February/March 2021

10 MARKET NEWS Issue 1 2021 Power Electronics Europe www.power-mag.com The smarter route to Electric Vehicle metering DCBM Series Smart and compact, the Direct Current Billing Meter (DCBM) gives charging station providers the ability to deliver a ‘gas station’ like experience, using an LCD display to show real time measurements, energy, alarms and legal data. An excellent solution for retrofit and new DC Fast charging stations from 25 to 400 kW, the DCBM uses industry standard data protocols. The result is secure, authentic billing, easy connectivity to Cloud services and a faster certification process. • 400 A - 600 A maximum current • 1000 V nominal voltage • Class B accuracy • Billing Meter in compliance with VDE AR-E-2418-3-100 • Ethernet communications supporting the HTTPS/REST protocol • Signed billing data sets according to the S.A.F.E OCMF www.lem.com they expect 10 % of their total vehicle sales will be electric vehicles, rising to 50 % of sales by 2030. The lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles (EVs) present very different material demands at the cell- and pack-level compared with the internal- combustion engine (ICE) vehicles they replace. Whilst ICE drivetrains heavily rely on aluminum and steel alloys, Li-ion batteries utilize a lot of materials such as nickel, cobalt, lithium, copper, insulation, thermal interface materials, and much more at a cell- and pack-level. The markets for these materials will see a rapid increase in demand that would not have been present without the take- off of electric vehicle markets. OEMs are changing the way they make batteries. Improvements to energy density are one key consideration but also the sustainability of the materials used. Many materials involved have questionable mining practices or volatile supply chains. One such material is cobalt, which in addition to being very expensive, has its supply and mining confined mostly to China and the Democratic Republic of Congo. As a result, OEMs are trending towards higher nickel cathode chemistries like NMC 622 or NMC 811 in some new models. Up until 2018, the Chinese electric car market was predominately using LFP cathodes. This has now transitioned such that, as of 2019, only 3 % of cars utilized LFP batteries. However, Tesla has now introduced the LFP Model 3 made in China, which could upset this trend. Additionally, LFP is used extensively for markets like Chinese electric buses. Despite the reduction in market share of materials like cobalt, the rapidly increasing market for electric vehicles will drive demand for cobalt and many other materials drastically higher over the next 10 years. A new report from IDTechEx, “Materials for Electric Vehicle Battery Cells and Packs 2021-2031”, identifies and analyzes trends in the materials used for the assembly and production of battery cells and battery packs in the EV market. www.IDTechEx.com Driven by the prosperous EV/HEV market, the market for power semiconductor electronics should have a bright future, with value exceeding $3.7B in 2024 at a 2018 - 2024 Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 21 percent. In competition with Silicon, SiC and GaN have made remarkable progress in the power electronics business over the last decade. IGBT modules represent the largest market, which is expected to double in five years. Silicon carbide (SiC) power modules will also grow fast, with a 2018 - 2024 CAGR of 48 %, according to market researcher Yole. The power module is one of the key elements in power converters and inverters. The market for power modules will reach $7.6 billion by 2025, with a 2019-2025 CAGR of 9.1 %. In the past, packaging needs were driven by industrial applications, but today they are increasingly driven by EV/HEVs. In fact, by 2025 EV/HEVs will become the biggest power module market, representing a Power Electronics Drive (H)EV Markets