Electrifying opportunity for the automotive industry

Nissan Motor helps electrifying the European automotive sector with its next-generation battery-powered Leaf sedan.

The automotive industry is facing a transition, where electric vehicles are predicted to take a major market share. "It will definitely happen, but not overnight," says Sandvik's Eduardo Debone, who argues that the rise of electric and, more importantly, hybrid technology represents a huge opportunity for suppliers to the automotive industry.

Electrification creates opportunities

Sandvik is carrying out an indepth analysis of the effects of electrification, and the findings confirm that electrification will create significant new opportunities in the coming years. "Right now, there's lower-hanging fruit in the form of the hybrid vehicles, which have huge potential to deliver CO2 savings without requiring a total paradigm shift in terms of technology and infrastructure," Debone says.

Although electric vehicles are undoubtedly on the rise, some obstacles still need to be overcome before traditional cars have been outmaneuvered. Price is still a concern for many consumers, they take time to charge – around 30 minutes – and the drive range varies. Also, today's power grid lacks the capacity to support a mass market for electric cars.

"When pure electric cars do become reality on a larger scale, we will have a mature offering for many areas, such as digital manufacturing, additive manufacturing and others," Debone says.

For now, we still don't have a unique alternative to fossil fuels

"Ultimately, I think the long-term solution may include fuel cell technologies, as a complement to batteries and internal combustion engines," he says. "Before then, the technologies need to mature. For now, we still don't have a unique alternative to fossil fuels."