Skip to main content

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.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • MaaS revenue to ‘exceed $52bn by 2027’, says Juniper
    April 16, 2020
    Revenue generated by Mobility as a Service (MaaS) will exceed $52 billion by 2027, according to new findings from Juniper Research.
  • HeERO - harmonising e-Call across Europe
    March 1, 2013
    The second stage of the EC’s HeERO project, which aims to address some of the issues surrounding the eCall system, has just got underway. Jason Barnes reports. As the European Commission (EC)’s Har­monised eCall European Pilot (HeERO) project progresses into its second stage, ‘HeERO 2’, significant progress has already been made in addressing the technological and institutional issues relating to the pan-European deployment of an eCall system based around the new ‘112’ universal emergency telephone number.
  • When will Google wake up to MaaS gold mine?
    December 3, 2018
    Mobility services are a potential gold mine for data-hungry tech companies. That being the case, Andrew Bunn asks: what exactly happens when giants such as Google and Amazon decide to get their teeth into MaaS? There are many different perspectives on Mobility as a Service (MaaS), with many different views on what the latest and future applications of technology are going to bring to transportation infrastructure. However, there is one question that does not seem to come up at all. Up to now, MaaS-relate
  • VRU safety report urges enforcement
    March 18, 2020
    Enforcement must be at the heart of a drive to reduce vulnerable road user deaths and injuries, says the latest report from the European Transport Safety Council. Its facts and figures give authorities the justification to invest more in camera technology and other ITS solutions