Suppliers are increasingly exploring solid-state batteries (SSBs) as a potential solution for the automotive industry, particularly as manufacturers seek to enhance the performance and safety of electric vehicles. Unlike traditional lithium-ion batteries that use liquid electrolytes, SSBs use solid electrolytes, which have several advantages, including improved energy density, greater safety and longer life cycles. However, while these benefits are promising, the technology is still in the devel...

S&P Global Mobility’s Matthew Beecham has engaged senior executives from 42 suppliers in the automotive supply chain for an end-of-year interview initiative. This initiative seeks to gather valuable insights into the challenges faced in 2024 and the strategies being formulated for 2025, prioritizing genuine experiences over elaborate strategies. This report is the final volume in a four-part series. The key discussion points include the challenges faced by automotive suppliers in 2024, ...

S&P Global Mobility’s Matthew Beecham has engaged senior executives from 42 suppliers in the automotive supply chain for an end-of-year interview initiative. This initiative seeks to gather valuable insights into the challenges faced in 2024 and the strategies being formulated for 2025, prioritizing genuine experiences over elaborate strategies. This report is the third of four volumes. The key discussion points include the challenges faced by automotive suppliers, including increased r...

S&P Global Mobility’s Matthew Beecham has engaged senior executives from 42 suppliers in the automotive supply chain for an end-of-year interview initiative. This initiative seeks to gather valuable insights into the challenges faced in 2024 and the strategies being formulated for 2025, prioritizing genuine experiences over elaborate strategies. This report is the second of four volumes. The key discussion points include ongoing supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, and regulatory ...

S&P Global Mobility's Matthew Beecham has engaged senior executives from 42 suppliers in the automotive supply chain for an end-of-year interview initiative. This initiative seeks to gather valuable insights on the challenges faced in 2024 and the strategies being formulated for 2025, prioritizing genuine experiences over elaborate strategies. This report is the first of four volumes published in late 2024. Key discussion points encompass significant trends impacting suppliers, such as sh...

Stellantis is a global automotive leader formed from the merger of Fiat Chrysler and PSA Group, encompassing 14 brands such as Jeep, Peugeot and RAM. The company focuses on electrification, connected technologies and operational efficiency, aiming for a sustainable future while addressing diverse consumer needs across major markets. The original equipment manufacturer is committed to achieving a 100% zero-emission lineup in Europe by 2030, focusing on affordability and technological innovatio...

Battery swapping is an approach in the electric vehicle (EV) industry, featuring two solutions: full battery swaps and modular systems. Full swaps allow for battery replacement at stations, providing convenience but requiring infrastructure investment. Modular systems enable drivers to add battery packs for longer trips, offering flexibility and reduced vehicle weight. Both solutions depend on advancements in battery technology and infrastructure to be effective. As the industry evolves, optimiz...

S&P Global Mobility: With a global slowdown in the sale of battery-electric vehicles (BEVs), several legacy automakers are beginning to increase their focus on hybrid vehicles. In India too, there are two lobbies — one that favors leapfrogging to BEVs and the other that looks at hybrids as the next best step. For Amara Raja, while hybrids and BEVs both translate into business, how do you otherwise view this transition? Vikramadithya Gourineni: I have mixed views on this transition. Both...

Wayve's recent funding represents the largest AI fundraising in the UK to date. One notable aspect of Wayve's approach to automated/autonomous driving technology is its focus on empowering a variety of manufacturers through its 'Embodied AI' technology. Unlike many competitors that rely heavily on high-definition maps and pre-programmed routes, Wayve utilizes a machine learning model that learns from vast amounts of data, simulating human learning. This adaptability enables Wayve's system to han...

The openness of international markets, amplified by the acceleration in globalization over the past few decades, is usurped by the creeping return of protectionism. Nothing illustrates this trend better than the ongoing tug of war over electric vehicles (EVs) and their related supply chains. Policymakers in the US and European Union are rattled by the ambitions of mainland Chinese companies to expand exports of low-cost EV and EV parts, forcing them to announce new policies and reconsider import...

As with everything that Tesla says and does, its investment in Mexico for a new vehicle plant has attracted much attention. The latest hubbub around the Santa Catarina, Nuevo Leon, plant surrounds reports that Tesla is looking to invite its mainland Chinese suppliers at its operations in Shanghai to join it in investing in Mexico. That it is looking to bring some of its mainland Chinese suppliers to Mexico is not surprising. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) do this all the time. They have...

In this S&P Global Mobility interview, Siyu Huang, CEO and co-founder of Factorial Energy discusses the challenges and opportunities in the production and implementation of solid-state batteries (SSBs) in electric vehicles (EVs). Huang highlights the importance of collaboration and standardization to reduce costs and enhance sustainability in the supply chain. Huang explains that SSBs have the potential to address the limitations of current lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries in EVs, such as r...

The global electric vehicle (EV) transition faces hurdles due to geopolitical turbulence and vulnerability in the critical raw-material supply chain, risking a slowdown in battery production expansion. Oscillating prices of essential battery metals are putting pressure on supplier and original equipment manufacturer profits, leading to increased component and vehicle prices. Complicating the EV transition is trade friction, evidenced by the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA’s) activities in ...

The expected increase in global EV sales by the end of the decade will put huge pressure on the supply chain for critical battery raw materials such as cobalt, nickel and lithium. For example, despite a current surplus in lithium, demand projections for the mineral will likely be in deficit by 2027, according to a forecast by S&P Global Market Intelligence. That will create a bottleneck for automotive supply and drive the industry’s focus toward battery recycling to keep EV battery costs d...

The automotive industry grappled with a range of challenges this year, including ongoing supply chain disruptions, chip shortages, rising energy costs, inflation, recession fears, waning consumer demand, a shift towards software and electronics, labor shortages, strike action, and volatile order forecasts. It also faced several geopolitical concerns and challenges, including the ongoing trade tensions between the US and China, which resulted in tariffs and trade barriers that disrupted global su...

Amid persistent macroeconomic uncertainty, spot demand for battery metals has waned over 2023, contributing to a general weakening of metals prices, down from record price highs in 2022. But the horizon for energy transition-related demand has arrived, spurred forward by various government initiatives that have supported plug-in electric vehicle uptake to decarbonize the transport sector and a focus on renewable energy sources. Batteries are the most expensive component of electric vehicle...

Previously known as the Frankfurt Motor Show, the IAA Mobility relocated to Munich in 2021, shifting the focus away from the traditional static motor show to giving practical demonstrations of new technology. While the ritualistic wall-to-wall “thumpin’-and-pumpin’” music inside the Messe Frankfurt every other September is but a distant memory, the sheer range of exciting new electric and autonomous vehicle concepts are still on display in different locations in Germany’s third-largest...

S&P Global Mobility: How was OneD Battery Sciences established? Please tell us about the origin of ‘SINANODE’ platform. Vincent Pluvinage: I have lived in the Silicon Valley since 1987, and I have taken a couple of companies public. Since 2001–02, I have been active in Silicon Valley as an investor, mainly focusing on innovative technologies, where I can use my physics and bioengineering background, to bring to market technologies that are well patented. I am an inventor at heart...

Sustainability vs. economics Battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) in operation will reach 171 million units globally in 2032, according to S&P Global Mobility. What will happen to all those end-of-life batteries? The race is on to recycled electric vehicle (EV) batteries. But at what cost and who stands to gain? EV sales are blossoming but it is still a waiting game for battery recyclers. Where and when is the window of opportunity for high-voltage battery recycling? A new study by S&...

Sila’s anode material plant in Moses Lake, Washington, will produce enough material to serve up to 200,000 electric vehicles in its first phase. With Mercedes-Benz as its first official customer, Sila is working through an early qualification process with other potential customers. Sila’s innovative silicon materials can entirely replace graphite from battery anode. Berdichevsky gives a detailed account of how Sila was formed, the advantages of breakthrough silicon anodes in EV...

The time for denial is over. There are still suppliers of parts related to internal combustion engines that are steadfast in their belief that the looming (and eventual) shift away from ICE toward any number of battery-electric propulsion formats is just a passing fad. In their view, scores of OEMs, suppliers, dealers and infrastructure partners have it completely wrong. They believe that the billions in investment earmarked in virtually every major global market to build a new ecosystem are cap...

Last January, five European countries - Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden - submitted a proposal to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) to restrict PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) in the EU under the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation. The group are calling for an EU ban on PFAS as early as 2026, pointing to recent studies that have linked the chemicals’ exposure to a wide range of health problems. The proposed r...

One of the most recognized patterns in current well-to-wheel analysis is the differentiation of localized power generation sources and supply chain contributions to the overall carbon footprint of vehicles. Experts like Kelly Senecal rightly point out that in many cases, the power grid is dirtier than a hybrid, even when vehicles manufacturing energy sources are responsibly developed.  Click the link above to download the full article.

In 2023, some 300 exhibitors showcased their vehicle technology. Its increasing importance – usurping the traditional auto shows like NAIAS, Paris, IAA and Geneva along the way – is demonstrated if we wind back the clock to 2014. Then, there were just nine OEMs present and some 125 automotive technology exhibitors. With this growth has also come maturity. The 2023 CES was less about fanciful concepts and more about tangible. Click the link above to download the full article.

Automotive display HMI is growing in demand owning to convenience features and enhancing customer experience. Moreover, in the coming years development of multi-display will not only provide greater freedom of information usage and control between driver and passenger, but it will also reduce product development complexities and costs for automakers. Although, in real-terms automakers will invest more during the initial years to gain longer-term benefits. Automakers are also engaged in the devel...

The current year has again been dominated by the chip crisis. Overlaid on this has been the worsening macroeconomic position due to the fallout from the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which has had knock-on effects for the industry in terms of demand surety. In turn this has brought an end to the era of cheap capital, which has served to slow the burgeoning mobility startup ecosystem. In the broader sense the sector looks set to be heading to a phase where demand-side considerations replace the curren...