Electric vehicles

Imagine a situation where, given a request, a lab automatically chooses what experiments to do, robotically carries this out, tracks the reaction with integrated sensors, acquires and analyzes the results, and then decides what experiment to do next. This seems like science-fiction, but certain truths may be closer than you think.

Electric vehicle powertrains are much more materially diverse than the internal-combustion engine vehicles they replace. As a result, they are putting sudden and unprecedented strain on several raw materials industries.

Most legacy car makers need 15 years to switch to battery electric without collapsing. To keep their ICE cars legal and desirable, 50 are urgently upgrading them to 48V mild hybrids and many plan 48V full hybrids by a further upgrade. Peak sales $500 billion?

The market for 5G devices is expanding rapidly, several 5G smartphones are now available on the market, with manufacturers emphasizing the benefits of low latency and high download rates. However, 5G still faces many challenges, especially in the infrastructure.

The rapid growth of the electric vehicle market has driven the development, manufacture and sales of batteries, especially lithium-ion batteries. In the meantime, a number of companies are betting on the next big energy storage technologies. Solid-state batteries are one of them.

Li-ion batteries are starting to near their performance ceiling. Delving into the trends being seen in patent applications and filings can provide insight into the key areas of innovation in Li-ion batteries and the areas of development favored by key players.

Autonomous shuttles could be a key element that connects the public transportation systems to reduce private car ownership in the future. The autonomous shuttle total market size will be over $18 million by 2040, according to IDTechEx's report Robot Shuttles and Autonomous Buses 2020-2040.

IDTechEx estimates the global plug-in electric vehicle (BEV + PHEV) population reached 8.1 million units (including light commercial vehicles) by the end of 2019, supported by roughly five million charging outlets. There will be over 111 million plug-in EVs in-use globally by 2031: a massive driver for the wide-spread deployment of charging infrastructure.

Surprises abound in the new IDTechEx Research report, "Supercapacitor Markets, Technology Roadmap, Opportunities 2021-2041"

Thursday 24 September - Electric vehicle growth and expansion; introduction to key trends in EV power electronics and the link to die attach technology; technology evolution of die and substrate attach paste; and power modules in EVs.