Sean Milmo, European Editor11.10.17
The automotive sector is becoming not only one of the biggest markets for printed electronics in Europe, but also one of the fastest growing.
In most categories of printed or flexible electronics in Europe’s auto sector, sales levels are expected to remain well above the average recent growth in car sales of 2% to 3%. In some cases, the annual expansion of new electronic products has been in the double-digit range.
The growth is predicted to accelerate as the leading European auto manufacturers plan to step up the development and production of their own electric vehicle (EV) models. Some producers are aiming for a sales share of up to 25% in the 2020s for electric versions of their leading brands or even total group sales.
Demand expectations are being boosted by the French and UK governments announcing the phasing out of diesel and gasoline cars by or from 2040. The Bundesrat or upperhouse of Germany’s parliament has proposed a ban in 2030 on the licensing of cars emitting global warming gases and other pollutants.
Electric vehicles are seen as providing big openings for flexible electronics because of the need for more streamlined and sleeker interior designs and closer monitoring of the car’s performance, especially energy consumption.
The requirements for printed electronics in EVs will be even more numerous and more technologically advanced with autonomous or self-drive cars. EVs can provide a basis for the electronics development needed for these vehicles, whose introduction is being hastened by the necessity to deal with traffic congestion, greater convenience and cheaper mobility.
The prospects of the quicker than expected arrival of large numbers of EVs and their hybrids on European roads is reinforcing a new enthusiasm among Europe’s car manufacturers for printed electronics – in particular OLEDs for lighting and displays and sensors for raising a car’s efficiency.
“The manufacturers like the curves, decorative effects and variability in design of flexible electronics,” said Klaus Hecker, managing director of Organic and Printed Electronics Association (O-EA), the European trade group. “They also like the fact that in comparison to the conventional electronics devices, the flexible products have a lighter weight, are much thinner and have a lower power consumption.”
Many of the major car companies in Europe are moving into EV production. The Volkswagen Group and Daimler AG, owners of Mercedes-Benz Cars, are setting up electric battery production units in Germany.
Volvo, now owned by the Chinese car group Geely Holding, announced in July this year that from 2019 all its new cars will be equipped with electric traction motors. This will be the start of the phasing-out by the manufacture of all diesel, petrol and gas engines.
Opportunities for Flexible Electronics
This shift into EVs has been accompanied by a stronger focus on the use of flexible electronics, particularly OLED lighting and displays.
An electric concept vehicle – the four-door Gran Turismo Audi e-tron Sportback with a 320 kW electric drive – was introduced at the Shanghai Auto show in April by Rupert Stadler, chairman of Volkswagen’s Audi AG, as being “thrillingly identifiable as an electric car at the very first glance.”
This was because of features such as a light-colored interior and touch-sensitive screens below the central display, on the center console and in the door trims.
A lot of OLEDs are being supplied to Europe-based car plants by Asian producers. Mercedes-Benz has supply deals with LG Display and Audi with Samsung.
Even though European scientists were among the first to develop OLED technologies, European producers are still not geared up for their bulk production. New European display technologies that are ready for commercialization are being transferred to Asia for large-scale production.
The UK’s Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), which provides pilot lines for technology developers, has recently partnered with SmartKem, also of the UK, to help bring to market its thin film transistor (TFT) platform for flexible liquid crystal displays and OLEDs.
“At the core of (this) project is the transfer of European technology and expertise in organic semiconductors to Asia where our commercial partners can scale up this new standard in display production,” explained Mike Cowin, SmartKem’s head of strategic marketing.
FlexEnable, another UK company, has recently licensed to Truly Semiconductors, one of the leading display makers in China, its flexible organic liquid crystal display (OLCD) for mass production next year. The OLCD, for which automotive interiors is a major application, is, according to FlexEnable, the only display technology with a large area, low cost and high brightness over a long lifetime.
“Truly has become the first display manufacturer to implement FlexEnable’s OLCD platform and meet market demand for flexible displays,” said Chuck Milligan, FlexEnable’s chief executive.
European flexible electronics companies have been able recently to push down material, process and application costs in way that makes their technologies more commercially viable to large sectors like automotive.
Advances in in-mold electronics (IME) has enabled flexible electronic devices to be integrated into the interior structures of vehicles, giving greater scope to designers.
TactoTek of Finland, which has developed an IME technology for making automotive components including control panels with integrated touch buttons and lighting, revealed in July this year that it had increased manufacturing capacity because of a big increase in its projects pipeline.
Among the other companies making technology breakthroughs is Sol Voltaics of Sweden, which will be able next year to provide testing samples of a low cost solar energy thin-film comprised of billions of gallium arsenide (GaAs) nanowires with efficiencies of up to 27%.
The Danish startup TEGnology ApS, a specialist in thermo electric generators for energy harvesting in transportation and other sectors, is hoping to ramp up production of its modules following expected increased demand because of low production costs. This is due to its development of a process based on readily available materials like zinc and magnesium instead of the scarce and expensive tellurium, used by most TEG module producers.
Sensors are emerging as the printed electronic devices with the most longer-term potential in automobiles. Their global sales in the automotive sector are expected to reach a compound annual growth rate of 6.7% in 2017-2013 to $36 billion, according to ReportsnReports, a market research studies provider.
The main impetus behind this growth is the increase in the connectivity between components in vehicles and those outside on roads and traffic management units. Currently this connectivity is helped drivers control vehicles more efficiently and safely.
Ultimately it will lead to the prevalence of the autonomous or self-drive vehicle.
“Currently the automobile sector, like other sectors, is going through a transition period to the time when everything will be connected, ” said Harry Zervos, an analyst at IDTechEx. “The more connectivity there is, the more the need for sensors. They help collect the data, which is then processed centrally to assist the driver and then ultimately to control the autonomous vehicle.
“OLEDs are a means of displaying the processed information coming from the sensors,” he continued. “But eventually the provision of this information may be something the car’s occupants decide they don’t need.”
Developers of sensors seem likely to occupy a key position in determining the future of flexible electronics in automobiles. Ultimately, the real power will be exercised by those who are responsible for working out the algorithms, which will be controlling technologies driving the automobiles of the future.
European Editor Sean Milmo is an Essex, UK-based writer specializing in coverage of the chemical industry.
In most categories of printed or flexible electronics in Europe’s auto sector, sales levels are expected to remain well above the average recent growth in car sales of 2% to 3%. In some cases, the annual expansion of new electronic products has been in the double-digit range.
The growth is predicted to accelerate as the leading European auto manufacturers plan to step up the development and production of their own electric vehicle (EV) models. Some producers are aiming for a sales share of up to 25% in the 2020s for electric versions of their leading brands or even total group sales.
Demand expectations are being boosted by the French and UK governments announcing the phasing out of diesel and gasoline cars by or from 2040. The Bundesrat or upperhouse of Germany’s parliament has proposed a ban in 2030 on the licensing of cars emitting global warming gases and other pollutants.
Electric vehicles are seen as providing big openings for flexible electronics because of the need for more streamlined and sleeker interior designs and closer monitoring of the car’s performance, especially energy consumption.
The requirements for printed electronics in EVs will be even more numerous and more technologically advanced with autonomous or self-drive cars. EVs can provide a basis for the electronics development needed for these vehicles, whose introduction is being hastened by the necessity to deal with traffic congestion, greater convenience and cheaper mobility.
The prospects of the quicker than expected arrival of large numbers of EVs and their hybrids on European roads is reinforcing a new enthusiasm among Europe’s car manufacturers for printed electronics – in particular OLEDs for lighting and displays and sensors for raising a car’s efficiency.
“The manufacturers like the curves, decorative effects and variability in design of flexible electronics,” said Klaus Hecker, managing director of Organic and Printed Electronics Association (O-EA), the European trade group. “They also like the fact that in comparison to the conventional electronics devices, the flexible products have a lighter weight, are much thinner and have a lower power consumption.”
Many of the major car companies in Europe are moving into EV production. The Volkswagen Group and Daimler AG, owners of Mercedes-Benz Cars, are setting up electric battery production units in Germany.
Volvo, now owned by the Chinese car group Geely Holding, announced in July this year that from 2019 all its new cars will be equipped with electric traction motors. This will be the start of the phasing-out by the manufacture of all diesel, petrol and gas engines.
Opportunities for Flexible Electronics
This shift into EVs has been accompanied by a stronger focus on the use of flexible electronics, particularly OLED lighting and displays.
An electric concept vehicle – the four-door Gran Turismo Audi e-tron Sportback with a 320 kW electric drive – was introduced at the Shanghai Auto show in April by Rupert Stadler, chairman of Volkswagen’s Audi AG, as being “thrillingly identifiable as an electric car at the very first glance.”
This was because of features such as a light-colored interior and touch-sensitive screens below the central display, on the center console and in the door trims.
A lot of OLEDs are being supplied to Europe-based car plants by Asian producers. Mercedes-Benz has supply deals with LG Display and Audi with Samsung.
Even though European scientists were among the first to develop OLED technologies, European producers are still not geared up for their bulk production. New European display technologies that are ready for commercialization are being transferred to Asia for large-scale production.
The UK’s Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), which provides pilot lines for technology developers, has recently partnered with SmartKem, also of the UK, to help bring to market its thin film transistor (TFT) platform for flexible liquid crystal displays and OLEDs.
“At the core of (this) project is the transfer of European technology and expertise in organic semiconductors to Asia where our commercial partners can scale up this new standard in display production,” explained Mike Cowin, SmartKem’s head of strategic marketing.
FlexEnable, another UK company, has recently licensed to Truly Semiconductors, one of the leading display makers in China, its flexible organic liquid crystal display (OLCD) for mass production next year. The OLCD, for which automotive interiors is a major application, is, according to FlexEnable, the only display technology with a large area, low cost and high brightness over a long lifetime.
“Truly has become the first display manufacturer to implement FlexEnable’s OLCD platform and meet market demand for flexible displays,” said Chuck Milligan, FlexEnable’s chief executive.
European flexible electronics companies have been able recently to push down material, process and application costs in way that makes their technologies more commercially viable to large sectors like automotive.
Advances in in-mold electronics (IME) has enabled flexible electronic devices to be integrated into the interior structures of vehicles, giving greater scope to designers.
TactoTek of Finland, which has developed an IME technology for making automotive components including control panels with integrated touch buttons and lighting, revealed in July this year that it had increased manufacturing capacity because of a big increase in its projects pipeline.
Among the other companies making technology breakthroughs is Sol Voltaics of Sweden, which will be able next year to provide testing samples of a low cost solar energy thin-film comprised of billions of gallium arsenide (GaAs) nanowires with efficiencies of up to 27%.
The Danish startup TEGnology ApS, a specialist in thermo electric generators for energy harvesting in transportation and other sectors, is hoping to ramp up production of its modules following expected increased demand because of low production costs. This is due to its development of a process based on readily available materials like zinc and magnesium instead of the scarce and expensive tellurium, used by most TEG module producers.
Sensors are emerging as the printed electronic devices with the most longer-term potential in automobiles. Their global sales in the automotive sector are expected to reach a compound annual growth rate of 6.7% in 2017-2013 to $36 billion, according to ReportsnReports, a market research studies provider.
The main impetus behind this growth is the increase in the connectivity between components in vehicles and those outside on roads and traffic management units. Currently this connectivity is helped drivers control vehicles more efficiently and safely.
Ultimately it will lead to the prevalence of the autonomous or self-drive vehicle.
“Currently the automobile sector, like other sectors, is going through a transition period to the time when everything will be connected, ” said Harry Zervos, an analyst at IDTechEx. “The more connectivity there is, the more the need for sensors. They help collect the data, which is then processed centrally to assist the driver and then ultimately to control the autonomous vehicle.
“OLEDs are a means of displaying the processed information coming from the sensors,” he continued. “But eventually the provision of this information may be something the car’s occupants decide they don’t need.”
Developers of sensors seem likely to occupy a key position in determining the future of flexible electronics in automobiles. Ultimately, the real power will be exercised by those who are responsible for working out the algorithms, which will be controlling technologies driving the automobiles of the future.
European Editor Sean Milmo is an Essex, UK-based writer specializing in coverage of the chemical industry.
