In 2011, the price of Gold (Au) surged to $1900/oz which had a drastic impact on Wirebonded ICs using Au wires. IC suppliers scrambled to convert from Au to copper (Cu) wire on as many products as they could. However, automotive ICs were reluctant to make the jump due to lack of reliability data and performance track-record. However, today’s automotive ICs are big users of Cu wires driven by cost and reliability considerations.
Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) announced lackluster results for the most recent quarter. Revenue rose 10% to $39.5 billion. Its market share stayed flat at 4.9%. Perhaps that is what Ford considers progress. Ford’s management, unfortunately, guided toward the low end of previous forecasts. Pretax profits will be between $11.5 billion and $12. 5 billion for the year.
Amidst reports of semiconductor inventories building in the supply chain, the automotive industry remains hampered by the chip shortage. Carmakers’ demand for electronics continues to skyrocket, according to McKinsey & Co., but the auto industry’s reliance on 90 nanometer chips will keep supply and demand out of balance for some time. 
Most future automotive-wafer demand will involve nodes of 90 nm and above because many vehicle controllers and electric powertrains, including electric drive inverters and actuators, rely on these mature chips, McKinsey reported. Such nodes will account for about 67 percent of automotive demand in 2030.
Electric vehicle (EV) owners may love their cars, but they don’t always like the state of the infrastructure needed to keep those sustainable vehicles charged up and on the road. In the San Francisco Bay area alone—a region where one would assume there are a high number of EVs and an equally ample number of public chargers—just over 70% of the city’s 657 public fast chargers were in working order, according to Autoweek.
Source: Creating a Reliable National Infrastructure for Electric Vehicles | Source Today
One of the largest funding rounds raised this year by a single tech company came from a sector that won’t surprise longtime Massachusetts tech observers: batteries. Form Energy, a maker of iron-air batteries that can store clean energy for days without incurring in high costs, said on Tuesday it raised $450 million in a late-stage investment. Sarah Bray, a spokesperson for Form Energy, said in an email that the company does not need to rely on public markets for capital at this time.
As a global organization, Avnet has a privileged insight into how the EV charging infrastructure is developing across the world. Governments and private companies are generating growing momentum behind the move to fully battery-electric vehicles (BEVs). However, not all regions are developing infrastructure at the same rate.
The dynamics of refueling internal combustion engine vehicles are fundamentally different from supplying electricity for BEVs. At minimum, public charge points will be installed alongside fuel pumps. However, the obvious difference is the refuel v recharge timeframe. This creates demand for more charge points at more than just service stations.
Source: A global view on EV charging
For months now, I have been drowning in my search to find an electric vehicle (EV). Weighing options. Living with car shortages. The batteries on these are huge. I got consumed with the question: How can the world sustain everyone driving an EV? Here is what I discovered about these batteries.
In a report published Monday (5/16), TrendForce announced that despite ongoing market challenges, global sales of new energy vehicles – a category that includes hybrid vehicles, battery electric vehicles and fuel-cell vehicles – topped 2 million units in the first quarter of 2022.
TrendForce’s Caroline Chen noted that Q1 sales grew 80 percent year over year: “Battery electric vehicles (BEV) demonstrated the strongest growth with sales reaching 1.508 million units. Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) sold 493,000 units.”
As supply chain and transportation snarls continue, the Federal Railroad Administration announces a new round of grants meant to maintain, improve and expand the nation’s passenger and freight rail systems.
Source: U.S. Rail Infrastructure Gets a $368 Million Financial Infusion | Source Today
A new report from the International Data Corporation (IDC) sees semiconductors slowly flowing back into the automotive manufacturing supply chain and predicts that the current situation of “uneven shortages and tight supply” will begin to ease starting later this year.
2022 is expected to see around 6 million units of electric four-wheelers being shipped globally, in contrast to the 4 million unit shipments in 2021, as per a new report by Gartner. It forecasts that electric cars (battery electric and plug-in hybrid) will represent 95 percent of total EV shipments in 2022 and the remainder will be split between buses, vans and heavy trucks.
Source: 6 Million Units of Electric Cars Likely To Be Shipped In 2022: Gartner – ElectronicsB2B
The year of 2022 promises to be a bustling period for the automotive industry. The sector has long embarked on a full-on transformation that promises to leave no stone unturned and this year will see a continuation of this disruptive path. To this, we add COVID-19, which will still be an influencing factor, mostly in the form of supply chain disruptions.
Source: Gartner Blog Network
