by Julia Riemer | Sep 14, 2022 | Interviews, Know-How and inspiration, Market development & Trends, New Mobility, Smart City, Technologies for new markets
With technological progress, the demand for electrical energy is increasing immensely, making not only generation but also distribution a challenge. This growing demand increases the complexity of power grids as requirements for reliability, efficiency, safety, and environmental and energy compatibility increase. These circumstances require an intelligent grid, now known as the “smart grid.” This is a technology in which intelligent functions are implemented to make the power distribution system more efficient, reliable, and sustainable. This article provides an overview of “smart grids” with its features and application scenarios. Read in the following why smart grids are becoming increasingly important and what solutions are already on the market.
The International Energy Agency (IEA), headquartered in Paris, cites grid integration as one of the four biggest challenges in expanding renewable energy capacity, along with the non-technical challenges of financing, permitting and social acceptance.
By 2026, renewables could grow 60% faster than in the past five years, as the technology to harness wind and solar power has matured and 137 countries have pledged to reduce their fossil fuel power generation to zero. But for the promises to become reality, we need smart grids so that this energy generation and, above all, energy distribution can function properly.
Smart grids perform four important tasks for the energy transition: They increase the resilience of the grid, increase the integration of renewable energies, reduce costs and enable universal access to clean electricity.
What makes smart grids so special?
The constantly increasing demand for energy should no longer be met, or only in exceptional political situations, by building more power plants that use fossil fuels, as these pollute the environment and contribute to global warming. Therefore, renewable energy is preferred instead – but these are distributed, volatile resources that must be managed within a smart grid infrastructure to ensure a steady supply of energy at all times.
Smart grids allow real-time data from line sensors, loads and generators to be collected and transmitted to a central control point that can perform analysis and control functions. This enables power load balancing, outage restoration and distribution management.
Limitations of the traditional network
Unlike renewable energy generators, whose output depends largely on prevailing weather conditions, conventional fossil fuel power plants provide predictably steady energy. However, they come up against the barrier of environmental sustainability and should accordingly be taken off the grid wherever and whenever possible.
In the meantime, demand for electricity is steadily increasing as, for example, we increasingly take our personal and work lives online and use more and more electric vehicles. So without technological advances, we would be faced with a shrinking stock of fossil fuel power plants that would have to serve an incessant increase in demand for electricity.
This strain would have led to an increasing frequency of power anomalies and blackouts on aging grids that have limited ability to detect and respond to faults in real time.
Fortunately, there are now new technologies being deployed to address these issues. These technologies, and in particular the way they work together, can be grouped under the umbrella term “smart grid”.
[infobox headline=”The morst important facts in brief”]
- Power grids are becoming more complex as demands for reliability, efficiency, safety, and environmental and energy sustainability continue to rise
- The technology behind smart grids makes the power distribution system more efficient, reliable and sustainable
- Smart grids enable power load balancing, outage restoration, and optimize distribution management
- With smart grids and renewable energy sources, electricity consumers can move from pure consumption to “prosumerism”
- Smart meters: By 2032, all electricity consumers in Germany must have at least one digital meter without a gateway
- Semiconductors: The use of modern power electronics could save more than a quarter of electrical energy
- Smart grids could also solve the problem of charging stations for electric vehicles in the future
- Once the technology is fully installed, including in the field, the potential for energy costs to drop significantly and for real-time data control and large-scale charging to become easier increases
- Hive Power offers innovative solutions for smart grids
[/infobox]
Smart grid technologies and interactions
Renewable energies have the advantage that they are clean and cost less and less. However, in addition to the aforementioned disadvantage of volatility, there is also the challenge that plants such as wind farms tend to be widely dispersed rather than centralized.
For this newer grid model, with its multiple distributed energy sources, to function reliably and efficiently, it must be monitored and controlled. It can be thought of as a typical IoT application. Data can be collected in real time from line sensors, loads and generators and relayed to a central control point that can perform analysis and control functions. This enables balancing of power loads, troubleshooting of outages, and management of distribution.
It also facilitates peak shaving, where grid operators can draw on energy supplies from users’ on-site renewable energy systems or even batteries to supplement their own capacity during periods of high demand.
The grid is developing self-healing properties as control systems can detect simple problems and make repairs without intervention. More serious damage to the infrastructure can be reported to technicians in the control center so that timely repairs can be made. To further improve reliability and uptime, the grid can become adaptive, meaning that power is rerouted to bypass problem areas. In this way, the area affected by power outages is limited.
Germany’s progress in renewable energies
In 2020, Germany exceeded all forecasts and achieved 45% renewable energy based on total gross energy consumption. 33% of this came from solar and wind power, the most volatile energy sources. Globally, a 30% share of renewables has been achieved, and grids today, thanks to a combination of robust infrastructure and smart grid technology, are not only cleaner, but also more reliable and resilient.
Digitization allows us to transform the complexity of the modern grid from a weakness to a strength.
This is necessary for the operation of the modern grid, where distributed energy resources (DERs) are on the rise – from small solar and wind farms to electric vehicles (EVs), homes with solar panels, and commercial microgrids. Literally hundreds of millions of new supply points are added to the grid every year. The number of electric vehicles is also growing exponentially, with 26 million vehicles expected to be sold in the U.S. alone by 2030, up from 5.6 million this year.
Possible savings through smart grids
Digitization – sensors, artificial intelligence, and automation – harnesses the combined power of all these DERs and shifts electricity demand in buildings and e-vehicles to times when solar and wind power are available. In this way, cities can use more renewable energy and less fossil fuel backup power. This demand flexibility also helps to mitigate peak demand. In the EU alone, the flexibility of smart grids could save billions annually from now until 2030, as infrastructure expansion can be adjusted to the necessary level.
And the cost savings go even further, extending to ordinary electricity consumers. With smart grids and renewables, electricity consumers can move from pure consumption to “prosumerism,” meaning they can generate and consume electricity themselves and even sell the rest back to the grid.
Imagine 26 million electric car drivers who can charge their vehicles on the grid. At 40 kWh per e-vehicle, they could sell enough clean electricity back to the grid to power 100,000 U.S. homes for an entire year. Prosumerism could make clean electricity affordable for many more people.
The International Renewable Energy Agency also recommends smart grids for developing countries to meet rising renewable electricity demand while creating new opportunities for economic growth.
Universal access to clean electricity is central to a successful energy transition. Specific care must be taken to ensure that people can use safe, smart, sustainable electricity wherever they cook, heat, cool, drive, etc.
All the answers to the question of how we can achieve net zero emissions globally by 2050 may not yet be answered. The potential of green hydrogen and other innovations is still being explored to curb the emissions in aviation, shipping and heavy industry.
But the technology we need to meet the U.N. Environment Program’s goal of halving global emissions by 2030 already exists. In fact, clean electrification of buildings, industry and transport could eliminate three-quarters of global emissions.
Application scenarios for smart grids
While the conventional power grid distributes the electricity generated centrally by large power plants to consumers, smart grids also bring together all the data streams of the energy supply. For example, the highly fluctuating feed-ins from solar and wind power plants can be efficiently balanced and specifically controlled in the existing power grids. The amounts of energy generated and consumed must be continuously measured and analyzed by IoT-enabled sensors and devices.
Smart meters
On the consumer side, this is addressed with smart meters. They also control the feed-in of solar power when consumers with a solar system on the roof also become electricity producers (prosumers). Installation of the necessary smart metering systems (iMSys) is not mandatory until annual electricity consumption exceeds 6,000 kWh – or when consumers feed electricity into the grid themselves. In this case, a smart meter gateway (SMGW) with an integrated security module receives the metering data and processes it for external market participants, internal controllable energy consumers and energy generators (smart household appliances, photovoltaic systems). By 2032, all electricity consumers in Germany must have at least one digital meter without a gateway.
Semiconductors for the energy transition
Measuring, controlling, transforming and communicating – power electronics are of particular importance in the energy transition. While photovoltaic systems or batteries, for example, supply direct current, wind turbines deliver alternating current at a frequency that cannot be used directly. At the same time, electricity consumers have individual needs in terms of current and voltage. The energy-saving potential is immense, because statistically speaking, electricity already passes through at least one converter on its way from the generator to the consumer. According to a study by the European Center for Power Electronics (ECPE), more than a quarter of electrical energy could be saved by using modern power electronics.
And in some areas, silicon is no longer the first choice. Wide bandgap semiconductors, such as the increasingly used silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN), benefit from higher switching power while maintaining low losses. However, according to analysts at Yole Développement, the technology is still at an early stage of development. They expect SiC devices to generate $6.3 billion in sales in 2027. In the meantime, silicon devices continue to surprise with significant performance gains and will continue to be a source of revenue for the industry in the coming decades. In general, thermal management, robustness, reliability and ultimately packaging continue to be key issues in semiconductors.
Embedded systems
Semiconductors are also the building blocks of embedded systems in a digital, networked and automated energy world. For example, they provide data on the state of the grid, the temperature, the current flow and the angle of the cables. The data is processed in the cloud or directly on site (edge) with AI algorithms. Embedded systems are also transforming traditional building automation into a form of prediction-based management that offers significant potential for energy savings. And in the future, buildings with smart meters (iMSys) connected to a smart grid will not only be able to optimize their own consumption, but also take on the role of electricity producer themselves by feeding surplus energy into the grid.
Interview with Hive Power –Innovative solutions for smart grids
Founded in Switzerland in 2017, Hive Power is a leading provider of innovative smart grid solutions. Hive Power offers a SaaS platform that optimizes existing electrical distribution networks, both from a technical and economic point of view.
Hive Power’s team consists of researchers and scientists with deep knowledge in smart grids, data science and optimization with many years of experience in research and pilot projects on distributed energy management. We spoke with Mr. Gianluca Corbellini, CEO of Hive Power and appreciate the informative answers.
5 Questions for Mr. Ginaluca Corbellini from Hive Power
Q: What has your experience been like tackling the traditional grid with new ideas?
A: It’s been an impactful journey. When we set out in 2017, we had a clear objective to optimize flexibility management for distribution grids and energy suppliers. And we have proven our viability and market fit with our applications for Flexibility Orchestration used in operation by our customers who are innovating from the traditional grid into the smart grid.
Through the help of key mobility industry players, we have tested smart-grid applicable solutions like Vehicle-to-Grid and EV smart charging and produced the FLEXO Smart EV Charging solution that serves automotive companies and EV fleet managers.
Q: What’s your most interesting smart grid application project so far?
A: It’s hard to choose because we worked on amazing smart grids, mobility research, and pilot projects around Europe. One that stands out is called DrainSpotter. It’s unique because we’re developing a solution that faces the consumers and the Distribution System Operator – in this case, AEM.
DrainSpotter is an intuitive mobile application that consumers can use to monitor their electricity usage over time, receive informative summaries of their consumer behaviour, and be automatically notified about anomalies detected by machine learning algorithms.
Through this app, AEM’s residential users eliminate excessive standby power – over 200 W. If they do this consecutively for two weeks, AEM will deliver 10% less energy in total, and 5% of customers would reduce their total energy consumption by at least 20%, and 4.2% of customers would save at least €513 off their total energy bill over 1.5 years.
Q: Looking at the entire smart grid market in Europe, how is Germany performing relatively?
A: As you’ve pointed out earlier, Germany excels in their renewable energy journey. In the first half of this year, 49% of the power used in Germany was generated from renewable sources – that translates into a growth in smart grid adoption. Judging from the SINTEG project, the German government seems committed to increasing smart grid technology. There’s a reliable forecast that Germany’s smart grid investment will increase to $23.6 billion between 2016 and 2026.
There’s a lot of potential in this market, especially in the applications of Electric vehicles, as the boom of EVs is coming alongside smart grids. EV charging in Germany will need to be smarter and more cost-effective as they can interact with the grid and provide Vehicle-to-Grid services using enabling platforms like our FLEXO Smart EV Charging.
Q: How important are smart meters in this innovative smart grid journey?
A: Smart meters make smart grids possible! A smart grid uses advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) (which consists of smart meters, sensors, communications protocols and data management systems) to monitor and control energy demand, distribution, and generation in near real-time.
We need more smart meters to enable our innovative grid systems to make accurate decisions and predictions from the data generated at these smart meter points. For example, the AI algorithms we create in Hive Power are made possible by the enormous amount of data collected from smart meters.
Q: Lastly, What would you say are the most important benefits of smart grids?
A: Sustainability, cost-saving, and energy decentralization!
Having sustainable earth is the grand reason why we are promoting renewable energy sources; we want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Smart grids make it possible to effectively manage and optimize the mix of these variable sources of energy without interrupting the energy supply. Consequently, smart grids save energy consumers and producers a lot of costs through proper grid balancing, voltage and frequency anomaly detection, and demand response.
Lastly, smart grids make it possible for us to have integrated microgrids. So homes or communities can produce renewable energy, manage their energy, and sell and buy from the main grid as needed. Sounds impressive, right? We are active in this field and making outstanding contributions to projects around Europe with our FLEXO Community Manager.
Thank you Mr. Corbellini for the exciting interview – we at magility look forward to following the developments of Hive Power further.
Magility’s vision of the future
Smart grid technology is booming, and the federal government is offering incentives for implementation. In addition, smart meter installations are expected to increase. As the cumulative market capitalization will increase exponentially in the coming years, this could be the beginning of a new era.
The smart grids of the future could also solve the problem of charging stations for electric vehicles. But they are not only valuable for closing the gap between supply and demand for intermittent renewable energy sources.
With sufficiently intelligent power grids, power spikes and the frequency of power outages can be prevented. Once this technology is fully installed, including in the field, it will also be able to significantly reduce energy costs and facilitate real-time data control and large-scale charging.
At Magility, we are watching these exciting developments and will keep you updated.
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by Nada Welker | Jul 8, 2022 | Automotive Cyber Security, Automotive Industry, Cyber Security Management, Future Trends, Know-How and inspiration, Market development & Trends, News from magility, strategy in change
At the 26th International Automotive Electronics Congress 2022 in Ludwigsburg, the top industry event for electronics experts and decision-makers in the automotive sector, the focus was on the path to the software-defined car. What does it take in the automotive industry to develop the software-defined car safely, efficiently and sustainably? What are the automotive industry’s current pain points in this multi-layered challenge? What role do regulations play? Do we need cross-border standards to get there? And what role do consumer experiences play? How are the individual players in the automotive industry meeting the current challenges, and why are open source approaches and cooperation particularly important now? Many questions, but also controversial discussions, characterized the traditional congress at the Forum am Schlosspark. Despite many answers, also many questions remained unanswered. The conclusion: There is still a lot to do!
The software-defined car
Up to now, software has been and still is to a large extent very closely linked to the hardware module or electronic control unit (ECU) in the vehicle, which takes over a very specific functionality there. In the “traditional car”, the software hardly evolved during the life of a vehicle and any necessary updates required a visit to the workshop. In the software-defined car, functions are defined by the software rather than the specific hardware modules, similar to applications we run on our smartphones or computers. This allows the functions to evolve and improve throughout the life of the vehicle and even add new functions and features as necessary within the hardware limits. With the software-defined vehicle, new features and services or apps are enabled in the vehicle as needed, either individually or for a limited time. This creates multiple opportunities for new business models, and software-as-a-service becomes tangible for car users. The value of a vehicle can even be increased during its life cycle by adding features at a later stage. Manufacturers’ focus on user experience is becoming a critical success factor. Data can be transmitted over-the-air (OTA), the vehicle can communicate with the infrastructure, collect and send data to the cloud, and receive data. Mobility services, automated driving and the further development of e-mobility are only made possible by software. So the car continues to evolve into a software-centric electronic device on wheels. This no longer has much to do with the original way an automobile worked. The automotive industry is still in the midst of transformation and must open itself up to an even greater extent to market participants from and cooperations with the software and communications industry.
The most important topics and statements of the speakers
After the opening by Alfred Vollmer, Editor-in-Chief of “Automobil-Elektronik” and initiator of the Automotive Electronics Congress, Ricky Hudi took over the moderation and handed over to the first speaker of the day, Porsche CEO Oliver Blume, who spoke about Porsche’s vision of the future and appealed to the emotions of the audience. In this regard, when it came to software-defined vehicle, the use of an open operating system that works with AI and enables the vehicle to connect to different ecosystems around the world was particularly important to him. He also clearly stood for the recognition of the human factor and emphasized the importance of bringing employees along in the transformation and placing them at the center of concepts for success. After all, he said, the transformation cannot be mastered without motivated employees who share the company’s vision and brand values and understand and internalize the necessary steps on the way to the software-defined vehicle.
The future strategy at Mercedes-Benz was the focus of the keynote speech by Magnus Österberg, Head of Software at the Stuttgart-based automaker. It became quite clear: Mercedes-Benz claims market leadership in the luxury segment. The new MB.OS operating system (to go into series production in 2024) and the software development center in Sindelfingen play a decisive role in achieving the ambitious goals. However, Österberg was also critical: “We are leaders in the field of electrical engineering, but there is still a long way to go before we become market leaders in the field of software.”
The world’s largest automotive supplier has managed the transformation from a pure hardware company to a software company, said Mathias Pillin (President Cross Domain Computing Solutions at Bosch). Today, however, the biggest challenge of a Tier 1 is to make it clear to the OEM that not only hardware, but also software has an independent value. It is the software, he said, that makes it possible to process data from a connected vehicle in the quantity and quality to provide individual services and functions.
Dipti Vachani, SVP Automotive and IoT at arm, sees an interplay between hardware and software: “Software-defined vehicles need specific computing power and hardware tailored to the workload of the car. To achieve this, software development today must be integrated into the vehicle development process at a very early stage and meet different demands for performance and compatibility. This compatibility across the entire vehicle is and remains a major challenge for manufacturers. For her, the interlocking further development of hardware and software is the top priority.
Panel discussion “Semiconductors: The Base of the Software-defined Car”.
Moderated by Alfred Vollmer (Automotive Electronics), Jens Fabrowsky (Bosch), Calista Redmond (RISC-V International), Dipti Vachani (arm), Lars Reger (NXP) and Magnus Östberg (Mercedes-Benz), discussed the position of semiconductors in the automotive sector. Commenting on the reports and rumors that OEMs are now building their own chips, Lars Rieger of NXP said, “Let’s dispel the myths a bit. Tesla gets 99% of its chips from companies like us. All they have done is develop an AI accelerator.” And on semiconductor shortages, he commented, “98% of all automotive semiconductors will be above 20 nm in the next 15 years.” Arm’s Dipti Vachani emphasized that innovation has not slowed down due to Corona and that the industry is moving like never before. Magnus Östberg argued that the industry should become more professional in dealing with risks. All the panelists were equally clear that scaling must become the focus of attention.
User experience as a central feature of the software-defined vehicle
The vehicle as the ultimate mobile device: a major topic at the congress. According to Stephan Durach, SVP Connected Company Development at BMW, hardware is increasingly taking a back seat, while intuitive, natural interaction in the car is becoming more and more important. At BMW, this is implemented in the form of a virtual assistant or intelligent navigation. However, it would remain exciting to see what would happen with Apple’s Car Play system, for example, should conflicts of interest arise on the subject of user interface.
When it came to the topic of user experience, three speakers were very much in agreement: Dirk Walliser, SVP Corporate Research & Development at the ZF Group, got to the heart of the matter in his very interesting presentation. The software-defined vehicle is much more than just software. It is much more about the user experience. As far as the cost structure is concerned, however, it is still not clear who will bear the costs for additional software functions in the future: The OEM or the customer?
At Harman International, the focus is also on the consumer experience. For Christian Sobottka, President of the Automotive Division, customers rightly expect to find everything they use on their smartphones in their cars within a very short time. And Riclef Schmidt-Clausen, SVP Domain Intelligent Cockpit & Body at Cariad, noted that smartphone manufacturers clearly still lead the way in user experience. Reaching this level in the automotive industry is a major challenge, he said.
Collaboration as the key to success?
Christoph Hartung (ETAS) spoke about how this challenge could be solved quickly in his presentation, which also contained quite provocative statements: There is no more hierarchical industry than the automotive industry, and AUTOSAR (an initiative to create an open software architecture for ECUs) was founded in 2003 because the industry was “deep in the sh***” at that time. Currently, we are again in a similar situation with the further development of the user interface in the software-defined vehicle, says Hartung – but the willingness to cooperate is basically there in the industry. Karsten Michels, Head of Productline at Continental Automotive, put it similarly, but less provocatively: “Collaboration is the key, we’re all in the same boat.”
Calista Redmond, CEO of RISC-V International brought the topic of open source collaboration model to the stage with a lot of enthusiasm. RISC-V is a free and open ISA that aims to enable a new era of processor innovation through open standards collaboration.
Other presentations by top-notch speakers on exciting insights enriched the congress.
The setting and the atmosphere
For the 26th time already, the doors of the congress opened, which every year is the central meeting point for almost 600 industry experts, mainly from the automotive electrics/electronics sector. The “Great Reunion of the Industry”, as the congress is also fondly called, takes place at the Forum am Schlosspark in Ludwigsburg. For the first time, the event was held exclusively in English – whether this contributed to the quality of the congress is something we at magility critically question. Criticism was also voiced among the participants that with a proportion of German-speaking visitors of certainly at least 90%, a great deal was “lost in translation”. Visitors were able to visit the accompanying trade exhibition before the lecture rooms and find out about the latest developments from exhibitors in the industry live and make contacts. At the culinary networking event in the evening in the neighboring riding hall, the mood was relaxed; many finally saw each other in person for the first time after two years of pandemic.
We were struck this year by the slight increase in the number of female visitors, both on and off stage. With a share of about 3% of the total number of visitors, however, there is still plenty of room for improvement!
The number of female attendees was clearly reflected in the visit to the ladies’ toilets. Conclusion: At this congress the men have to queue 😉
magility Insights
We from magility met many business partners at the congress, had interesting conversations and were pleased to be able to network in person again. As always, the congress was smoothly organized. Thematically, it was more about “in the vehicle” and less about networking and infrastructure, which plays an equally important role in the software-defined vehicle for us at magility. The topic of fleet clearly came up short for us and the subject matter of the speakers has changed only minimally from the time before Corona. Cooperations are important, almost all participants agreed on that. This was also the case before Corona. However, few cooperations were presented this year, which may be an unintended side effect of the Corona pandemic with its contact restrictions.
For us from magility, the presentation by Huawei was very impressive, in which it was explained what has already been implemented and achieved there in the last 3 years. Huawei introduced its first electric car Seres Huawei Smart Selection SF5 only last year and the speed with which Huawei is on the move in the further development of intelligent automotive solutions should shake up all other market players. In their presentations the German companies talked even more about what should be implemented.
The road to the software-defined vehicle is without a doubt one of the key challenges for the German automotive industry that needs to be tackled with verve and without delay. Here in the Stuttgart metropolitan region, we have the best prerequisites for helping to shape the mobility of the future on a solid basis if we approach the new market participants with an open mind, see cooperation as an opportunity, and rely at least in part on uniform software development. Not everyone has to cook their own soup. But together we have the chance to turn the soup into a star menu! Let’s do great things together! We at magility are happy to help!
by Nada Welker | Dec 1, 2021 | Market development & Trends
Electric cars are the future, and they will dominate the car market in a few years. Every year, automakers expand their product lineup, setting the stage for new generations of e-cars. Today, every vehicle manufacturer is working on e-vehicles, from established players to new names like Byton, Lordstown and Rivian. The big players are focusing primarily on newly developed platforms. These are expected to contribute to significantly more variability, performance and range compared to previous generations of e-cars. However, the newly developed electric car platforms score points primarily for their increasing flexibility and savings potential, as they can serve as a basis for different types of e-cars. This variable basis will be able to be used for vehicles from the VW Group’s own brand world as well as for vehicles from competitors – similar to the Modular Electric Building Kit (MEB) first introduced in 2016.
Global industry leaders
While COVID-19 has negatively impacted markets for combustion engine vehicles worldwide, sales of electric vehicles (xEVs) have surged, particularly in Europe.
According to Roland Berger’s E-Mobility Index 2021, China is currently the industry leader in the sector, producing the largest number of xEVs and battery cells. It is expected that the total production of BEVs (battery electric vehicles) and PHEVs (plug-in hybrid vehicles) will increase by 13 percent from 2018 to 2023 compared to the previous period of 2017 to 2022. Cumulative domestic battery cell production capacity calculated for the 2018-23 period is expected to account for more than 70 percent of global installed capacity:
China continues to strengthen its leadership role by expanding local production capacity. German OEMs are also achieving strong growth in vehicle production, but have little battery cell production capacity, ranking only third behind the United States.
Europe saw strong market growth in the 2021 E-Mobility Index, led by Germany and Italy. Both markets achieved sales growth of over 200 percent. In Germany, sales of xEVs increased from 112,000 to more than 400,000 vehicles, meaning that Germany now accounts for the second-largest market for xEVs. In terms of BEV/PHEV market share of the overall market, Germany now even takes first place.
Development of new e-vehicles on the rise – and helping the climate
The range of vehicles with electrified powertrains has increased massively in recent years. There is now a choice of xEVs in every segment. Many new or updated BEV and PHEV models were launched in 2020. In addition, OEMs had already increased their xEV production capacity in 2019 in preparation for the introduction of the Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP) – a uniform standard for calculating pollutant levels, CO2 emissions, fuel consumption and range – and continued to do so during the reporting period. This means they will likely be able to meet the 95g CO2/km target for average fleet emissions in 2021:
Electric base of Renault and Nissan
Renault and Nissan unveiled a new electric base last year: the CMF-EV platform. This is to be used not only across brands but also across manufacturers by alliance partner Mitsubishi. The CMF-EV platform is variable enough to serve as the basis for city vehicles, sedans, or even large SUV models that can travel long distances without stopping to charge. The Renault Mégane eVision is intended to build on the success of the Renault Zoé. With an output of 160 kW/217 hp, a battery capacity of 60 kW, and fast-charging capability, the vehicle guarantees long ranges and a versatile range of uses.
BMW’s “New Class” platforms
Inspired by the successful 1500 and 1800 models of the 1960s, BMW’s new “New Class” architecture brings forth platforms exclusively for e-cars. Scheduled to launch in 2025, the first model will be a sedan in the 3 Series format, dubbed NK1. The new architecture features redefined IT and software amenities, a newly developed electric drive and battery generation, and a whole system of lifecycle sustainability. It is said to be optimized exclusively for electric powertrains.
General Motors: New e-platform called “Ultium Drive”.
General Motors’ “Ultium Drive” multi-purpose electric underpinnings include a skateboard-like base structure with a battery made of pouch cells that sits flat and low to the ground, and drive units on the front and rear axles. Also planned are 400- and 800-volt architectures. Drivetrains consisting of five genset units will be available to represent front-, rear- and all-wheel-drive systems for passenger cars and commercial vehicles in many power levels. Because of the versatility of the new platforms, scaling effects are achievable, bringing the cost of Ultium batteries below $100 per kilowatt-hour, according to a GM forecast.
Those who prefer high performance will be well served by the roughly 1,000-horsepower new edition of the GMC Hummer EV: This one is powerful enough to reach 100 km/h from a standstill within three seconds while offering 560 kilometers of range. Thanks to 800-volt technology, recharging power for 160 kilometers is possible within ten minutes.
This most powerful version of the Hummer is already available on the market. Those who can be patient can look forward to innovations from the future Cadillac electric brand from 2022, along with other GM models: the Lyriq SUV and the Celestiq luxury sedan.
GM plans to launch more than 30 electrically powered models by 2025. So we can be curious.
Mercedes-Benz: Electric Versatility Platform
New e-platforms are also planned for the commercial vehicle sector. The Electric Versatility Platform differs significantly from the eSprinter model already available: instead of relying on front-wheel drive, the original engine compartment accommodates most of the control and charging electronics in a compact package. Instead, the drive is provided by an integrated e-axle with a central electric engine directly in the axle beam.
Would you like to learn more about topics such as e-mobility, smart grids or the Internet of Things? Get to know our colleague Jürgen Schenk – He is our top expert in the fields of electric vehicle and drive development, evaluation and design of complex systems.
We’ll keep you up to date here at magility when exciting new e-platforms appear. Follow us on LinkedIn to never miss any news.
by Nada Welker | Nov 3, 2021 | Market development & Trends
E-bikes, e-scooters, and so on – micromobility includes all means of transport that offer space for a maximum of two people and are suitable for shorter distances. To be more precise, in most cases these are electrically powered vehicles. These are grouped together under the term “miniature electric vehicles“. The focus of micromobility is on resource-saving and flexible locomotion as well as relieving the burden on road traffic. These micro-vehicles mainly offer a solution in overcrowded big cities and are gaining more and more importance nowadays. Micromobility is revolutionizing the way we get around.
What makes micromobiles so special?
One important aspect of micromobility is flexibility in getting around. Nowadays, the focus is primarily on what is known as “shared mobility” or “mobility as a service (MaaS)“. This means booking mobility online when you need it. Various vehicles and different types of vehicle use are offered via a central platform. Interested parties can therefore choose the right vehicle for the route they want to take. In most cases, the principle of “free-floating” applies. This allows the driver to park the micromobile anywhere, so there is no fixed return location. In addition, the provider is responsible for charging and maintaining the vehicle. Other advantages are that the user can avoid traffic jams within the city and the problem of the annoying search for a parking space is eliminated.
Great potential is seen above all in the so-called first and last mile. Here, micromobility is linked with public transport: for example, the e-scooter can be used instead of the car for the journey to the S-Bahn or the journey from the S-Bahn to the workplace. As a result, resources are conserved and emissions are reduced. Micromobility benefits the environment and the general public by improving the air in cities while providing flexible transportation for urban society.
Regulations and restrictions within micromobility
Due to the ever-increasing importance of micro electric vehicles in recent years, an ordinance with current regulations was put into effect in June 2019. Basically, people 14 years and older are allowed to use electric vehicles. Possession of a driver’s license is not necessary for this purpose. The use of e-vehicles is permitted in public areas, provided they are limited to the maximum speed of 20 km/h and have a steering or stop bar. Operation is only permitted on inner-city roads and cycle paths and therefore not on sidewalks or motorways. In addition, traffic safety requirements, for example in the area of braking and lighting systems and electrical safety, must be ensured.
So far, some questions remain unanswered
Despite some advantages and opportunities in the field of micromobility, some serious problems still remain to be solved today. For one thing, there is the question of how environmentally friendly electric vehicles really are when the factors of production, battery and the expense of maintenance are taken into account. A large proportion of e-scooters are produced in China, largely using energy from coal-fired power plants. In addition, there is a high environmental impact in the production of the batteries due to the use of rare raw materials.
In the statistics shown, initial research on the environmental footprint of e-scooters in 2019 is presented. It is clear that the electric scooters, with approximately 130 grams of CO2 per kilometer, performed significantly better than a mid-range passenger car. Compared to a diesel-powered vehicle, however, the smallest vehicles are not in a good light: they emit twice as much CO2 as a diesel-powered bus.
Basically, e-vehicles only make environmental sense if they replace car or motorcycle trips. The more people use micromobility as a new means of transportation, the less people will then potentially resort to cars in the inner city area. Furthermore, wildly parked e-scooters and scooters create a social nuisance. Although the providers’ apps mark the areas where the scooters may be parked, it is not uncommon to find the e-scooters in rivers, in the middle of the sidewalk or even on trees. Locating the offender is almost impossible in most cases, which is why the providers have to bear the costs of disposal. So far, it is still questionable which further measures will be considered here. In addition, the aspect of road safety has not yet been sufficiently examined: Currently, there is no helmet obligation.
The illustrated statistics show that in the months from January to March 2021, a total of 356 accidents with personal injury were recorded when using very small electric vehicles, and in 49 cases there were serious injuries. One of the reasons cited for the high number of accidents is that it is not possible to tell exactly when the e-scooter driver is accelerating or braking.
Micromobility meets IAA
Under the motto “How do we want to move in the city of the future?”, mobility was examined from other angles for the first time at the IAA 2021 in Munich. These included sustainable and urban mobility, innovative public transport and intelligent infrastructure. A total of 109 exhibitors presented their visions of sustainable mobility in these thematic areas. Classic car manufacturers such as Porsche, VW or BMW followed the latest trend of the bicycle and presented their innovations. Young companies and start-ups also had a strong hand in the micromobility sector at this year’s IAA Mobility. Visitors were able to experience inner-city mobility first-hand, for example, from BMW X2City and other vehicles on a parcour or during guided tours.
Although opinions differ on the presentation of micromobility at a previously car-only trade show, the new mobility seems to be a complete success: The transformation of mobility is moving in the direction of digitalization and sustainability – and this has been implemented through the new concept of IAA Mobility. It is also clear that there has long been more than just the car or the e-bike, but that mobility options are being combined to create solutions for both rural and metropolitan regions.
Meanwhile, the IAA is considered the largest mobility event in the world.
Where is the micromobility journey headed?
The global forecast for micro electric vehicles over the next few years is promising, according to the statistics below. According to the report, the demand for inner-city mobility continues to rise. While in 2010 the global demand of micromobility was 25.8 trillion passenger kilometers, it is expected to increase to 48.4 trillion passenger kilometers by 2050.
According to a study by the world’s leading management consultancy McKinsey & Company, micromobility will generate up to $150 billion in Europe by 2030, and as much as $500 billion worldwide. The market for micro electric vehicles is growing two to three times faster than car sharing or e-hailing services. These include apps for mobility.
It therefore remains exciting to what extent electromobility will continue to develop and whether the majority will soon be turning to e-scooters instead of their own cars. We at magility will keep an eye on further developments for you.
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by Nada Welker | Sep 20, 2021 | Alternative Drives, Automotive Industry, New Mobility, Smart City, Startups
400,000 visitors from 95 countries, nearly 1000 speakers and 744 exhibitors gathered at the new IAA Mobility last week. Among them were car manufacturers, important players of the tech industry, numerous relevant companies of the supply industry and suppliers of micromobility products. As every time, we from magility were again active on site.
The new concept
This year, the IAA Mobility presented itself in Munich for the first time in a completely new way. Very ambitious, hybrid in presence and online version, as well as in a B2B and a B2C version. The B2B section was located on the exhibition grounds themselves, while the B2C area was placed in the center of the city. Many areas could be visited free of charge on Munich’s most popular squares, even without a ticket. Those who were not there in person were able to experience the show digitally via IAA Mobility’s new virtual platform.
The demonstrators
In particular, the squares in the city were protected by massive police presence. There has not been a larger police contingent in Germany since the 2017 G20 Summit in Hamburg. Numerous demonstrators gathered at different squares and demanded a turn away from the still car-dominated traffic policy. They stood up for pedestrian, bicycle and local traffic, abseiled from highway bridges, organized a bicycle star ride as well as pedestrian demonstrations or took part in a so-called protest camp on the Theresienwiese. Demonstrators accused the makers of the IAA Mobility of being nothing more than a platform for the image polish of politics and business.
Our impression – magility on site
During our walk around the fair, we could already clearly see the transition from a pure car show to a mobility exhibition. Different vehicle solutions and forms of mobility have found their way into the trade fair. The new IAA Mobility is no longer a pure car show where OEMs present their cars with powerful combustion engines. Only a few vehicles with combustion engines were to be found at the fair, but unfortunately also almost no exhibitors from abroad. The IAA Mobility is supposed to become a networking event and a platform for cooperation as well as for new business models, micro-mobility and urban policy. Under one roof, or one sky, many players came together to shape the mobility of the future.
In her opening speech at the IAA, Chancellor Merkel spoke of a real quantum leap compared to the last IAA. The networking of all forms of mobility was clearly the focus. In addition to the automakers, numerous suppliers, tech startups, bicycle brands and other micro-mobility providers with new offerings bustled around the exhibition areas. On different stages, there were discussions and lectures about the new forms of mobility, and everything related to them. It was also about the cities of the future, about cyber security, about traffic concepts and, of course, about the further advancement of networking.
A tangible vision of the city of the future, climate-neutral, without noise and congestion and with a multimodal and safe traffic concept, has not yet emerged for us at the fair. Due to the very ambitious, future-oriented and decentralized concept and due to the integration of the numerous forms of locomotion, one sometimes felt a bit lost in the large halls or on the streets. The path taken by the makers of the IAA Mobility is a first small step in the right direction and, from magility’s point of view, has great potential for the future. As is well known, transformation away from the tried-and-true to the experimental new never runs smoothly and requires support from experts who can combine the old and the new in a meaningful way.
The biggest weakness of the current concept is the inadequate implementation of the B2B concept. As in the old days, almost all exhibitors have sent pure sales teams to the trade show booths. However, there is a lack of qualified developers and buyers to bring the B2B concept to real life.
The car manufacturers
Electric vehicles clearly dominate the show floor at IAA Mobility. The industry has realized that it needs to rethink and the politically prescribed framework conditions seem to be taking effect. We were able to find only a few vehicles with classic combustion engines at the IAA. This effect is already reflected in the registration statistics of the German Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA, 2020), which records a total of 25% of registrations for the e-vehicle and hybrid segments. This is almost on a par with diesel (28%), while gasoline still clearly leads with 47% of registrations. The OEMs are therefore perfectly capable of meeting current demand.
The principle of “more sustainable, smarter, shared economy” is increasingly replacing the old principle of “faster, stronger and wider”. At the IAA Mobility, this development has not yet taken hold in the OEM passenger cars on display. For potential buyers from the cross-section of the German population, the range of offers there is still inadequate. According to a study by Statista on the willingness of the German population to spend on the purchase of a passenger car in 2020, only about 6% of the population who planned to buy a new car in 2020 wanted to invest more than €25,000 in this purchase.
The only car at the show with a purchase price below €25,000 was VW’s ID.Life, although according to Volkswagen brand boss Ralf Brandstätter, it will not be available on the market until 2025. So we looked in vain for available electric vehicles for the mass market at the IAA Mobility, as well as hydrogen-powered vehicles.
Internationality was sorely missed at the IAA and should be restored at subsequent trade shows. In addition, the IAA Mobility does not cover the complete range of mobility, because motorcycles, air cabs, hyperloops, electric planes, supersonic aircrafts and spaceships are missing.
Our conclusion: IAA Mobility 2021 was, as always, exciting and at the same time already very different from the past. But for it to be sustainable, it needs to change a lot more. The direction is right, the design still needs significant corrective loops.
The suppliers
The suppliers moved much more into the center of attention at the IAA Mobility. The major suppliers (Tier1) met the automakers on an equal footing. This was quite different at the “old” IAA. Here, a clear shift is visible and the industry “behind” it is more visible. Among suppliers, too, the focus is clearly on electromobility and alternative drive technologies. Bosch, for example, announced at the IAA Mobility that electromobility would become the core business for the company in the future and presented the newly developed “eAxis“, which combines power electronics, electric motor and transmission into a single unit. Continental and Schaeffler also showed innovations around the topic of alternative drives at the trade show.
At the press conference, Wolf-Henning Scheider, Chief Executive Officer of the ZF Group, presented the ZF strategy “Next Generation Mobility. NOW“. He also presented the so-called “Modular eDrive Kit“, a modular construction kit consisting of coordinated components which, in addition to e-motors, also offers inverters, software, and various transmission options. According to Scheider, it bundles the entire expertise of the ZF e-mobility team in system solutions, components and software control in a flexible and modular platform. The consistent modular approach of the eDrive Kit is the optimal complement to the platform strategy of vehicle manufacturers. With the modular drive solution for purely electric passenger cars, ZF promises up to 50 percent shorter development times as well as high maturity levels. From compact cars to the premium segment, everything can be mapped.
The ZF example shows, as do Huawei, Schaeffler, Bosch, Tesla, and others, that the intelligence of future vehicles will be determined by a few, extremely powerful central computers such as the ZF ProAI. According to ZF, the ZF ProAI is the most flexible, scalable, and powerful automotive-grade supercomputer for the automotive industry, effectively becoming the source of vehicle intelligence.
The changeover process from conventional driveline technology to electromobility represents a massive qualification effort in the coming years, also for suppliers, who will have to adapt their services and products to the new requirements. From magility’s point of view, some suppliers are already well ahead of the vehicle manufacturers, while others will not survive this next evolutionary step.
The startups
Startups were much more in focus at the IAA Mobility compared to the last IAA. The startup booths were centrally located next to the big players in the industry and therefore very accessible to trade show visitors. They had the opportunity to network with investors, international partners and political representatives at the numerous networking events and to participate in master classes, discussion panels and lectures. The IAA Mobility Founders Day – a networking event – also reached progressive target groups of the IAA. Many of the most exciting developments came not from the established manufacturers, for example, but precisely from these new young companies and the startups. For example, Johann Jungwirth, Vice President of Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) at Mobileye, announced a small sensation from the field of autonomous driving. Starting in 2022, a robot cab service is to be offered in Munich together with the car rental company Sixt, which is to operate without a safety driver. Approval has already been applied for. Tech startups are ahead of established providers, primarily due to their faster development cycles. Many startups from the ADAS sector were also represented at the show. So was Cognata, an Israeli company that offers full product lifecycle simulation for developers of ADAS and autonomous vehicles. We will report on these and other interesting startups at the IAA and their high-tech developments in another article.
Micromobility at the IAA
Cars were not the only focus of attention at this year’s IAA. Micromobility providers also got involved in the trade show action for the first time. Bicycles are in vogue, and even classic car manufacturers such as Porsche are getting involved in the micromobility-market: In cooperation with German bicycle manufacturer Storck Bicycle, Porsche has launched a new brand called Cyklaer. This brand offers fast e-bikes at Porsche’s price level. BMW is active in the cargo bike sector with its “Dynamic Cargo” concept, and VW is also involved with its “e-Bike Cargo” cargo bike, which is even due to be launched this year. Young companies and startups are also getting involved in the micromobility sector at this year’s IAA Mobility. We will report on this in a separate article.
Our conclusion
The path to climate-neutral mobility that is affordable and available to all is visibly progressing, even if there are still some long-established views and behaviors to be rethought along the way! The IAA Mobility has picked up on this trend and given a starting signal with the new concept. The design can be further developed and can move in a promising direction. This year, IAA Mobility was clearly focused on e-drives. ADAS and e-mobility topics were definitely the focus of the show. Suppliers of micro-mobility-products also made their mark at the show. It was also clear to us that the convergence of industries will play an even more important role in the future. Platform providers are now playing a major role in the automotive industry. Huawei in particular stood out to us with its end-to-end solution from the cloud to the vehicle architecture. So telecommunications companies are no longer just appearing on the sidelines in the automotive market. They are right in the middle of the action, and car manufacturers will have to dress warmly. For the next IAA in 2023, we at magility expect the topic of autonomous driving to move further into the spotlight of the trade show.
All in all, we look back on a very interesting trade fair and are already looking forward to the exciting development steps that will (have to) be taken through the mobility transformation by 2023. We are enthusiastically supporting the startups from our network in placing their high-tech developments in the right place at the right time here in Europe. For the industrial companies, we evaluate and review new innovative business models and accompany them during integration and market launch. With our experts in the field of electromobility and alternative drives, we also monitor this submarket. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
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