Over nine million hybrid cars will be made in 2027 - each with a range extender

Research firm IDTechEx believes we are in the decade of the hybrid electric vehicle, despite the fact that most off-road, electric two-wheelers and underwater vehicles are pure electric. Indeed, most electric aircraft are pure electric as well.
June 6, 2017 Read time: 2 mins

Research firm 6582 IDTechEx believes we are in the decade of the hybrid electric vehicle, despite the fact that most off-road, electric two-wheelers and underwater vehicles are pure electric. Indeed, most electric aircraft are pure electric as well. The reason is that all these vehicles types are mainly small and small vehicles rarely need to travel long distances. By contrast, half the electric vehicle market value lies in larger road vehicles, notably cars, and here the legal restrictions are weaker or non-existent and range anxiety compels most people to buy hybrids, if they go electric at all.
 
The latest IDTechEx research report, Range Extenders for Electric Vehicles Land, Water & Air 2017-2027, forecasts that over nine million hybrid cars will be made in 2027, each with a range extender, the additional power source that distinguishes them from pure electric cars. Add to that significant money spent on the same devices in buses, military vehicles, boats and so on and a major new market emerges. The report is about range extenders for all these purposes - their evolving technology and market size.

Whereas today's range extenders usually consist of little more than off the shelf internal combustion engines, these are rapidly being replaced by second generation range extenders consisting of piston engines designed from scratch for fairly constant load in series hybrids.

There are some wild cards like Wankel engines and rotary combustion engines or free piston engines both with integral electricity generation. However, a more radical departure is the third generation micro turbines and fuel cells that work at constant load. The report compares all these. It forecasts the lower power needed over the years given assistance from fast charging and energy harvesting innovations ahead. Every aspect of the new range extenders is covered.
 
This report profiles key developers, manufactures and integrators of range extenders for land, water and airborne electric vehicles. It gives ten year forecasts of the different types of electric vehicle and of range extenders by number, unit value and market value. Market drivers and the changing requirements for power output are analysed.

Related Content

  • November 1, 2016
    Autonomous vehicles – saviour and threat, says report
    A new report from IDTechEx Research notes that autonomous vehicles need no pilot, not even one in reserve. Many truly autonomous vehicles are unmanned mobile robots prowling everywhere from the ocean depths to nuclear power stations, the upper atmosphere and outer space. They create billion dollar businesses such as aircraft and airships aloft for five to ten years on sunshine alone carrying out surveillance or beaming the internet to the 4.5 billion people who lack it. Independence of energy and electri
    Read More
  • March 20, 2015
    Autonomous vehicles are everywhere says report
    A new IDTechEx report, Autonomous Vehicles: Land, Water, Air 2015-2035 claims autonomous vehicles are successful here and now but you are unlikely to meet one because the successes are in the upper atmosphere, open cast mines, nuclear power stations, underwater and in other relatively inaccessible places. It goes on to explains that the primary technology of an autonomous vehicle is that which confers autonomy and the powertrain, which is usually electric. The powertrain and navigation and control technolo
    Read More
  • December 20, 2016
    Electric vehicles in construction are the future, say researchers
    The industrial and commercial sector is the largest part of the electric vehicle value market and that will continue to be the case according to analysis in the IDTechEx report, Industrial and Commercial Electric Vehicles 2017-2027. Buses are the largest part of that and they are mainly made in China for China, where typical orders are ten times the size of orders elsewhere. Less dramatically, construction, mining and agriculture do not see 70 per cent grants for EV versions yet they are steadily becomin
    Read More
  • May 31, 2017
    EVs are creating more and more of their own electricity, say IDTechEx Research
    The latest report from IDTechEx Research, Electric Vehicle Energy Harvesting/Regeneration 2017-2037, explains and forecasts the technologies involved in this key enabling technology. EH/R will be as important and sometimes more important than motors, batteries and power electronics: fabulous opportunities await vehicle, parts and material manufacturers unplugging into this future.
    Read More

Highlighted Content