Power Electronics for EV/HEV Report

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

In 2016, Yole Développement (Yole) already pointed out the impressive growth of the EV/HEV industry and its huge impact on the power electronics industry with numerous technical issues. Two years later, cards have been handling, the playground is ready and the game should reveal some surprises. In a dynamic context showing a 28% CAGR between 2017 and 2023, Chinese car manufacturers become today major players in the EV/HEV industry while European companies, strongly involved in the development of power modules and components announce their leadership with innovative technologies.

As an example Infineon Technologies presented at PCIM 2017 its first double sided cooling power module especially designed for automotive inverters. This module has been analyzed by System Plus Consulting, part of Yole Group of Companies including Yole Développement, Knowmade, PISEO and Blumorpho .

So the face to face naturally promise to be explosive. What will be the evolution of the EV/HEV supply chain? Yole’s analysts investigate this sector and announce today first results in the new report, Power Electronics for EV/HEV.

In this report, they provide updated market metrics and forecasts for electrified vehicles and analyze the differences between geographical areas, as well as the incentives and deterrents for market growth. This technology & market report also presents the main technological trends and ongoing developments for power electronics that target automotive at inverter, power module and power device levels. It also includes an overview of the battery pack evolution and its impact on power electronics and highlights business model evolution and supply-chain moves.

Who will benefit from the EV/HEV market’s explosive growth? Yole offers you today a relevant snapshot of the market.

EV/HEV sales continue to surge. In 2017, people bought 1.2 million BEV and PHEV , a 52% increase compared to 2016. Full and mild HEV sales accounted for 2.8 million units last year, a 22% year-to-year increase.

Several European car manufacturers also launched their 48V mild hybrid models in 2017. This cost-effective solution, which electrifies vehicle auxiliary systems and at the same time reduces CO2 emissions, will proliferate in 2018-2019 among all European carmakers, followed by the Chinese ones.

“48V system will rapidly boost the market”, explains Mattin Grao Txapartegi, Technology & Market Analyst from Yole. “We forecast a 50% CAGR for the 2017-2023 period, for mild hybrids, because these low cost electrified vehicle models are attractive. Their approach can be easily implemented in any car, from city cars to higher end luxury models.”

In terms of the geographical split for the potential of the EV/HEV market, Yole’s analysts describe the evolution of the main markets and highlight the main divergences.

For instance, China today is strongly focused on BEV and PHEV segments. Last year China accounted for 50% of global sales in these categories, confirms the market research and strategy consulting company.

And, looking at the evolution of the giant Asian country, it seems that this predominance will continue in the future. Countries like Japan or the USA are more focused on full HEV than these full EV models. It’s also interesting to highlight that even if China represents a huge market for EV/HEV, local companies are involved in car manufacturing, but much less at tier-1 component or power module supplier level. At these stages European, American and Japanese companies are predominant, even in the Chinese supply chain.

Having assessed how each type of electrified vehicle market will evolve, Yole expects double-digit CAGR between 2018 and 2023. This means some 10 million EV/HEVs will be sold by around 2020, and up to 18 million by 2023, across all categories.

Pushed by aggressive legislation, car manufactures select the way of electrification. The full HEV segment will drive the IGBT power module market, with IGBT modules used for EV/HEV. The market for IGBTs in the EV/HEV sector is expected to be worth almost $2.3 billion by 2023.