The future of mobility is electric, are you all charged up for it?

The drive towards electric vehicles (EVs) is revving up. The automotive industry has recognized this transition as a once-in-a-century transformation, collectively pouring in about half a trillion dollars of investments in EVs. The sector is heating up with big investments by global auto giants: Mercedes Benz’s $47 billion investment by 2030 to become an electric-only manufacturer of new vehicles, Volkswagen’s investment of $101 billion over the next five years in EVs and digitalization, Ford Motors’ plan to spend $50 billion on EVs through 2026.

Back home in India, this buzz around EVs is resounding. Local biggies like Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra and Maruti Suzuki have mega EV plans up their sleeves. Mahindra & Mahindra has set a goal of having 5 lakh?electric vehicles?on Indian roads by 2025. Tata Motors has announced plans to launch 10 EV models by March 2026 with an investment of about $2 billion towards new vehicle architecture, technology and infrastructure. Suzuki Motor has announced an investment of about INR 10,445 crore by 2026 for local manufacturing of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) and BEV batteries.

According to International Energy Agency, sales of EVs doubled in 2021, compared to the previous year, to record 6.6 million units globally. In the first quarter of 2022, EV sales came to 2 million, a 75% increase compared to the first three months of 2021.

By 2030, over half of all new vehicles across Europe, USA and China, the three largest automotive markets in the world, will be electric. Driven by regulatory targets and consumer demand, the rise of electric vehicles (EVs) signals the end of the road for the internal combustion engine (ICE).

So, how do we unlock the potential of EVs for the global automotive industry?

I see 3 key areas of focus:

• Batteries and raw materials
• ?Semiconductors and software
• Charging stations and infrastructure

Batteries and raw materials are at heart of EV disruption?

Battery technology is the beating heart of an electric vehicle. There is currently no substitute for lithium-ion batteries to meet the demands of the EV industry and the metal is the new “white gold”. Lithium demand is projected to rise from 500,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) in 2021 to 3 or 4 million metric tons in 2030. Most of the confirmed lithium reserves are concentrated in Latin America and Australia, though the rest of the world is leaving no stone unturned to explore deposits. Technologies like Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) can help boost production. At the same time, developments in battery technology must continue in order to find more affordable, energy-efficient and sustainable alternatives to lithium-ion.

Besides the lithium exploration underway in India, the country is also scouting for lithium and cobalt assets overseas. A joint venture has been formed with three state companies – National Aluminium Co., Hindustan Copper Ltd. and Mineral Exploration Corp. – to acquire mines overseas.

Raw materials play a crucial part in reducing cost and improving the reliability of batteries, power electronics, and electric motors. Did you know, the powertrain of a BEV – the battery, inverter, and electric motor together – costs more than $10,000, or 3 to 4X the cost of their ICE counterparts? An electric powertrain is a significant portion of the vehicle’s bill of materials (BOM) and I believe chemical companies have an opportunity here for materials innovations aimed at power efficiency and thermal management. Ultimately, EVs must be cost competitive in order to gain widespread adoption.

Semiconductors and software define the movement towards electric, connected and autonomous vehicles??

If batteries are the heart of an EV, then silicon and software make up its brain. According to Intel’s estimates, the semiconductor BOM of a premium vehicle is set to rise from 4% in 2019 to more than 20% by 2030 – a 5X growth and a total addressable market of $115 billion for automotive chips.

The growth in EVs is driving up the demand for high-power, energy-efficient compound semiconductors (such as silicon germanium, silicon photonics, silicon carbide), RF, power, display, lighting from components to applications. These help in augmenting battery management systems, battery lifetime, efficiency and driving range. In this space, a specialty technology leader like Tower Semiconductor has expertise in RF, SiGe, power, imaging and display.

Next-gen cars are not only called computers-on-wheels, they are also being referred to as software-defined vehicles. With the shift to electric, computing becomes critical – onboard the vehicle, at the edge, and in the cloud. Processing power and millions of lines of code will control everything from the battery, electric motors, brakes, and lights to Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) features like collision avoidance, infotainment and temperature, etc. Instead of taking the car for regular servicing, one would receive software updates over the air to improve safety and performance and avail oneself of new in-car services. Auto makers will unlock new sources of revenue by offering data-driven features, using the cloud to manage data from millions of connected vehicles to offer value at the fleet or personal level. It’s interesting to note that many of the current ICE vehicles already have complex software with 150 million lines or more of code. Next-gen EVs will probably have?3X the amount of code?with the progression of ADAS and autonomous driving features.

Along with electrification, connectivity and autonomous driving make up the trinity of automotive transformation. Estimates indicate that 41 million 5G-connected cars will be on the roads by 2030 and this number is set to double by 2035. I often describe how 5G differs from previous generations of network technology by saying that 4G can connect everyone, but 5G can connect everyone and everything.

(The total value created by connected-car use cases could reach more than $550?billion by 2030)

The future of mobility will enable much safer, high fuel performance and sustainable vehicles which will carry many emerging technologies making life even better. I believe these cars will have what it takes to serve as 5G small cells, extending the 5G network and user connectivity experience in dense urban areas and remote highways, or simply extending the backhaul connectivity to nearby 5G cell towers. These connected vehicles can enable many new on-demand services in the future for the connected world.?

Intel’s broad portfolio of solutions set to enable the transformation for auto customers: As the automotive market is going through the inflection driven by electrification and autonomy, Intel’s portfolio of solutions positions us well to capture the market going forward.?Customers are the center of our universe, and we are committed to providing the solutions they need. Our portfolio includes 3 key areas: process technology, IP and packaging.

In process technology, Intel Foundry Services customers have shown strong interest in Intel’s latest innovation in RibbonFET and PowerVia on Intel 18 and extensive use of EUV technology on Intel 3 and robust high-yield FinFET technology with RF capability on Intel 16. Our IP strategy includes a broad portfolio through third party ecosystem suppliers and unique Intel IPs. In addition, Intel has the most advanced packaging in the market with EMIB, Foveros, etc. Importantly, our roadmap will continue to focus and adapt in response to the innovation needs of our customers.

The automotive business is becoming?technology-led and Intel with focus on 4 superpowers (ubiquitous computing, cloud-to-edge infrastructure, pervasive connectivity – 5G – and AI) is at forefront of this new?emerging?era of mobility.

India emerges as global hub for EV and auto tech?

As technologies like computing, AI, storage and software are gaining centerstage in the EV space, India is becoming a key engineering destination for EV OEMs and technology providers alike. The growing software talent in India with a current base of about 2.5 million and 1 million ER&D engineers in the country plays to India’s advantage. Apart from India-based technology solutions providers growing their automotive engineering base, EV OEMS are making significant software and tech investments here. For example, Mercedes Benz has its largest research center outside Germany in India, and they are planning to add more engineers here mostly from software and computer science backgrounds. Stellantis, the Dutch automotive giant, has launched a software center in Bengaluru that will focus on STLA SmartCockpit, a technology platform for their future vehicles, apart from AI and ADAS technologies. The common denominator for all of them is their heavy dependence on software and digital technology. As next-gen cars such as EVs become more software-defined, India with its software and tech prowess is becoming a global hub in this journey.?

Charging stations and infrastructure to pave the way for wider adoption of next gen vehicles?

One of the key challenges facing the electric, connected, autonomous car of the future is the infrastructure requirement. While most personal EVs can do with overnight charging at home, commercial vehicles will need access to charging on the highways and at depots. Building out this infrastructure requires a huge effort, not only from OEMs but also from the government.

India has embarked on the journey to promote and accelerate electric mobility. According to the government’s e-AMRIT portal , we already have 1800 EV charging stations installed in the country. It’s also encouraging to see the efforts towards sustainability with many solar-powered EV charging stations being set up across India.

Mercedes-Benz has announced plans to establish an ultra-fast charging network covering 80% of India. Mahindra & Mahindra in collaboration with Jio-BP is installing DC fast chargers at their dealership network and workshops across the country, which will be open to the public.

EV: the next sunrise sector for India???

The Indian EV market is off to a promising start. Today in India, we have about 1.4 million EVs – mostly three-wheelers and two-wheelers, with EVs constituting just 1% of India’s car sales – but the number is expected to grow to 50 million by 2030. That is the scale of the opportunity before us.

EVs currently launched in the market range from the Mercedes Benz EQS 580, the first locally assembled luxury EV, to Tata Motors’ fully electric Tiago EV, India’s most affordable electric car.

Chinese carmaker BYD, which has recently overtaken Tesla as the largest EV company in the world, has also made its entry into the mass market in India. Indian auto major Mahindra & Mahindra has already invested INR 1,700 crore in the EV business in India with another INR 500 crore on a new research and development (R&D) center.

The government has introduced several measures to incentivize the manufacture and purchase of EVs. Aligned with the Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) initiatives, the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme incentivizes manufacturing of EV batteries. Schemes like FAME II offer subsidies which will help drive EV adoption. State-led activities include funding for setting up of CoEs for R&D, incubation centers for clean energy startups, tax exemptions for EVs, promotion of skill development activities, adoption of e-buses for intracity public transportation, and setting up of charging infrastructure.

With the rise of electric, connected, autonomous vehicles, the mobility sector will be marked by disruptive innovations. India, with its track record as a software powerhouse, has great potential to emerge as an R&D hub for the automotive industry.