Skip to main content

Biggest change in cars for 100 years now starting, says IDTechEx Research

According to a new report from IDTechEx Research, Electric Car Technology and Forecasts 2017-2027, the biggest change in cars for one hundred years is now starting. It is driven by totally new requirements and capabilities. They will cause huge new businesses to appear, but some giants will spectacularly go bankrupt. Cities will ban private cars but encourage them as autonomous taxis and rentals. Already 65 per cent of cars in China are bought by businesses. The Japanese want the car to be part of the hy
December 5, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
According to a new report from 6582 IDTechEx Research, Electric Car Technology and Forecasts 2017-2027, the biggest change in cars for one hundred years is now starting. It is driven by totally new requirements and capabilities. They will cause huge new businesses to appear, but some giants will spectacularly go bankrupt. Cities will ban private cars but encourage them as autonomous taxis and rentals. Already 65 per cent of cars in China are bought by businesses.

The Japanese want the car to be part of the hydrogen economy and a source of back-up power. Emerging countries want car-like vehicles, mainly as taxis, that are one-tenth of the cost and never refuel. There is even work on getting electricity from tyres.

The mechanical world of cogs, axles, pistons and brakes is becoming one of power electronics, complex electric machine systems, batteries and their successors. Integration is the name of the game with structural electronics, where components-in-a-box are becoming smart wheels, smart bodywork, smart seating and single-piece composite dashboards with integrated instruments.

Electric Car Technology and Forecasts 2017-2027 has the latest insight and balanced analysis on advances of electric cars and their global markets. It details developments in key enabling technologies, structural electronics and progress towards electric independent vehicles, carefully assessing where and when these will appear and who the winners and losers will be.

The report provides ten year forecasts for nine categories of cars and car-like vehicles. It finds a huge market emerging for the cheapest and easiest way of converting the existing production of cars to keep them legal as new climate change laws bite - the 48V mild hybrid. Uniquely, there is also a complete chapter on cars in China - the country that buys the most, has some of the lowest costs and leapfrogging innovation but completely different market drivers and strong government control.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Future EV owners can make money from the power grid
    May 17, 2012
    In what is being claimed as a landmark research report published by Ricardo and National Grid in the UK, the market potential is demonstrated for an electric plug-in vehicle fleet of the future to provide balancing services to the power grid on a commercial basis, returning value to vehicle owners while improving the carbon efficiency of grid operation.
  • Haenni scales the heights
    March 29, 2022

     

    Swiss company Haenni Instruments is highlighting the WL 108 XL portable wheel load scale. Its active surface of 1395 x 393 mm is big enough to accommodate the wheels of vehicles of any size, with any axle configuration. Despite its huge weighing area, the device weighs only 28.5 kg and is equipped with rechargeable batteries that power it for at least 120 hours before it needs to be recharged.

  • ITS asset management matters
    April 26, 2013
    Maintenance of on-road ITS kit needs to become more sophisticated; while new technologies can deliver better road maintenance. David Crawford investigates both sides of the issue "Good information is key to effective ITS asset maintenance,” says Ian Routledge of the Ian Routledge Consultancy (IRC), whose Imtrac (Information Management for TRAffic Control) system is poised for European expansion. Developed as an ‘intelligent filing cabinet’ for storing information about on-road equipment, the online database
  • MoneySuperMarket: 49% of British public surveyed have never considered buying EV or Hybrid Car
    November 7, 2017
    49% of the of the British public have stated that they have never considered buying an electric car (EC) or hybrid car, according to recent research by MoneySupermarket.com. These findings come from a survey carried out by the comparison site on 1,000 UK car owners to determine whether the British public is prepared for the electric switch following the government’s plans to prohibit petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040. It examined the cost, the number of charging points and public opinion.