JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Special Issue Composites for mobility - May 2020 - 21

Can Europe develop a mass market for electric vehicles?

Fig. 8: Current and
future giga-factories
Source: PFA

Fig. 9: Electric vehicle
charging infrastructures
Source: ACEA

Still many barriers
to overcome to succeed
When examining the many advantages of BEVs, it might be hastily concluded that the market will develop
massively in Europe. However, BEVs
are facing several major constraints
that may hamper this development.
Cost/price of vehicles
As mentioned before, cost/price is
a major hurdle for users today, in the
current business model of the automotive market. Many studies foresee
a price decrease supported by the development of technologies and a scale

effect with more and more vehicles
produced. The weak point is, and will
remain, the price of the battery, which
is under the control of non-European
players.
No real strategy at the
state or European level
A real, voluntarist European strategy
and policy is crucially needed to support the development of an electrified
market, as is the case in China. The
current method of "measures in each
country, and let the markets decide"
is inefficient and opens the doors of
Europe to its competitors.
SPECIAL ISSUE Mobility / May 2020

Batteries designed and produced
by non-European companies
Battery production is a real strategic
weakness in Europe with less than
1% of the world's production, 97%
of which (including components) is
concentrated in Asia. Several plant
projects are underway but will be controlled by the Korean industry, or will
not arrive before 2023 for the most
optimistic project (Norhvolt) (Figure
8). Developing and producing batteries in Europe is a necessity, because
this will secure the supply, help to
better control prices and make logistics more efficient. This will be helpful
to develop R&D projects as batteries
are still an in an intensive technology
phase and to protect jobs in the transition that the automotive industry will
face.
Battery autonomy
From a strictly statistical point of view,
the autonomy of BEVs already sold on
the market is not really an issue. With
an average autonomy of 200 km for
medium BEVs (without taking into
account Tesla), it largely covers the
usual trips and needs of users. Indeed,
according to DLR research, the cars
are more often stationary than mobile,
parked more than 23 hours a day. In
addition, they are generally oversized
for a limited use. In Germany, a country where cars are widely used, 93% of
cars do not drive more than 100 km in
one day, and 73% do not go more than
100 km/day in one week, still according to DLR research. But the battery
range remains a cause of anxiety that
induces a barrier to buying a BEV,
all the more when combined with a
lack of efficient and available charging
points. However, with the technological improvement of batteries, this barrier is about to be lifted.
Infrastructure development
According to an ACEA study, the
number of charging points installed in
the European Union, roughly 100,000

/ jec composites magazine

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Special Issue Composites for mobility - May 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Special Issue Composites for mobility - May 2020