At IDTechEx we believe that there is an excellent solution being proved for the long distance battery vehicle, starting with trucks.

DTechEx attended the Automechanika and the unfortunately named Subcon exhibitions in Birmingham UK 5-7 June 2016.

The unique new IDTechEx Research report, Microcontrollers and Single-board Computers 2016-2026, is the first to reveal the big picture developing from the close relationship between these devices. It provides newly researched forecasts leading to figures such as $300bn in 2026 for SBC alone.

Stellar growth over the coming decade is forecasted by analysts IDTechEx for the electric vehicle business resulting in nearly one trillion dollars sales at ex-factory prices in 2026.

Trucks have to clean up their act if they are not to become illegal under the impending 2025 and 2030 legislation and those that jump the gun will probably gain market share because that clean up typically comes with fuel saving key to profitability in fleet operations working on wafer thin margins. Everyone agrees about that - but how to do it? Complete disagreement.

The pace is hotting up. As the lithium-ion battery business grows rapidly over the coming 15 years a vital way of buying time, clout in purchasing materials, routes to market, technology, economy of scale and brand awareness will be acquisitions.

The arguments for flying cars are style, convenience and cost saving; the stuff of fiction for 100 years.

The arguments for flying cars are style, convenience and cost saving; the stuff of fiction for 100 years. Park a car and a plane together in your garage.

IDTechEx finds that C category cars and above will have to be mild hybrids with 48V lithium-ion batteries if they are to meet the tough new carbon dioxide emissions.

This annual event by the delightful staff of the Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency Foundation CAFE took place May 19-20 at San Francisco Airport Marriott Waterfront.

The brand new report from IDTechEx Research, Lithium-ion Batteries 2016-2026, finds that at around $140 billion in 2026, the lithium-ion battery business will dominate the battery business.

At first it seems ridiculous that IDTechEx forecasts a huge growth in the power electronics business for electric vehicles.

The unique new IDTechEx Research report Manned Electric Aircraft 2016-2031 explains how, so far, electric aircraft have largely followed electric land and water vehicles.

The IDTechEx conference Electric Vehicles Everything is Changing finished in Berlin last week and it is analysed in this series of exclusive articles.

This IDTechEx conference just finished in Berlin had a wide variety of future oriented presentations.

The conference "Electric Vehicles: Everything is Changing" in Berlin 27-28 April was a great success. Here we give only a glimpse at the rich insight and information presented. IDTechEx deliberately pitched the event as different from other electric vehicle conferences in looking firmly at the future including the speculative and ill-defined.

The new IDTechEx report, Future Powertrains 2016-2031 concerns the twenty year future of powertrains for land vehicles, including reference to water and airborne vehicles as appropriate. The primary emphasis is on the most important applications by market value - cars and buses - and the most important powertrain types by value potential but most of this analysis is directly applicable to most other vehicles.

To date, attendee registrations are up by 17% and exhibiting organizations are up by 27% on last year.

Sales of hybrid cars in the USA collapsed from 3.2% of car sales in 2013 to under 2% in 2015 as Americans responded to the sharply reduced oil price. However the oil price will recover eventually so commentary that it heralds the death of hybrid vehicles is wide of the mark. Indeed hybrid car sales outside the USA were sharply up.

At the conference, Electric Vehicles: Everything is Changing as part of the IDTechEx Show!, April 27-28, the future of vehicle charging will be revealed and put in context.