Takeaways from Move 2023, London.
’ello, ’ello, What’s all this then???
A couple of weeks ago I spent two days at one the largest conferences on mobility, MOVE: Mobility Re-imagined exhibition, at London’s @ExCel exhibition centre, with over 6 000 MOVErs (he, he…) while getting inspired and inspiring others.
A surprisingly high-level event with C-level executives/founders, VP/Directors, politicians, and researchers all in the field of influencing the future of mobility from 88 different countries.
Now, after letting all the information overflow sit for a little while (over the weekend), I’m going to attempt to summarize my key takeaways.
The sheer abundance of information in all directions (988 speakers) with a touchpoint in mobility forced me to prioritise, basically cherry pick the areas in my wheelhouse. Although I steered away a little bit in other directions. (Just to learn something new). The stakeholders attending was from:
·?????Government, Regulators, Planning and Economic Development Agencies.
·?????Automotive Supply Chain and OEM’s
·?????Technology and Communications industries
·?????Transport Operators
·?????Construction, Infrastructure and Design
·?????Aerospace and Aviation
·?????Fleet Operators
·?????Energy and Electricity Industries
·?????Road and Highway Operators and Agencies
·?????Venture Capitalists and Investors
Covering all the above on 36 different stages.
I started off with the talk about SDV (software defined vehicle):
What is the endgame? A keynote with Roger Atkins (at Electric Vehicles Outlook) and Marcus Welz, VP Smart Mobility at Hyundai Motor Europe. “It will be about how we connect the vehicle to people. To respond to the needs of a human.” Marcus said.
My take on this is that the vehicle is not a smartphone on wheels, nor should it be. It’s means of transportation with smart device capabilities but with different purpose and functionalities. The purpose of a vehicle is to move something from point A to B. Not to be determined on how you make a phone call, post on social media, or take part of online content etc. That’s what the phone is for. The problem lies in the fact that we as humans expect it to be like a smartphone, just as versatile and omnipotent.
So, how do automakers and their suppliers address this challenge?
In a quick poll in the audience attending, it turned out that 50% turned on their apple or google platform in their cars immediately when they entered the vehicle. I.e., they defaulted to use their phone to run infotainment in the car.
Why is that? Is it because features and functionality are not matured or trusted enough yet by users when it comes from an OEM?
If so, why should they spend billions on developing their own platform on this? Apple, google and Amazon must surely be better on in-car entertainment.
Although other software enabled attributes and core functionalities should be propriety of the OEMs, fundamental to the inner workings of the vehicle.
Well anyhow, the holy grail is the monetisation of services and subscriptions. And service subscriptions will come with value added services. We’re just not at the point in time where this is apparent to the customers yet.
Potentially generative AI will be a gamechanger to help carmakers to optimize in car experiences based on human behaviours, simply because it will know what we are doing while traveling. Based on a personalised dataset on me, as an individual, I’ll be able to get what I want. ?Thus, highlighting what we value and paving the way for value added services. That’s my best guess on how to monetize quickly in the field of in car experiences.
Followed up by car sharing, MAAS, and vehicle subscription models. One headline topic was:
Reshuffling the cards: How rental companies are transitioning to EVs.
It was quite interesting to listen to Olivier Baldassari, COO of Europcar talk about the fact their company was named the Automobile Subscription already in 1949. (They didn’t change to Europcar until 1951) And that they, hence the name they were first in Vehicle subscriptions, Mobility as a Service and car sharing long before everybody else in a typical French manner.
Now they see themselves as leading the transition to rental car EVs with the purpose of offering attractive alternatives to car ownership in a responsible and sustainable way. At the same time being a part of the solution towards low emission mobility.
Their key insights were availability of charging equipment in all cars and stations, partnering up with Shell Recharge (biggest network in Europe) and introduce comprehensive instruction tools & more than 2000 employees trained in handling the EV operations. By doing this in collaboration with the public sector/governments and the carmakers they are convinced that they bring value both for customers and society.
In batteries and energy storage I got to listen to plenty of interesting topics. First, I listened to Dassault systems present how virtual twins can help accelerate the adaptation of EVs from battery to usage. They have a footprint across the battery value chain from Material Science software through cell chemistry to system integration to recycling, meanwhile have a dedicated Battery Passport through the lifecycle.
Speaking of battery passports, The proposed REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL concerning batteries and waste batteries, repealing Directive 2006/66/EC and amending Regulation (EU) No 2019/1020qa, that sets an aggressive recycling requirements for batteries, including those for electric vehicles, was?passed overwhelmingly ?this month by the European Parliament.
The regulation is part of the European Union’s big push to embrace circular economy principles in its legislation. It still needs the formal blessing of the European Council but will affect pretty much any battery capacity you can name — ranging from portables to many formats found in vehicles, including those for starters, for electric scooters and bikes, EVs and rechargeable industrial batteries that provide more than 2 kilowatt-hours of power.
The rules include a labeling mandate and will eventually require battery makers to meet certain levels of recycled content for critical minerals found in batteries, such as cobalt, lithium and nickel.?
"Our overall aim is to build a stronger recycling industry, particularly for lithium, and a competitive industrial sector as a whole, which is crucial in the coming decades for our continent’s energy transition and strategic autonomy," said Achille Variati, one member of Parliament responsible for shepherding the legislation when it gained momentum in December. "These measures could become a benchmark for the entire global battery market."
Here are some details that will affect businesses that include them in their products:
With this EU Battery Regulation, batteries will eventually need to include labels with data that goes beyond capacity or performance to disclose criteria such as chemical composition and carbon footprints. The bigger formats must carry a "digital product passport" that allows consumers and others to trace details about environmental data at every phase of the battery’s lifetime, from raw materials to product to recycling. This is an important step towards ESG traceability along the full EV battery value chain.
The whole battery sector is a particularly tricky one at the moment. I’m lucky enough to have attended our brilliant colleague and PhD Joachim Wallenstein at AFRY Management Consulting explanation about the fundamentals in emerging battery technologies. Trust me there’s a lot…and with the rapid transitions happening right now truths seems to be like fresh fish, wonderful and delicious when you caught it but after three days it starts to stink.
But here’s what I picked up so far.
·?????Improvement of EV performance is happening every day in all areas. Lighter vehicles, energy efficient functionality, optimization of usage and changing driving patterns all help with improving performance.
·?????EV integration and adaptation allows for economies of scale and accelerating the development of incremental improvements. (a researcher at the Imperial college in London told me that it’s improving by 8% YoY)
·?????The pace of innovation in new battery technologies is high now, but few are viable in full scale industrialisation. (Most new technologies apparently die at Technology Readiness Level 3 out of 10…)
·?????Multi criteria trade-offs are inevitable. You can’t have it all…not yet. In the search the optimal battery it’s either high energy density, cost/kWh, fast charge capabilities, life cycle longevity, LCA criteria etc. Pick a lane that suits your end customer demands.
·?????Potential is huge, OEMs are predicted to invest $ 1?200 B in battery tech over this decade.
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?Another side of this are the Vehicle and E-platform optimizations that are in the works. Starting at e-motor improvements to handle heat generation, thermal cross systems thermal management to battery heat distribution and control. Incremental improvements in this area will add on general performance. If you also can leverage this into cabin comfort, you’ll also have a better E-mobility experience.
This opens new/growing opportunities in EV battery development. Overarching program management, focusing on collaboration & Analytics. Product management responsible for requirements and architecture (incl. change management). Test management for validation & certification, also leading to process & automation. Finally modelling and simulation for design exploration etc...
Regarding energy storage, Revterra had a presentation about Amplifying grid infrastructure: building the charging network of the future with grid-stabilizing kinetic batteries. Long title but it’s really about storing energy in a vacuum suspended flywheel at scale.
In a more detailed explanation, Revterra is developing a grid-stabilizing kinetic battery as a solution to reduce the time, cost, and complexity of installing a DC fast charging (DCFC) station for electric vehicles. Specifically, installing DCFC stations at sites with low-power connections can require digging trenches to bring in additional distribution lines, bulky transformers, and costly demand charges; it can take months, if not longer. They see a future where EV drivers can recharge their cars in 15 minutes or less anywhere, without the need for an overhaul of the existing electric grid.
Their technology can withstand more than 40,000 full depth-of-discharge cycles, has a power to energy ratio of up to four times higher than chemical batteries, and has a much cleaner environmental footprint. Very good considering that to power all coming BEVs in Europe will require a network of some 6.5 million charging points.
In the panel on “Circular batteries: the recycling programs that are driving a sustainable battery ecosystem” they highlighted the complexities on disassembly of batteries (Subject Matter Expert, Uwe Frie? department head at Fraunhofer I.W.U.) and Inga Petersen at Global Battery Allience discussed the perils of choosing battery technologies. Once again, the tradeoffs are quite substantial if you are to be compliant with SDG targets and legislation. But essential to comply to meet the CO2 manufacturing targets, although Inga hinted that our “eastern” supplier doesn’t always do this and therefore has higher battery capacity then Rest of the World.
In parallel with the panel on battery technologies there was talks on the progress of solid-state and Sodium Ion batteries I’d love to attend but missed out.
Simply because it physically impossible to be in two places at once, but I’m sure we’ll hear more about this in due time.
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CX (Customer Experience) as a general trend in R&D was refreshing to hear about in several talks. Ranging from leveraging data and insight from products and services in operation to user studies on new solutions and technology. Especially from Arrival who seems to embrace this all the way. Talking to the VP of End-to-End Experience & E-Commerce, Ksenia Sternina at Arrival made me very hopeful that this will be a more essential driver for more companies going forward.
“What’s the use for technology if the users don’t want it.” She said, I couldn’t agree more.
With this said, she carried on telling me the story about CX is at the heart of everything they do at Arrival. Nothing gets developed without evidence that every solution brings a true end user value, regardless of if the end user is a driver/service technician, cleaner, SW engineer, fleet manager, operations director, or other road user. It’ll be very interesting to see were they end up with their products and service when the do their market launch.
“Start working from customer problems and work backwards from there. In reverse from we used to work, starting from specifications and technology.” Said Heiko Schilling, SVP Software Engineering at Stellantis. Customer demand is the new main driver for us. Simplicity expectations from customers are bringing new demands for the industry.
This is why Stellantis are building up their own core SW development team and A&B platforms. A&B platforms are developed by Stellantis with selected partners like Foxconn. Now 20% is in-house and growing. This to build core capabilities to keep control over their monetisation progress. Amazon is their partner for the C platform (cockpit and in car entertainment).
According to Florian Schwendner, Smart Mobility Strategy Lead at Hyundai Motor Europe, OEMs need to make some choices when it comes to their strategic orientation. Otherwise, it’s hard to deal with efficient software development.
Basically, set a direction, ensure that you have a lot of capital and competence. Build an evidenced based culture and approach on how to build value, cooperate with those that are better than you on certation things (like Google, Apple, Qualcomm, Mobileye etc.) and make sure that you tend to your costumers needs. (Not all customer segments are the same)
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Apart from that, there were many talks and presentations on monetising on “valuable driving experiences”. Focusing of the seamless customer experience, in car experiences and data monetization to harnessing connected vehicle data to improve drive experience.
A topic that drew big audiences and industry stakeholders to the event. Looking at the titles of the attendees from the OEMs, Head of connectivity, Vehicle integration Directors, Head of Electronic Car Development, HMI and Connectivity, Head of Global mobility, Innovation Material etc…
?Ferrari and BMW had six representatives each attending, Stellantis had nine, VW 10, Honda 11, Lamborghini 12, KIA 13, JLR 14, Ford 39, etc... In total 321 Automotive Executives. All in search on potential pathways to achieve the 50% revenue growth the industry is expecting from vehicle adjacent services.
Corporate venture capital flexed their muscles to attract exciting new start-ups. AB Volvo Camp X invited others to be “a part of the Journey”. Showcasing their “partnership is the new leadership” slogan, exampled by Milence, Cellcentric, Samasung SDI, SSAB Fossil free steel and more.?Proclaiming that keeping up with the latest development is essential and impossible to do on your own. They offered to be a part of the Volvo Group Start up Ecosystem.
They offer this at four local sites in Gothenburg, Lyon, Bangalore and Greensboro.
BMW had a similar offer. BMW Garage.
That’s how BMW collaborates with start-ups to become digital, electric, and circular:?
“We do this to accelerate our innovation processes and get early access to new technologies.” Said Toni Pl?chl , Start Up Manager R&D, BMW startup Garage.
Since the start they have assessed 3000+ start-ups, graduated 156, issued purchase orders to 50% of the graduates and transferred 20 start-up innovations into production. And this is their key success factors in corporate innovation & investing:?
1.???Provide access to know-how and internal infrastructure.
2.???Include series development early on!
3.???Don’t forget about internal marketing.
4.???(Co-) Financing will make a difference! (I.e., make the relevant R&D departments carry some costs)
5.???Focus on projects with a strong impact.
6.???Get top management involved early on.
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Finally, I spent some time checking out the progression in Hydrogen transports.
It turns out that there’s two UK based truck manufacturers ready to go into production. Tevva and HVS (Hydrogen Vehicle Systems).
Tevva utilises H2 in a Fuel Cell range extender to their Battery Electric Vehicle to increase from 100 miles to 350 miles in a single charge and fill up.
The HVS on the other hand is a fully FCEV (fuel cell electric vehicle).
The stats are interesting and optimized for UK driving routes and logistics.
And the upside is that compared to battery-powered alternatives, they are claiming that their new-to-market hydrogen trucks are a smarter solution. In terms of heavier payloads, longer ranges and faster refuelling.
And following UK government mandates, all HGVs will be emission-free by 2040. Because hydrogen fuel doesn’t cause harmful emissions, the government is backing them financially.
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A lot of topics were covered, but the common interest at the event was to reduce the carbon footprint and decrease the emissions of Green House Gases.
And the potential amount of CO2 savings is huge.
We just need to get going.
We need to MOVE.