Electric vehicles

Electric motor drive is key to all electric vehicles and it is taking new forms. See IDTechEx report, "Electric Motors for Electric Vehicles Land, Water, Air 2019-2029".

The first batch of electric vehicle batteries are reaching their retirement age and the next ten years will see a huge increase in the volume of retired batteries. What will happen to the huge amount of used EV batteries? IDTechEx has recently released the latest report named Second-life Electric Vehicle Batteries 2020-2030.

Electric aircraft have got there. Cars next. With no road resistance, the best electric aircraft, the Bye Aerospace eFlyer, achieves 1000km with its solar wing option. This range will be the final nail in the coffin of internal combustion cars. It is longer than some of them offer. With gasoline stations shutting down, guess who then gets range anxiety! See the IDTechEx reports, "Electric Vehicles 2020-2030" forecasting premium solar cars, mainstream solar cars and 98 other EV categories: unique detail. See also the IDTechEx report, "Manned Electric Aircraft 2020-2030".

In the new IDTechEx report, "Manned Electric Aircraft 2020-2030" the analyst praises manufacturers such as Bye Aerospace for "walking before they try to run". Like Tesla with cars, they started with two-seater pure-electric vehicles and progressed to four - in this case, fixed-wing aircraft. Sales of these as air taxis and pilot trainers are booming with Bye alone attracting $165 million in business in about one year.

One of the most rapidly evolving areas of energy storage in electric vehicles is the thermal management of lithium-ion cells. Although most of the focus is on cell chemistry advancements, improvements to the battery pack can have a significant advantage in safety, performance, and longevity.

The electric vehicle market is growing rapidly and, as Tesla has demonstrated, the market is not restricted to the established automotive OEMs. Indeed, the automotive landscape is changing as traditional internal combustion engines are being replaced by all-electric systems, in order to meet ever more stringent on-road emission legislation.

IDTechEx's upcoming electric vehicle forums will take place in Tokyo, Japan, on 18th and 19th of September, and in Seoul, South Korea, on 25th and 26th of September.

It is nonsense to forecast pure electric cars costing the same as traditional ones, then life continuing much as usual. The up-front price of pure electric cars will be dropping below that of internal combustion engine ones around 2025. The fundamentals are now clear. Short range electric cars will continue to sell badly because of range and financial anxiety: their resale value after three years can be down 80%. 200 miles/ 320 km is the tipping point where resale value can be only 40% down on purchase price. See the IDTechEx report, "Electric Vehicles 2020-2030" for the full picture of 100 categories of electric vehicle EV by land, water and air.

In electric vehicles, China is not what it used to be. Electric bike demand collapsed five years ago, and electric bus demand followed two years ago. With electric buses, the reason was entirely a precipitous drop in government financial support of demand and production, the peak being accentuated by pulling forward to grab subsidies while there were available. In 2020 they will be zero but despite this, in 2027 China plans that full electrification of its bus fleet will be complete.

Shortage of lithium-ion batteries is probable. Too few gigafactories. Too many burning batteries: factories shut to sort out their problems. The US-China trade war cuts off materials. Inadequate lithium or cobalt mining.