The Battery Makers are Coming! Automotive Electrification

The Buzz 1: “Gigafactories” [battery factories for electric cars] could one day be churning out millions of electric vehicle batteries in the UK. The government has already committed the country to a ban on selling new petrol- and diesel-engined cars by 2030, so it seems that electric vehicles (or EVs) are likely to replace much of today’s fleet.” The Buzz 2: “Most EVs today use lithium ion batteries, but these have a number of limitations. Luckily, scientists and engineers are exploring a number of ways to overcome these challenges that could help give the drive to convert cars to electricity a boost.” (theconversation.com/electric-vehicle-batteries-what-will-they-look-like-in-the-future-164263) For electric vehicles to become truly mass-market, they will need highly energy-efficient and safe batteries. Good news: Several companies are designing and supplying electric vehicle OEMs and other manufacturers and industries with such power sources. With the limited availability of some raw materials slowing the growth of EV adoption, battery makers are innovating and collaborating to support new business models such as battery swaps, speeding-up charging times and increasing the range of EVs. And they are developing smart battery services to help diagnose battery failures faster and resolve issues earlier, to gain customer trust and loyalty and reduce warranty costs. We’ll ask Marcus Bohlemann at MHP Americas, Bernard Swiecki at CAR Group and Mukund Rao at SAP for their insights on the design, manufacture and sale of batteries and the battery maker’s opportunities and challenges on The Battery Makers are Coming! How Automotive Electrification is Driving Their Rise.