From trucks to air taxis: the slow electrification of the transport sectors

While EVs will remain the largest EV market for the foreseeable future in terms of battery demand and market revenue generation, most transportation sectors are facing a transition

Electric vehicle markets are growing globally: In total, IDTechex’s latest electric vehicle report “Electric Vehicles: Land, Sea and Air 2022-2042” finds 35.7 million electric vehicles (EVs) were sold in 2021 and predicts that this figure
It will increase to more than 74 million by 2030. However, in terms of battery demand and market revenue generation, most of the transportation industries are facing a transition.

The future of
Electric Air Taxis, or electric vertical start and landing (EVTOL), is perhaps the most uncertain due to high regulatory and technical barriers. This is a low-volume, high-performance market where aircraft rely on expensive, cutting-edge technologies to reach new heights of performance and safety. For example, IDTECHEX expects solid-state and lithium metal batteries, axial flux motors, and carbon fiber materials to play significant roles in EVTOL markets.

In the
Commercial maritime sector, batteries are beginning to saturate early segments of the adopter, such as ferries, and are reaching their limits in others, such as short and large ships (which produce most of the industry’s emissions). While the demand for batteries will continue to grow – adding a battery to any powertrain for charge management is generally beneficial – it cannot be the only solution in the marine sectors.

In what
Electric trucks are concerned, Tesla, Daimler, VW and Volvo invest heavily. For example, Tesla is famous for announcing a Class 8 Long-Haul Electric Truck, and its CEO, Elon Musk, recently stated that the first deliveries will be to Pepsi by the end of 2022. While there are far fewer trucks in the world than cars to convert to electric, they use much larger batteries (several hundred kWh) and accounted for 4.3 GWH per year in 2021.

A smaller minority – Toyota, Hyundai and Nikola – have chosen to focus their efforts on fuel cell vehicles as the powertrain of the future. Despite issues with the efficiency and cost of hydrogen as a fuel, the FCEV is still in the conversation as a technology for long-haul trucking applications where longer range is required, although the feasibility of this technology depends on production. green hydrogen.

Today, China’s urban trucks are hitting the roads as Chinese manufacturers draw on their experience in producing battery electric and electric buses. Given the Chinese government’s strong support for the entire EV industry, this is likely to be the largest electric truck deployment in the coming years. Given that an increasing number of cities and countries around the world will outgrow diesel and gasoline vehicles by 2030 and the ability and cost-effectiveness of the technology to deliver the required daily duty cycles, the electrification of truck fleets is likely to occur quickly

Finally, the first cities of China were the first
Take over electric buses, stimulating rapid growth between 2012-2016, but now many of these markets are saturated. In 2018, Beijing and Shanghai had 9,368 pure electric buses constituting 55% of the combined fleet, all initially powered by a 50% purchase subsidy. The saturation of Tier 1 cities in China has caused global electric bus sales to decline over the past five years, only slightly offset by the growth of Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in China. Currently, the subsidies have been considerably reduced.

Future growth in the short term is powered by Europe. The European Electric Bus market is highly fragmented and has been supported in recent years by Chinese OEMs, which still accounted for a quarter of unit sales in 2021.

Source: La Verdad

Ida

I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.