Electric vehicles

IDTechEx CEO Raghu Das identifies 3 of the most important technology trends that you need to know about this year.

The electric vehicle population has accelerated around the world, surpassing four million units for the first time in 2018. Producers have responded to consumer's range anxiety by increasing the available range per charge in their vehicles. However, ultimately the deployment of electric vehicles will depend on the deployment of ubiquitous chargers, which can also help mitigate peak energy demand on the grid with v2g functionality.

Traction motor sales grow faster than electric vehicle sales because small vehicles such as mobility for the disabled have two motors. IFEVS has put two in microcars for four-wheel drive. In larger cars, two motors is now commonplace for economy, performance, four-wheel drive, vectored steering and attack survival.

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.