Follow PSR’s team of analysts as they track the rapidly expanding global battery electric power market, including, battery technology, transportation, eMobility, mergers and acquisitions and more.
Frontier Energy conducted a pre-feasibility study (PFS) at its Bristol Springs Solar project in Australia to show that it has the potential to be a low-cost green hydrogen producer, with power sourced from the company’s planned first stage 114 MW DC solar farm. The solar would power a 36.6 MW alkaline electrolyser, producing an estimated 4.4m kilograms of green hydrogen per year.
PSR Analysis: With green hydrogen costs being around $3/kg to $6.5/kg, production of green hydrogen at this cost significantly boosts the use of hydrogen as a fuel for either Hydrogen ICEs or FCEVs. It also closes the price gap with dirty hydrogen which is generated using fossil fuels. Dirty hydrogen costs around $1.8 per kg, according to S&P Global. PSR
Guy Youngs is Forecast & Adoption Leadat Power Systems Research
BMW remains primarily focused on electrified combustion engines and battery electric cars, but it is adamant that hydrogen FCEVs (Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles) will play a part of its transportation package. A limited batch of hydrogen-fueled BMW X5s soon will enter production, and the company says it is already planning for the next model with FCEVs making their way into its 2025 next-generation electric vehicle portfolio
PSR Analysis: This moves BMW into the Toyota/Hyundai camp supporting FCEV, with Tesla and VW being firmly in favor of battery-powered Electric Vehicles only. BMW is developing its position so that it can offer a full range of alternative power vehicles and meet customer demand whichever way it goes. PSR
Guy Youngs is Forecast & Adoption Leadat Power Systems Research
VinFast, an automotive subsidiary of Vingroup, the largest conglomerate in Vietnam, announced that it ended orders for two types of gasoline-powered vehicles in early July. The models covered are SUVs and sedans, and the company now will only sell the Fadil, a compact gasoline-powered vehicle. The company has announced its plan to withdraw from the production of gasoline-powered vehicles by the end of this year and is hastening its shift to EV production.
VinFast states that the reason for the suspension of orders for the two models is that “procurement of parts has become difficult and the number of units delivered to customers was not as large as expected.” The company did not mention the timing of the suspension of orders for Fadil. The company began selling EVs in Vietnam in December 2021.
Hyundai Motor Company unveiled in July its flagship EV model, the IONIQ 6, that has a driving range of 6.2 kilometers per kilowatt-hour, a 20% increase over the current 5 model. The cruising range was also increased by 22% to 524 kilometers or 326 miles, (based on Korean government certification standards). Hyundai Motor claims that its EVs have the world’s highest level of electricity consumption efficiency.
The company called the IONIQ 6 “a ‘mobile personal studio,’ a space where you can rest and relax on your own. It offers a new experience that is different from existing EVs.”
In Korea, pre-orders will begin in late July, with shipments starting in September. Pricing will start at 55 million won (approximately 5.8 million yen), and sales are expected to reach 12,000 units by the end of the year. It will be released in Europe by the end of the year and in the US in the first half of 2023. Sales in Japan have not yet been decided. The newly announced “6” has a lighter body, and the cruising range has been extended by improving the energy-saving performance of the drive components and semiconductors.
PowerX, Inc. says it has raised 4.15 billion yen in funding for two electrification projects: one is to develop its own “Power ARK,” a ship that carries electricity, and the other is to build a large-scale storage battery factory in Japan.
The idea behind the Power Transfer Vessel is to store electricity in container-shaped storage batteries and transmit it by ship, with an eye toward the expansion of offshore wind farms. Conventionally, power is transmitted from offshore wind farms to land via submarine cables, but the aim is to develop the Power Transfer Vessel that can replace submarine cables. This will make it easier to construct power plants offshore in windy distant seas. The construction of submarine cables that pass high-voltage electricity is environmentally hazardous, but the Power Transfer Vessels are cheaper than cables and will enable power transmission to be realized sooner.
Power Ark 100. The first vessel, the “Power ARK 100,” will have a length of approximately 100 meters and will be equipped with 100 storage batteries in the form of shipping containers, enabling it to store 220 MWh of electricity. This is roughly equivalent to one day’s worth of electricity for one city (22,000 households). In the event of a large-scale power outage or other disaster, the ship will serve as a contingency power source. Larger vessels are also planned, and a 220-meter-long vessel capable of carrying 3,000 containers would be able to transport 5,660 MWh of electricity.
STUTTGART, Germany— One critical trend emerged during my conversations with many industry players at the Battery Show Europe and the Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Technology Expo Europe here last month: Battery thermal management is an important element in EV development and operations.
I attended the Battery Show Europe here June 27-30 with Dalibor Sablic, PSR senior business development manager-Europe.
An estimated 6,000 attendees walked the floor to discuss products and services with nearly 600 exhibitors at the show. There was a positive energy and outlook for the future of the e-mobility industry, a refreshing change in atmosphere following many quiet months caused by the COVID pandemic.
During the show, I had an opportunity to meet with representatives of Dow and learn about the wide array of products and services the company is developing for the e-mobility segment.
Komatsu began introducing hybrid construction equipment in Indonesia this spring. Equipped with an engine and electric motor as the power source, these machines can improve fuel efficiency by 20-30%, compared to conventional machines.
Chinese manufacturers are pushing low-priced construction equipment, and are now rivaling Komatsu, which has a stronghold in Indonesia, in terms of market share. With fuel prices rising sharply, emerging countries are also becoming more environmentally conscious. Komatsu is fending off Chinese competition with its highly fuel-efficient construction equipment and is tapping into demand for decarbonization.
In Indonesia, the largest construction equipment market in Southeast Asia, Komatsu has launched a hybrid hydraulic excavator. Equipped with a hybrid system developed in-house, the excavator’s swing unit is electrically powered. When turning the body, including the arm and driver’s seat, from side to side, the energy generated during deceleration is used to generate electricity, which is stored for future use. The company plans to market the system to nickel mine developers and others, where demand for EV batteries is growing.
The European EV market is expanding, and in the UK, Korean-made EVs are gaining popularity as vehicles that are more affordable than Tesla’s and that offer superior performance.
Last year in the UK, the Tesla Model 3 ranked second in sales of all passenger cars by model, marking the “first year of EVs” in earnest. However, the popular Tesla cars are not inexpensive, costing about three times as much as similarly sized gasoline-powered cars. On the other hand, Hyundai and Kia cars are priced at 60-70% of Tesla’s Model Y and have been a hit with environmentally conscious 30–40-year-olds who had been putting off purchasing EVs because they wanted to replace their cars with EVs but thought Tesla were too expensive.
A major reason for the high support for Korean-made EVs is their price competitiveness. In terms of corporate car leasing prices, Tesla’s Model Y costs 40 pounds per day (for a three-year lease), while Kia’s low-priced e-NIRO EV costs less than 20 pounds per day, about half the price. While the price may be reasonable due to the large difference in vehicle quality, the figures are enough to shatter the preconceived notion that EVs are expensive.
UK EV Market Share by Brand (Feb-April 2022)
Tesla, 25.2%
Hyundai & Kia, 14.6%
VW Group, 13.6%
Stellantis, 12.9%
BMW Group, 8.9%
Mercedes, 6.7%
Renault-Nissan, 4.4%
Others, 13.4%
The reason why Europeans have no resistance to “Korean-made EVs” has to do with historical backgrounds other than vehicle prices and tax benefits. Korean-made cars are highly regarded in Europe, and Korean cars have an extremely high share of the compact car segment in Europe. This is due to the fact that Korean automakers have aggressively expanded their factories into former Eastern European countries, where wages are low but skill levels are high; Hyundai and Kia established production bases in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, respectively, soon after both countries joined the European Union.
PSR Analysis: As mentioned above, many potential buyers believe EVs are more expensive than conventional engine models. Hyundai and Kia are successfully implementing mass-market EV strategies in Europe, where EVs are most prevalent, in order to overcome the sales slump caused by this image. IF the Korean carmakers can overcome this mis-perception of pricing, it will make a big difference in acceptance in this important EV market. PSR
Akihiro Komuro is Research Analyst, Far East and Southeast Asiafor Power Systems Research
Last month, I visited the three-day 2022 NEW Environmental Exposition, an exhibition of environment-related equipment in Tokyo. The show promoted the effective use of resources, new energy and energy reduction, and the utilization of CO2 emission reduction technologies
PSR Analysis: The exhibition featured many environment-related devices for waste treatment, demolition, bioplastics, water treatment and purification, heat utilization systems, recycling, and more.
Large equipment such as those that crush and efficiently separate debris mixed with earth, sand, and wood; metal recovery systems from seawater using special fibers, and equipment related to crushing wood, stone, and other materials were eye-catching in variety and size.
BEIJING— Chinese electric vehicle (EV) and battery maker BYD is going to become Tesla’s battery supplier for the first time, a senior executive at the company backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway said recently.
“Tesla is a very successful company. BYD has great respect for Tesla and raises our hat to it,” said BYD’s executive vice president Lian Yubo in an interview with the state-owned news channel China Global Television Network (CGTN), when he was asked his thoughts of China-made vehicles in comparison with Tesla. “(Tesla CEO) Musk and us are good friends now as we are preparing to supply batteries to it very soon. We learned a lot from Tesla,” Lian added, noting the U.S. rival’s positioning itself as a high-end EV brand.
Lian’s remark suggests BYD is set to be the second China-based battery supplier of Tesla next to CATL, the world’s largest EV battery company. LG Energy Solution, the South Korean battery maker second to CATL, and Tesla’s long-time partner Panasonic currently are another two battery makers in Tesla’s supplier list.
