Fuelling the Future Electric Car: The Car Component Revolution
The electric vehicle revolution has some battles it must win: improve mileage and increase production in the face of limited, difficult-to-acquire rare-earth elements used in current battery technology. How is the industry routing through and around these obstacles?
FUTURE PROOF – BLOG BY FUTURES PLATFORM
Electric vehicles (EVs) are the hope of the future for personal transport as more and more carmakers are joining the many EV start-ups and adding EVs to their product ranges. But manufacturers are learning that the business of building EVs differs significantly from the way cars have always been manufactured.
MANUFACTURERS VENTURE INTO ELECTRIC CAR BATTERY MINING
Until recently, car manufacturers simply purchased the parts needed to build cars with internal combustion engines from suppliers. The batteries required for these models are easy to obtain, and they only need to provide sufficient power to crank the engine and operate accessories. They have a limited lifespan but are user-replaceable, as no one expects a combustion-engine carmaker to provide battery capabilities beyond that.
Manufacturers never had to supply the fuel as such – until the introduction of hybrids and EVs. These new vehicles require massive rechargeable batteries as their primary or only source of power. This put carmakers in the business of designing batteries, which requires a new set of materials that aren’t as cheaply and easily sourced as the other parts. As a result, companies in the industry are now wading into the murky waters of mining for rare-earth elements, namely cobalt, lithium and nickel.
The minerals needed for future battery technology are limited and difficult to extract from the earth. The mineral deposits are nowhere near the manufacturing sites and are, in many cases, located in regions known for corruption and unethical mining practices. The Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the most corrupt countries in the world, has somewhere around 50% of the world’s cobalt reserves, and much of that is already “promised” to China via its decades-long investments in the region and its forgiveness of huge debts – part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, or New Silk Road. Hence, car manufacturers have entered this race at least a lap or two behind.
REROUTING… WHAT WILL THE FUTURE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY LOOK LIKE?
If future electric cars are to replace petrol- and diesel-powered cars, the future automotive industry has to scale up both the rate of EV manufacturing and the distance an EV can travel on a single charge. Given the obstacles in sourcing rare-earth elements ethically and cost-effectively, car manufacturers are exploring multiple routes to a sustainable future.
Mobility as a service (MaaS) apps like Whimapp are betting on a future where privately owned cars would become less common. They serve their customers by coordinating public and private transport services, like a personal travel agent giving its users affordable door-to-door travel options.
Tesla, on the other hand, recently announced a host of product innovations, most notably its purchase of land in Nevada for mining lithium and manufacturing batteries, which are then transported only a few hundred miles to its California plant – instead of bringing the materials from thousands of miles away, resulting in massive emissions.
Tesla is also working on new battery designs to substantially increase the number and size of cells in a simplified architecture. And outside-of-the-box thinking at Sweden’s Chalmers University of Technology is making future battery technology with super-lightweight carbon-fibre battery panels that fit within the body of the car, lightening the overall load.
With other industry players also exploring alternative routes to reducing emissions, the landscape surrounding the car value chain is set to witness significant changes in the coming years. From secure and ethical procurement of the raw materials used in car components to urban-friendly micro-mobility solutions, carmakers will face increasing consumer demand to innovate their production and service processes at speed.
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