Zero Emissions Trucks Raising Infrastructure Needs; Photonics Inevitable Opportunity In Quantum Computing; Latest Trends and Changes in the EV Market
Zero Emissions Trucks: Market Progress Raises Infrastructure Needs
2024 was a year of progress for zero-emissions trucks (battery-electric and fuel cell) globally. With sales numbers, range, and model availability all increasing, the other part of the puzzle is refueling. For both electric charging and hydrogen refueling, barriers remain concerning grid capacity, costs, scalability, and sustainability.
DC charging: MW charging is key
IDTechEx expects the average battery size of medium and heavy-duty trucks to increase from 2025 to 2045, to drive greater distances and cover additional use cases. This is the only way for them to compete with internal combustion engine (ICE) trucks in all circumstances. BEV trucks are currently viable regional and hub-to-hub transport options, but they are less effective at long-haul journeys due to their limited range and lack of fast charging. However, heavier batteries will decrease the overall vehicle's payload and will generally be a costly addition, as battery packs usually make up more than half of an electric truck's manufacturing costs. Therefore, the battery capacity cannot increase in size infinitely, meaning that fast, on-route charging in the form of MW charging will also be required to meet duty cycle requirements and drive electric truck uptake. IDTechEx estimates that approximately 90% of trucking use cases will be fulfilled with the deployment of MW chargers.
The Inevitable Opportunity For Photonics In Quantum Computing
Quantum computers can be built in many ways. You may be familiar with the competing modalities claiming to offer various advantages over others in terms of quality, scalability, cost, and more. However, it is increasingly apparent across them all that new generations of optics and photonics technologies will be essential. This opens an exciting supply chain opportunity for many players, old and new, in the photonics eco-system. It creates a chance to claim future market share of what IDTechEx forecasts to be a quantum computing hardware market worth over US$10B by 2045 in their latest report, "Quantum Computing Market 2025-2045: Technology, Trends, Players, Forecasts".
The main categories of quantum computing hardware modality are superconducting, trapped-ion, neutral atom, photonic, silicon-spin, diamond and topological. Whilst their specific designs can be incredibly different, much of the fundamental blueprint remains the same. Moreover, optics and photonics play a role within multiple core functions in various hardware approaches. This includes readout, cooling and control, modular connectivity and data center integration.
?The Latest Trends and Changes in the EV Market Forecasted by IDTechEx
Battery electric cars are the biggest end source for batteries, with over 14.4 million BEV (battery electric vehicle) and PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicle) car sales in 2023. IDTechEx's reports, "Plug-in Hybrid and Battery Electric Cars 2025-2045: Technologies, Players, Regulations, Market Forecasts" and "Charging Infrastructure for Electric Vehicles and Fleets 2025-2035: Markets, Technologies, and Forecasts" cover the latest market developments within the EV sector, from vehicle uptake to charging innovations.
While EV market growth has slowed down, particularly in Europe and the US since 2023, China has maintained uptake and is currently the largest single market for EVs in the world. The new energy vehicle (NEV) market in China sees PHEV cars driving this strong growth in the future, with the market share for PHEVs having nearly doubled from 2023 to H1 2024.
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Challenges and predictions
Europe and the US's diminishing numbers can be attributed to various challenges within the market, including high costs and low resale values when purchasing an EV, lack of available charging infrastructure, and hybrid vehicle favorability. While IDTechEx expects these barriers to remain short-term, the long-term outlook is positive.
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