Everyone is talking about fast charging now, but doubling and then tripling the range is seismic. The world solves its problems by eliminating the infrastructure. The 285-page IDTechEx report “Routes to 1000 Mile (1600km) Battery Electric Cars 2021-2041” spells it out.
The report answers questions like:
- Why is improving range an ongoing primary battlefield for cars?
- What are the best ways to make affordable cars with a range of 1000 miles (1600 km) and when will it happen?
- What percentage of the cars will have the best range in 2021-2041?
- How high is the share of the individual technologies and who is leading?
- Details on upcoming simplification, lightweight construction, solar body, new components, batteries?
- What is the technology roadmap per year to reach these areas in 2021-2041?
- The best ranges are currently achieved in different ways. How can we combine them?
- What other options will emerge from the research pipeline? When, by whom?
- What should one believe about solid state batteries? Compare and predict critically?
- Decades of huge improvements in lithium-ion battery format, software, chemistry and costs. Details and timing?
- What about supercapacitors, multifunctional composite materials, the two emission-free range extenders?
- Lessons from 30 different approaches assessed by 30 vehicle companies?
IDTechEx greatly devalues many promises in light of the history of over-optimism, but predicts increasing demand for product range, cites the many reasons for this and great strides towards it. Learn how the technologies that enable long range bring other joys. The solar body allows gentle users to travel without ever using a charging station and the first get-you-home feature. If you run out of battery, just wait and the body will charge the car enough to get a charger. Lightweight construction contributes to acceleration and costs. The day will come when there is no longer any reason to buy a car that needs to be recharged frequently.
The unique 285-page IDTechEx report “Routes to 1000Mile (1600km) Battery Electric Cars 2021-2041” was researched by multilingual IDTechEx doctoral level analysts worldwide and starts with a summary and conclusions. Here you can see the many reasons for increasing the maximum range, the existing and planned basic technologies. Detailed infograms show trends, successes, research pipeline with roadmaps 2021-2041. See when there will be widespread availability of the given long ranges and the percentage of cars that have them. The four main factors responsible for the widespread range of 760 miles in 2031 are quantified, an astonishing 2.4-fold increase compared to today. IDTechEx calculations are taken into account by considering past overstrains from developers and OEMs, as well as through an in-depth analysis of the technical and scale-up challenges and solutions that lie ahead. For example, contrary to popular belief, the next decade will not primarily be about solid-state batteries, although they are strongly represented in the 2031-2041 forecasts and the roadmaps for range expansion.
Chapter 2 Introduction deals with perpetual cars, relevant Smart City issues, geopolitical implications and iterative methods for the introduction of range extension technologies. A sensible starting point for the detail is Tesla, the most valuable car company in the world, because it got there primarily through the greatest range and the exclusive focus on battery-electric vehicles. Chapter 3 “Tesla Holistic Approach” describes how it has achieved range through many small things such as avoiding cables, more efficient motors, lower air resistance factor, best batteries. See how it goes beyond those giant die-cast aluminum parts with massive simplification. Read the advice on engine design.
This is followed by chapters on emerging technologies with many new examples. Chapter 4 is about simplification and lightweight construction in order to increase the range. See in-wheel and eAxle motors with integrated power electronics, voltage boosting shrinking cables and motors, structural energy storage, in-mold, 3D, transparent and editable electronics and electrics, merging of components, new battery cooling performances, multifunctional composites. This is a 20 year view that includes Rivian, the VW corporation, and other innovators. It is supported by a detailed jargon buster at the beginning of the report and by company profiles.
Chapter 5 deals with solar cars with increased range. This just got serious with big strides from Hyundai, Tesla, Toyota, VW Group and other giants as well as startups that sell solar vehicles and don’t just dream. How did Sono Motors get over 13,000 orders by focusing on all-over solar? The many solar formats such as film wraps or load capacity are critically examined and the roadmaps and advantages are compared now and in the future, even hinged, sun tracking and super-efficient variants. Chapter 6 delves into chemistry with plenty of current examples of single crystal silicon, CIGS, and GaAs on cars, comparison tables, editable, multi-connect and other options, even metamaterial boosting and comparison of solar cars that never connect.
On the 26 pages of Chapter 7, batteries and supercapacitors are examined in depth to increase the range. Here the structural battery, the elimination of modules, potential disruptors for lithium-ion are quantified and criticized and the solid-state car batteries promised in the years 2024-6 are questioned. Look at the academic numbers that chemistry will improve energy density in the future, then IDTechEx’s prediction of commercially available energy density per year. Chapter 8 presents range increases through future thermal management. Chapter 9 contains 20 company profiles, each with a SWOT analysis. This focuses on what they do to extend the range of cars.
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