, Utilization, Forecasts" finds the automotive copper demand will reach 5MT (1MT = 1 billion kilograms) of annual demand in 2034.

Driver monitoring systems (DMS) have gained considerable momentum, driven by the escalating SAE autonomous driving levels and regulatory frameworks in key regions like the USA, Europe, China, Japan, and others.

Thursday 14 December 2023 - The definition and classification of SDVs, and how they differ from traditional vehicles; The key features and benefits of SDVs, such as over-the-air updates, in-vehicle payments, AI-powered digital assistants, and infotainment; An introduction to Connected Vehicle technologies and terminologies. Key regional regulations related to V2X technology for China, the US, Europe, Japan, South Korea, and India; The main players and partnerships in the V2X ecosystem; An insight into current and forecasted market size and penetration of Connected and Software-Defined Vehicles

Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries are used ubiquitously in daily life, and the demand for Li-ion batteries has continued to increase over the last decade, including in consumer electronics and portable devices, electric vehicles (EVs), and stationary energy storage systems.

Computers on wheels. That's how people currently see cars. Practically everything that happens in a vehicle is being monitored and actuated by a microcontroller, from opening windows to calculating the optimal fuel-air mixture for the current torque demand. But the surface has only just been scratched in terms of how much computing power is making its way into vehicles.

The vast majority of new trucks produced today are powered by diesel engines, but this is expected to change, as with other on-road vehicle sectors. The magnitude of greenhouse gas emission reductions required to reach national targets necessitates a total decarbonization of the truck business over the next 30 years. This will only be possible if zero-emission powertrains are widely deployed.