Key Trends Turning Up The Heat In The EV Market

Dheeman Kadam Jan 23, 2022

As we are beginning to step into a new year, we are looking at new possibilities, innovations, and transformations towards a greener and more consequential world. The Indian electric vehicle market is a rapidly growing space that is expected to reach USD 47 billion by 2026. Although it is at a nascent stage, it is set to emerge as one of the leading EV global markets with the support of government initiatives and policies. Let us review the key trends that are turning up the heat in the EV Market.

The soaring acceptance of electric vehicles in India is encouraging the leading automotive manufacturers to launch electric vehicles in the country. General Motors recently announced the production of only zero-emission vehicles by 2035, which defines the powerful role of a cleaner mobility alternative towards the future of transportation.

Meanwhile, with a shift towards eco-friendly transportation and as more people are investing in Electric vehicles, charging station companies are witnessing an increase in demand from real-estate developers, housing societies, and resident welfare associations.

Businesses are collaborating with builders to create an EV-friendly charging infrastructure by installing charging stations in residential spaces and apartments. Since the majority of EV’s are charged at home, upcoming residential projects are offering EV charging enabled parking spaces, while existing societies are converting 10% of the parking space into an EV charging facility. Focusing on the guidelines announced by the Maharashtra government, a 2 percent rebate on property tax is to be paid to the civic body.

The EV market is looking at an expansion, with the support and the push of the government, who are encouraging local production of EVs with the aim to reduce the country’s dependence on crude oil imports while controlling and reducing vehicle pollution. The government has come up with guidelines regarding the set-up of EV charging stations at every 3 sq. km area in cities and 25km on highways.

Moreover, in a bid to further grow and innovate, the EV market is seeing improvement in battery capacity, charging rates, high-performance traction motors and thermal runaway detection. With the risk of EV fires, the concept of thermal runaway prevention and protection has taken the forefront which demands a more effective thermal management infrastructure. Although EV fires are less common than combustion vehicle fires, EV fires tend to have a more severe affect. As it was seen in 2020 when Hyundai and General Motors had to face severe backlash which left them with a questionable reputation and a recall of 100,000 vehicles.

Latest reports on Thermal Management suggest trends, OEM strategies, and emerging alternatives such as immersive cooling which supports the Automotive software market which is set to increase by 250% in the next 10 years.

Especially since fast charging is a key trend in the EV market, interest in immersion cooling is becoming more crucial. This is where the role of thermal management comes in as a key consideration in cooling the batteries to increase the longevity of the cells while preventing thermal runaway.

As EV security regulations are beginning to be enforced, opportunities for fire insulation materials open to an interesting landscape of potential for thermal management and fire protection components and material manufacturers.

Furthermore, Smart energy management, with the onset of demand towards EV, will balance the allocation of power between chargers by using sources of renewable energy such as solar and wind. By allocating onsite green energy from solar panels into the power supply of the charge point will supplement the energy drawn from the grid and will reduce the impact of hydrocarbon-based energy sources. India stands to benefit from the abundance of renewable energy sources and the availability of skilled manpower in the technology and manufacturing sectors.

The collaboration of battery storage systems with smart energy also delivers the same principle as vehicle-to-grid charging where batteries store power, into the grid during low demand times and are then fed to charge the EV’s during peak times.

Lastly, the need for cost efficiency is pushing the market players to collaborate and understand the importance of the integrated end-to-end digital value chain. Companies who wish to deliver the best user experience for charging networks are in need to manage the entire value chain from the customer to the hardware journey, maintenance, operations, software management and customer experience.

The central and state government schemes, resources and a positive move towards a growing infrastructure is a cue for India to take over China as the EV capital of the world and truly become ‘Atmanirbhar’